jured by Christians, they retire out of the bodies of men, confess themselves to be demons, and tell their names, even the same which are adored in the temples."

Rose's Neander, pp. 43, 330, and 332, bears witness that the gifts of the Spirit of God were still in the church in the latter part of the second century. Neander mentions especially the Montanists as having the gifts and believing "that the season of the last and richest outpouring of the Holy Spirit would form the last age of the church and precede the second coming of Christ, and be the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel."

This part of the present chapter would be incompiete without the testimony of Gibbon, that prince of secular historians, who, though not himself a Christian, says:

"The supernatural gifts, which, even in this life, were ascribed to the Christians above the rest of mankind, must have conduced to their own comfort, and very frequently to the conviction of infidels. Besides the occasional prodigies, which might sometimes be effected by the immediate interposition of the Deity when He suspended the laws of nature for the service of religion, the Christian church, from the time of the apostles and their first disciples, has claimed an uninterrupted succession of miraculous powers, the gifts of tongues, of visions, and of prophecy, the power of expelling demons, of healing the sick, etc."-Milman's Gibbon, Vol. I, p. 539.

As we have already seen, John Wesley was a believer in miraculous powers, not merely that he held the doctrine as a theory, but he believed in it as a

personal experience. On page 297 of his Journal he relates his experience with an infuriated mob. We quote from Mr. Wesley only his enumeration of circumstances which he regarded as particularly remarkable:

"I. That many endeavored to throw me down while we were going down hill on a slippery path to the town; as well judging, that if I were once on the ground, I should hardly rise any more. But I made no stumble at all, nor the least slip, till I was entirely out of their hands.

"2. That although many strove to lay hold on my collar or clothes to pull me down, they could not fasten at all, only one got fast hold of the flap of my waistcoat, which was soon left in his hand; the other flap, in the pocket of which was a bank note, was torn but half off.

"3. That a lusty man just behind struck at me several times with a large oaken stick; with which if he had struck me once on the back part of my

head, it would have saved him further trouble. But every time the blow was turned aside, I know not how; for I could not move the right hand nor left.

"4. That another came rushing through the press, and raising his arm to strike, on a sudden let it drop, and only stroked my head, saying, 'What soft hair he has!'

"5. That I stopped exactly at the mayor's door, as if I had known it (which the mob doubtless thought I did), and found him standing in the shop, which gave the first check to the madness of the people."

Dr. Adam Clarke, while a missionary in a heathen land, had a remarkable deliverance from a savage mob, which he relates as an appropriate commentary on Luke 4:30, but without telling that the experience was his own. This fact appears, however, on page 209 of the "Life of Adam Clarke." Here, after reciting the facts as given by Clarke himself, his biographer says:

"During the whole time of his [Clarke's] passing through the mob, there was a deathlike silence, nor was there any motion, but that which was necessary to give him a free passage. Either their eyes were holden that they could not know him, or they were so overawed by the power of God that they could not lift a hand or utter a word against him. The poor people [Clarke's audience], finding all was quiet, came out a little after, and passed away, not one of them being either hurt or molested. In a few minutes the mob seemed to awake as from a dream, and finding that their prey had been plucked out of their teeth, they knew not how, attacked the house afresh, broke every square of glass in the windows, and scarcely left a whole tile upon the roof.

He afterward learned that the design of the mob was to put him in the sluice of an overshot water-wheel, by which he must necessarily have been crushed to pieces."

Martin Luther, the great German reformer, was a believer in miraculous powers. But because of certain fanatics who sought to ally themselves with the Reformation, Luther had to be exceedingly care

ful lest he might seem to give aid and comfort to fanaticism. Nevertheless, in his "Collovuia Mensalia," the reformer relates the following, which came under his personal observation:

"When I lived at Turica, in Franconia, a child that could hardly speak or walk was got into a wood near the house.

An un

expected snow covering and

altering the surface of the ground, the child could not find the way back again to the house. The snow continued to fall in great abundance; he remained there covered over with it two days and three nights.

"I am persuaded that the man that preserved him was a good angel."

During that time an unknown man brought him meat and drink; but at the beginning of the third day, he led the child near his father's house, and there left him. I was present when he came in, and I protest he told all that had happened to him as clearly and

in as good terms as I could have done myself; notwithstanding, from that time for three whole years, he was not capable of putting any words together that any one could easily understand. I am therefore persuaded that the man that preserved him was a good angel."

The following appeared several years ago in Our Dumb Animals:

"The Rev. John Jones, a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist clergyman, was traveling alone on horseback

"Can it for a moment be doubted that my prayer was heard, and that you were sent for my deliverance by the Lord?"

through a desolate country in North Wales, to attend an annual meeting; and was carrying money which he had collected for building chapels. On his way he met a dangerous-looking tramp, armed with a sharp sickle, who, when he had passed, turned and followed him, trying to keep out of sight, yet hurrying toward a gate which Mr. Jones would be compelled to open and pass through. When the minister neared the gate, he discovered the tramp hiding near by in the bushes;