name of the Lord Jesus, saying, we adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul preacheth."

The apostles had apes in their own time; fellows who set up for their successors, before they themselves were dead. They were exorcists or conjurers, so called, from their pretending to dispossess haunted houses, by the dint of spells and forms of words. They had now got a new form of words, and were going to work with them as fast as they could, boasting, no doubt, great things of their own power. Indeed they took a politic method to resemble the apostle, had they succeeded in it, but they miscarried miserably.

But what shall we say of some moderns, more shameless than these vagabond Jews, who will, right or wrong, be successors to the apostles without doing any thing that is apostolic, but what every reasonable man may do as well. They show no signs but those of gracelessness and pride; and do no wonders, but in the luxury of their lives.

"And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so." More mimickers of miracles! The trade was growing sweet, but the sauce proved sour; for the evil spirit answered and said, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye?"

An angry
But

and contemptuous question, but full of good sense. the worst follows;-and "the man in whom the evil spirit was, leapt upon them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded."

We may easily learn what power men have from God, by their power over the devil. When Paul gave the word of command, the devil did not stand shilly-shally, nor pretend to parley with one who was employed as the Lord's general, against the power of darkness, but was forced to march.

But it is quite otherwise, when interlopers and craftsmen, in hopes to make a penny of satan, pretend to drive him out of his quarters, though they come in the name of the Lord. The devil, in this case, sets up the flag of de

fiance; "who are ye?" Well spoken, satan!

and wounded."

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They

were vagabonds, Jews, and priests, and the devil chastised them accordingly. They fled out of that house naked The devil got the day, and remained master of the field. He "prevailed against them." They forged a commission, and the Lord Jesus, whose name they abused, would not stand by them.

Learn a lesson from the devil, and take no man's word who pretends to command us in matters of faith and spiritual obedience, though he come in the name of the Lord. Examine him first, and try our own strength upon him. "Who are ye?" A pat question and proper! Let us never lose sight of it, especially when any man would control our belief. Be not determined by outside shape and color. A long gown may cover an exorcist, but let us peep into his inside, search his life and principles; let us try whether he is an apostle in his heart and his actions; and if he be not, let us prevail against him.

Great and solemn rogueries are carried on in the name of Christ and his apostles; even conjurers and formalists reap their harvest with the sickle of the gospel. If such bold cheats could be practised under this great apostle's nose; what may not be done now he is so far off? How many exorcists, how many sons of Sceva, have we at this time among us, and in this enlightened protestant country! Great numbers, yea, great societies. Every man, who in the name of Christ or Paul, claims to himself gain or dominion, is a son of Sceva, and can be no guard against the devil, who despises him. Judge ye now what swarms we have!

The true reason of the great wickedness which is in the world, we maintain an army against the devil, of whom he standeth not in awe. In the first ages he was driven out of every corner, and now he possesses every corner; why? they had apostles, and we have the sons of Sceva.

"And many that believed came and confessed, and showed their deeds;" that is, many who had been deluded and misled by those deceivers, were now undeceived.

"And many also of them which used curious arts, brought their books together and burnt them before all men; and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver."

How fertile must the world then have been in mysterious and conjuring books! What systems of nonsense and knavery must have been there! What glosses, commentaries, and riddles! For those were not books of useful knowledge and learning, or books that taught virtue and morality, since such the apostle would have preserved; but they were juggling and conjuring books, such as contained heathen traditions, with false miracles, and false doctrines, and were probably full of metaphysical distinctions, and the controversial divinity of those days; such as bundles of foolish sermons, pagan systems, articles of their faith, formularies, lying mysteries, cabalistical nonsense, and the high-church pamphlets of that age; all opposite to the divine truths uttered by Paul.

"So mightily grew the word of God, and prevailed." The ready way to make the word of God grow and prevail, was to burn all the priest's books! Oh, that our eyes were also opened! what fuel should we have for bonfires!

"The same time there arose no small stir about that way. For a certain man named Demetrius, a silver-smith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen, whom he called together, with the workmen of like occupation; and said, sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth: moreover, ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying, that they be no gods which are made with hands; so that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also, that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth."

A notable speech and confession! He kept a shop for

the deity, and got a world of money by the trade; and rather than lose it, he will oppose Christianity, and maintain his craft against Jesus Christ.

This mechanical priest and his brethren, retainers to Diana, had lost many customers by Paul's preaching. Their holy gear began to lie upon their hands; folk's eyes were opened and the cheat disclosed. Upon which Doctor Demetrius and the whole convocation of priests and craftsmen accused the apostle as an enemy to the church, and an underminer of its rights and interests. Sirs,' says Mr. Prolocutor, "ye know that by this craft we have our wealth." Now, if this Paul goes on to persuade people, as he does, that all our gain is built on deceit, and that our trade is of human institution, our function will fall into contempt, and we into beggary.

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All that was artfully addressed to the interest and avarice of his brother craftsmen, who, sharing the benefit, and living plentifully upon the ecclesiastical revenues of the established church of Diana, had motives sufficient to engage them in the defence of the said cheat.

Now he has a knack for catching the bigots, by telling them, what danger there was of the church; and lest the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshipped. What pity it was that so pure and primitive a church, and the most orthodox and best constituted church in all Asia, should be in such piteous danger!

What false knaves and godless infidels that priestly crew were! If they believed that their mistress the goddess, who had indeed the best accustomed church in all Asia, was as great as they pretended her to be, why did they mistrust her power to protect her own grandeur and defend herself? Especially against a single man, whom they represented as an enemy to the gods and their church, and who was consequently the more easy to be defeated or destroyed? But if they knew her unable to defend her

M*

divinity, and support her priests and tradesmen, then were they in reality cheats and unbelievers.

The wide difference there is between these high-priests' church, and the Bible church! The priests' church being a trading church, and money being her end, and grimace her ware, which were the source of their authority and reverence; whatever enlightened the people, marred the market of the priests. By this craft we have our wealth: "While we can by bawling and lying put off our trumpery for religion, it will always sell well; otherwise, it will not be worth a groat; let us contend for our trumpery, and cry, the church!" Accordingly, the auditory actually practised the advice given them by that high-church preacher, roaring for Diana of Ephesus, "By this craft we have our wealth."

That was the spirit of the priests' church, so opposite to that of the Bible church; which being founded upon a rock, fears neither rain, nor storms, nor dissenters, nor false brethren. She is founded upon a rock, which rock is Christ; and whoever trusts in him and believes the Scripture, cannot think his church in danger. Indeed, if his church is founded upon hoods and caps, and cringes and forms, and filthy lucre, he may well dread the judgment of God, and the reason of man; for they are both against him and his dowdy, and his church will totter as soon as ever common sense takes it by the collar. fearing for the superstructure, he owns the foundation to be sandy. By this craft we have our wealth."

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By

Those craftsmen keep a rout about the danger of their church. It ought to be in danger, like a sorry bundle of inventions and gimcracks as it was. But for the pure, the primitive church of Christ, the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The craftsmen shall not prevail against it, who are the sorest enemies which it ever had—it is founded upon a rock. Paul does not once complain in all the New Testament, that his church was in danger, nor does any other of the apostles or evangelists. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but the word of the Lord