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ness," had endeavoured to turn away a Roman deputy from the faith; and here the Lord manifested himself by shewing that all the sorceries of Elymas, and his pretended sanctity, could not avert from him the stroke of instant blindness, which, to mark it as a direct visitation from on high, was announced by Paul the moment before it overtook him; and this wonder confirmed the Deputy in the faith. Acts xiii. 6-12. One more instance we have in Simon Magus, who was also a sorcerer, and who seemed to have been delivered from the dominion of evil spirits, by the preaching of the gospel ; being able to make such a confession of faith as entitled him to baptism. In him the devil sought to bring a deadly disgrace on the Church of Christ, by obtaining the power of conferring the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost on whomsoever he would; or if the idea of being able to buy the gift of God with money appear too foolish to have been really entertained by a spiritual being, we may suppose that he calculated on making the very proposal, from a professed worshipper, redound to the disadvantage of that church. In either case he was baffled. Peter was enabled to "perceive" that this seeming convert was still in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity, and rebuked him openly; while the record of the attempt serves to this day as an invaluable preservative against certain unscriptural views of baptism which have crept into the church.

By considering in how many instances under the Old

Testament dispensation, characters appeared, and events occurred parallel to these which meet us under the clearer light of the New, we may trace such hindrances and stumblings among the saints of old to the deep-laid plots of the rulers of the darkness of this world; and by such an enlarged view of the enemy's sphere of action, we may learn to be more earnest in praying that all those evils which the craft and subtilty of the devil or man worketh against us may be brought to nought;' and may also become more watchfully alert in seeking

to baffle his devices.

V.

SATANIC CRUELTY.

It seems almost superfluous to devote a section to this subject, seeing that every thing we can name, respecting Satan and his angels, comes under the head of cruelty. From the first attempt of the devil to seduce Eve from her allegiance, his object has always been to plunge the whole human race into the bottomless pit which he knows to be his own portion; "the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone." Rev. xxi. 8. But though he generally tempts men with the promise, or the possession of present enjoyment, alluring them to sell their souls for worldly profit ; still, whenever he can have his own way he produces present calamities, and heaps upon his wretched victims tribulation and anguish as well in possession as in prospect.

On many occasions noted in the scripture, God, by his own arm, or by his holy angels, has punished the transgressor; but we find him, in the majority of instances, giving offenders into the hand of Satan, or of wicked

men who act under his influence, for punishment. It is mentioned by the Psalmist, though not by Moses, that among the inflictions dealt forth to the tyrannic Egyptians, this was the greatest; and the force of the expressions is very remarkable: after detailing the plagues of blood, of flies, of frogs, of caterpillars, of locusts, of hail, frost, and thunderbolts, the inspired writer goes on:-"He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them." Psalm lxxviii. 49. When Satan sends an evil angel, he will sorely afflict the object of his mission; but when God looses the restraints of these malignant creatures, and bids them smite, it is terrible indeed!

We must again recal that most important truth,that whatsoever worship is rendered to any but God, is rendered to devils; and we shall be appalled at the scene of present, temporal cruelty and suffering, laid open as the direct work of evil spirits. Moloch, the great idol of the heathen among whom Israel sojourned, was worshipped by the immolation of children, butchered by the knife and by fire; and it is awful to think that the Lord's own people were ensnared to join in this frightful abomination. "They sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan and the land was polluted with blood." Psalm cvi. 37,

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38. If the Holy Ghost had not caused this to be written by inspiration for our warning, we could not imagine the possibility of satanic power, cunning and cruelty reaching to this point: that parents should be willing to take their tender, helpless babes, and deliver them over to a most agonizing form of assassination, as an act of homage to the powers of hell, while they themselves were actually fed, day by day, with manna from heaven sent down by the merciful God, who quenched their hourly thirst with water flowing from a stony rock, and miraculously following them through the wilderness; where every step of their way was marked by some wonder of supernatural care, and all-endearing love. Here, indeed, must vile human nature lay its unclean lips in the dust; and here may proud man learn to tremble at the dreadful sovereignty exercised by Satan over all who are not translated from the power of darkness into the kingdom of God, by living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ."

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Although every form of idolatry, or devil-worship, was not so murderous as that of Moloch, cruelty was, and is, the distinguishing feature of all. In a passage already quoted, when the Lord tells his faithful Church of Smyrna that he will, for the trial of their faith, give Satan power over some of them, the consequences are, of course, to be imprisonment and tribulation. We may judge from the manner of his dealing with Job, what use Satan naturally makes of any such indul

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