ness, permission to bear it ; yea, she accounted it not a burthen, but an honour and a joy. Thus it was with the Christians in the Churches of Macedonia x: and thus should it be with us also. We should long and pant after opportunities of honour- ing our God : we should value nothing any further than it may be subservient to that end : we should account ourselves, and all that we possess, as the Lord's property y; and we should make it the one labour of our lives to " glorify him with our bodies and our spirits, which are his."]
x 2 Cor. viii, 1 — 4. y 1 Cor. vi. 20.
Acts xvi. 16 — 18. And it came to pass, as tve ivent to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying : the same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
IT has been thought by many, that all which the Scriptures speak respecting the possession of men by Satan, is merely figurative ; and that the effects ascribed to such possessions must be referred to other causes. Accordingly, the expulsion of evil spirits from men by Jesus Christ is considered by them as only a cure of some particular disorders. But, if there be some passages which may possibly admit of such an interpretation, there are others that cannot be so explained. The damsel of whom our text speaks, is represented as having " a spirit of divina- tion;" which, according to the opinion of the fore- mentioned persons, was a mere fiction only, to impose upon the credulity of the weak. Her art is regarded as nothing more than a conspiracy between her and her masters to deceive the world by juggling and imposture. But, if this was the case, how could the command given by St. Paul to the spirit that was in