you to withstand so potent an enemy. To this you are called by the history before us. The failure of these presumptuous exorcists served to illustrate more fully the success of the Apostle, in and by whom the Lord Jesus wrought : and you are told, "The name of the Lord Jesus was magnified*. " Magnify then your Saviour for every victory you gain, and say, " Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name be the praise." And, if you see others victorious around you, be not envious of them, because they are not of your sect or party, — as the Apostles once weref; but rejoice with them, and glorify God in their behalf.
But, however victorious you are, remember that you are still on the field of battle, and may, if off your guard, receive the most deadly wounds. We read of those, " whose hearts, once delivered from an evil spirit, were again occupied by seven other spirits more wicked than he ; and whose last end was therefore worse than their beginning*." O beware, lest at last it prove thus with you ! Be ever on the watch, guarding against the wiles and devices of your subtle enemy, and crying mightily to God to protect you from him.
Learn from the people who beheld the miracles of Paul: they did not put their impious books upon a shelf, but " burned them" and that publicly too, without any regard to their great value ; determining that they should never more prove a snare to themselves, or to any other persons'1. Deal ye thus with your besetting sins : spare not one of them, no, not for an hour ; but cut off the offending hand, and pluck out the offending eye. Then shall you have daily fresh cause for praise and thanksgiving1, and ere long obtain that crown of righteousness, which God has promised to all his faithful and victorious servants k.]
e ver. 17. f Luke ix. 49, 50. e Luke xi. 24—2(3.
h ver. 18, 19. « Rom. vii. 24, 25.
k 2 Tim. iv. 8. Rev. in. 21.