The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 131

<',·er, finae place now with the exorcist&. 2. They use that tfRmo to eupe!'lledc and 88 an <'X~rimeotal eub~titute for the name,or odious deccptiv~ practices! whaterer theyw:ere, winch they bad been aocustomed to uae. 3. 'l'hey do this for no h1gh-miudcd amblt1011s (even if erroneous) adventure, but doubtleBB for the adventure of money gain alone. 4. Those who do it are Jews, and they are sons of one who WBB "chief of the priests," and they conspire, seven in number, to do it. . II. THE EXPOSUB&. 1. It is the exposure, not of Paul (as In the case of Simon Magus 1t wae of Peter), nor of the horror of true disciples, nor of Heaven's intervention by lightning or thunderbolt. 2. A more humiliating exposure is reserved for these. Even the evil spirit cannot bear the presumptuous and intolerably conceived iniquity. And in the keen satire of truth, which perhaps none know bett<>r to accentuate than evil spirit.a, thu ill spirit resents the puny challeu~c and sc.'\thes the hollow deception by a question following upon a.n honest enough confession, " Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?" 3. The mournfully afflicted man himself joins to make patent the exposure. No doubt already by the usurped organs of his speech it was that the ill i;pirit had uttered forth his trenchant rebuff, but now the record E;ives us to understand that the man himself (from whatever sonrce he gained his inspiration) joined hand and limb, and suited the action to the word. The exposure surely needed no more to make it complete. lIL THE PUi."ISB:IIE},"T. 1. It tDaB summary. Naked and wounded, the seven fled out of that house. 2. lt was retributive. The man on whom they had experimented, and perha.ps not now for the first time, had doubtless (like he of the tombs) often been "naked and woi::nded ;," but now it is they who are in this plight. 3. It was eS&ffltially kumil,iating. "Seven flee before one" (Deut. :xxviii. 7, 25), and him the despised or pitied one of long time I 4.. It wa.s humiliating in its circumstances. For it was not only po.tent at the time, but it became notorious. " It was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus." So sometimes even now iniquity reaches its height, the cup is filled to the full, the bold daring face that sin sets to heaven is overwhelmed with confusion, and the hour of judgment is arrived. IV. THE EFFECTS. Whatever may be said too often, too inconsiderately in modern days, to the disparagement of faith in miracles and faith in prayer, and among other thinl?s faith in providence and the veritable nearness of the Divine band, " strong to save" or "swift to 6ID.ite," there is no doubt that these things were all heartily believed in by the early Church. They were also believed in by many who were not " diaciplea." Nor is this evidence travelling down from those who were on the spot in the alleged age and plo.ce of miracles unimportant. In the present history, just as true o.s anything ell!8 recorded, must this be held, when we read that the great effect was that" fear fell on them all, a.nd that the Name of the Lord Jesus was magnified." If we are open to learn, we may receive help in the firm persuasion that there was such a thing as the possession by alien and evil spirits of the organs of the human body ; that there was such a thing as miracle, special Divine int.erposition to the suspension of the ordinary course of things; and, dread sug!t:estion I that by whomsoever else, evil spirit.a are not to be overmastered by, but rather overmaster, evil men.-B. Vers. 18-20.-Practioal evidence of genuine repentance. The evidence which" many of them that believed n now ea.me and gave, of the vitality of their faith and the reality of their repentance, was conclusive. And the very thought of it is refreshing as wo read it. Here follow four grand evidences of a genuine" faith in Jesus" and" repent- ance from dead works." L To OOKE VOLUNTARILY A.ND OOJIFESB, II. To DIBOLOBE, A.ND TO DIBCLOSE VOLtmTABILY, 'DlIDER N:> PBEBS'CJBB 01' TORTURE OB INDUCEICENT OP PliB OB BBIBE, lIL To REPUDIATE PODIEB WAYS, BVl!JIT THOUGH THEY WJ:BE THE WAYB OF LIFE'S LENOTll, OP GETTDIG A LIVELIHOOD. IV. To PUBLICLY BENOtmCE THE VERY INBTBUJlENTB BY WHIOB TIIE FORMER LIFE illD PBOFE88ION WERE SUSTAINED, This renunciation was particularly satisfactory in the preSt:nt instances, inasmuch o.s it was: 1. Public. 2. A renunciation of large value of oaptal. 3. A determined putting away from the fyes the things that had ufi.en fed temptation. 4.. And an ~fort t.o put the old evil conrse, as far as might be . en. ::ux. 1-41.] THE ACTS OF 'l'IIE APOSTLES.