What a triumph was this for the infant gospel! How did it thus, even in its cradle, strangle some of the most noxious serpents of heathen superstition! These magicians, it appears, were men of high repute in their generation; they had attracted the homage of the multitude by their juggling devices, and had expended immense sums upon the books which contained the rudiments of their

art; and yet, no sooner did the grace of God really influence them, the power and the love of Christ take full possession of them, than they resolved to sacrifice every thing for which they had hitherto lived, to part with fame, property, character, each of them most dear to the natural mind; and to "count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus" their Lord.

It will be profitable to observe for a moment the process which took place in the minds of these persons, and brought them to so remarkable a result.

B 2. PART II.

We are

told that they first "believed," they then "confessed and shewed their deeds," and they lastly "brought their books together, and burned them before all men."

The religion of our adorable Redeemer is the same, brethren, in all ages; as there is "one Lord, one faith, one baptism," so there is invariably produced, by the true acknowledgment of this one Lord, the heartfelt reception of this one faith, the participation of this one baptism of the Holy Ghost, the same blessed effect. That effect is precisely such as the evangelist has here recorded. When you are led to a true and living faith in the Son of God, or in other words, when you believe, you are induced to confess before God, with penitential sorrow, your deeds, you learn to look back upon much of your past life with deep heartfelt regret, deploring from your inmost soul many of those things, which, in your days of darkness, cost you neither repugnance nor sorrow. But even this confession,

sincere and heartfelt though it be, the genuine fruit of a living faith, as it would not satisfy your God, so neither does it content your own awakened heart. Like these magicians, you cannot rest till you have not merely confessed and deplored, but put away from you the accursed thing, till you have relinquished every unholy profit, and given up every unlawful or questionable enjoyment.

This may fairly be assumed, then, as a test by which to determine the strength with which the gospel of Christ has been brought to bear upon yourselves. Has it ever influenced you thus? Has it operated thus powerfully to the pulling down of the strong holds of sin, even though the sacrifice be costly and selfdenying? Has every thing displeasing to God been relinquished-every thing contrary to His will and His commands been given up? Or, if this be saying too much, Have you at least good reason to hope that there is no profit, and no plea

sure, and no pursuit, which you are not anxious to sacrifice to the will and the honour of your God? Happy are they whose religion abounds in such unquestionable fruits as these; they proclaim at once the tree of the Lord's planting, whose leaf shall not wither, whose root is imbedded deep in the Rock of ages, and whose head has risen above the mists and damps of this world of sin, and is bearing much fruit in the perpetual sunshine which lies beyond them.

The reflection of the apostle upon recording the self-denying act of the magicians of which we have spoken, is the following, "So mightily grew the word of God, and prevailed." Yes! there is no proof so striking, there is no evidence so satisfactory of the mighty power and progress of God's word, in a city, in a congregation, in a human heart, as when it leads to unshrinking obedience to the plain and positive commands of God. If these magicians had been only

half convinced, and half converted, they would have been content to have sold their books, or to have laid them by in some secret chamber, with perhaps a lingering feeling that at some future time they might recur to them without danger; but this will not content the true convert, he cannot rest satisfied until he has placed himself, as far as in him lies, beyond the temptation, or the possibility, of a retreat. My brethren, if the word of God be growing mightily, and prevailing among you, similar instances will not merely occasionally occur, but abound. The man of pleasure will forego the sinful or unprofitable amusements in which he once delighted: the man of business, if he have been a dishonest man, will now confess his deeds to God, and, as far as he is enabled, make reparation to those whom he had defrauded; he will put away his false weights and his short measures; or if he have hitherto been upright and conscientious, but still