usefulness, not only to the inquirer himself but to the whole class, was thus lost through the ignorance and incompetence of one who ought to have been better qualified for the position he held.

IV. In all cases the Christian must practise candour. Truth can gain nothing by concealment, dissimulation or sophistry. Aiming at truth not victory,-intent not upon upholding particularforms of Church doctrine, or particular theories of revelation, but. seeking to maintain the simple but sublime fact that God hath spoken to us in the Scriptures,-we shall be able to make admissions which will surprise opposers and often in fact silence their objections. Just about the time when Dr. Ellicott was delivering his charge, a Nonconformist minister in the bishop's own cathedral city of Gloucester, was engaged in a course of Sunday evening lectures on certain subjects which the Christian pulpit and Christian press must deal with, and deal with candidly, if infidelity is to be honestly and successfully met. "Interpolated passages in the New Testament," was the subject of one which I had the opportunity of hearing. The lecturer seemed intent only on conserving truth, and consequently made statements and admissions which would be likely to excite the astonishment and alarm of orthodox congregations, but which all biblical scholars would acknowledge to be just and true. As I listened I felt that the right course was being pursued, and one that Christian teachers must more generally pursue in order to disarm infidelity of some of its weapons, and at the same time afford the believer more solid ground for his faith.. Principal Tulloch, writing to young men, has well said: "The present must be held to be a time of trial, so far as the faith of the young and the faith of all are concerned. Questions touching the worth and authority of Christianity are widely mooted and openly canvassed. There may be something to alarm,-there is certainly much to excite serious thought in the prevailing bias of religious discussion. Of one thing we may be sure, that it is neither possible to avert this course of discussion, nor desirable to do so. It must have free course. The thought of many hearts must be spoken out, otherwise it will eat within, and the last state will be worse than the first. It may be perilous to have the faith of our youth tried as by fire; but it would be still more perilous to discountenance or stifle free inquiry. Christianity has nothing to fear from the freest discussion. Its own motto is, 'Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.'

Human assertion, however vehement,-human authority, however

fellow teacher, he whispered, 'The answer to the difficulty is, With man it is impossible, but not with God, for with God all things are possible.' Mr. Jukes adds: "Such was the solution of the difficulty,' too true a sample, I fear, of the way in which on the one hand honest doubts are often met, as though all inquiry into what is perplexing in Scripture must be criminal; and on the other, of the absurdities which are constantly put forth as true expositions of God's mind and word."-W. M.

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exalted and venerable,-will utterly fail to satisfy the doubts that are awakened, or silence the inquiries that are now so earnestly made. Dr. Ellicott soundly rebukes those who, "resting principally on authority and dogmatic tradition, imagine that their office and mission is not to argue but to teach;" and that they shall best deal with all forms of scepticism by "authoritative declarations" of what they deem the "sound words of truth which have come down from the Apostolic Church." The day for this has gone by. It seems," says Dr. Tulloch, "a very hopeless thing now-a-days, to try and hold any minds by the mere bonds of authority. The intellectual air all around is too astir for this. There is no system of mental seclusion which can well shut out the young from opinions the most opposite to those to which they have been accustomed. The old safeguards, which were wont to enclose the religious life as with a sacred charm, no longer do so. . . . Religion must approve itself to the young as thoroughly reasonable-in a right sense-as well as authoritative. It must be the highest truth in the light of judgment, and history, and experience."

V. Our aim and testimony cannot be too pure and single. We are to win men to Christ not to Churches: we have to gain them, not to some particular system of dogmas, but to the simple truth of God. While surrendering no truth, and departing from no scriptural practice, we may yet feel it right and necessary to remove some things from our creeds and churches which, while they are not even stepping stones to ourselves, are stumbling stones to others. On the other hand it may be needful for us to accept some truths and follow some courses which may render our principles and practices more consistent with the plain requirements of the New Testament. We cannot over estimate the force of the argument of an intelligent and faithful Christian life. As the believer "denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, lives soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ;"

he cannot fail to bear witness to the truth.

VI. Let me add in conclusion that whatever the arguments we use, or the modes of precedure we adopt, either to combat or prevent unbelief, we have need not only of knowledge and candour, but of sympathy and meekness of spirit. One of the several admirable rules which Sale gives for the conduct of Christians towards Mohammedans, is equally applicable to our dealings with all others who differ from us: "We must not give them ill words; but must avoid all reproachful language, all that is sarcastical and biting: this never did good from pulpit or press. The softest words will make the deepest impression; and if we think it a fault in them to give ill language, we cannot be excused when we imitate them." The servant of the Lord must not strive," says the apostle Paul, "but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves." Words of like import,

words eloquent, earnest, and loving, contained in the last section of Dr. Ellicott's charge, may fitly close this series of papers :

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"Whenever we may be called upon to enter into these questions it must not only be with confidence, but with a soul that yearns for the change and conversion of each doubting heart with which it may happen to be brought into contact. Without that deep desire in our souls our arguments will have but little of real persuasive influence. Without sympathy our reasoning will never produce any lasting effect. Sympathy!'-some one will perhaps say, ‘O much misused word! How is it possible to feel sympathy towards men who are now not only using great powers of mind, and positions of considerable influence, to undermine the belief in revealed religion, but are frequently using a language of bitterness and contempt which may remind us that aversion to those who differ from us is not strictly limited to theology? Is not sympathy in such cases almost a disloyalty towards the Lord who has redeemed us?' No, I venture to answer, it is not. Everything that tends to set forth love for souls can never be otherwise than wellpleasing to Him. And to whom may that feeling more fitly be manifested than towards those who, in all the sad meaning of the words, are alone in the wide world without a Father and a God? Unbelief, however boldly it may speak, is ever at heart unsatisfied and unhappy. There is a void in the soul that never can be filled save with the love and the knowledge of Christ. When we see men like Mill gazing into the rayless night, and striving with every mental power, to find out if poor human philosophy can minister to them any presumption of another life,-any hope of re-union with those loved as their own lives, who had passed into that night and now, it might be, were not-when we see this we forget all their hard sayings, and seek only to bring home the love and Fatherhood of Him who is as yet to them, the Unknown God." * J. S.

STEP

SIMON THE SORCERER.

TEPHEN had been stoned. His faithful testimony had been fearlessly rendered. His sincerity was genuine beyond suspicion, for it was sealed with his blood. If the enemies of Christ did not spare the Leader, we can scarcely expect mercy for his persistent followers. The first blow fell, and took away their Christ. Every man fled to his own, and left him alone. The disciples timidly reassembled, and were strengthened and comforted by the promised gift of the Holy Spirit, when the second blow smote down" a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost." The hostile authorities were aroused, and determined to annihilate the troublesome sect. Again the disciples were compelled to flee from Jerusalem, taking refuge in various parts of Judea and Samaria. A virtue was made of

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their necessity. If they could not dwell in peace at Jerusalem, enjoying Christian communion, they would do what they could towards creating such a society wherever they went. Among those thus driven, and thus minded, was Philip, who fled to the north among the Samaritans. He, with six other men "of honest report," had been appointed to the office of deacon when Stephen was chosen. Possibly their official duties brought them into closer contact with the Jewish authorities, and thus concentrated hostility against themselves. At any rate, the Apostles were able to remain at home through a persecution that cost the Church the life of one deacon, Stephen, and the banishment of another, Philip. For without doubt Samaria was safer than Judea. "Then Philip went down to a city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them." His preaching met with great success. "The people with one accord gave heed" to the doctrines on "seeing and hearing the miracles which he did." The good news of glad things that he taught, confirmed by the miracles wrought, filled the city with "great joy." We are reminded, by their joy over Philip's preaching, of a greater joy they had felt but five years previously, when the Lord himself taught them, tarrying with them two days. Their joy then breaks out with the exulting words, said unto the woman: Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world." If asked the question, it would not be safe to deny that Philip's quick and glorious harvest was connected with our Lord's sowing.

When Philip entered Samaria, he found a fertile field, but it was by no means fallow. The very qualities rendering the people open to conviction and quick for action, caused them to be credulous and volatile. Ignorance, coupled, as usual, with superstition, made them the dupes of one wiser and more cunning than themselves. Their Assyrian origin and culture still clung to them, though centuries had intervened, and a monotheistic religion had been imperfectly taught and accepted. The whole world, save the little Hebrew nation, ascribed naturally the occurrence of the unusual to the interference of the gods. Instead of leaving laws that were not understood uninterpreted, the attempt was made to explain them; thus they were misinterpreted. So the Samaritans, burdened with Oriental and budding Gnostic notions, could see in a shrewd charlatan an emanation of God, because he was able to do what they did not understand.

Their poor logic ran thus: This man is able to do what I cannot; if he were a mere man, he could do only what I can; therefore he is more than human,-he is Divine.

The credulous ignorance and ready superstition capable of such logic furnished too fertile a field to be left unworked. And Simon the sorcerer was already there at work when Philip was driven from Jerusalem.

If Simon was a native of the country, for which idea there is some authority, his skill in the "black arts must have been greater than if coming from some distant island, as other writers suggest, because the principle on which the prophet is without honour in his own country would apply with equal severity to a magician.

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Simon had been very successful. He had made dupes of the whole people. They were not "bewitched," as the English version renders the Greek, for this would give the idea of reality and genuineness to his performances, but were lost in astonishment, completely amazed, almost dazed. They seemed ready to believe that he could do anything. They received implicitly his lofty pretensions to be some great one,' that is, some one greater than human. All gave heed to him from "the least to the greatest, saying: This man is the great power of God." If we apply the current notions of the day to interpret what the people thought Simon to be, it could not have been less than the belief that he was a manifestation of God. The expression: "This man is the power of God which is called great," is so strong as to permit us readily to believe that many thought him to be an incarnate God-the very God himself. Elsewhere, and but a few years later, Paul was worshipped as a god who had come down among men. From all that appears to the contrary, we may regard the Samaritans, in their treatment of Simon, as implying but a slightly lighter shade of credulity than the Lycaonians displayed in their attempted treatment of Paul. But whether considered as God himself, or his angel, to him they had regard because that of long time he had overwhelmingly astonished them with sorceries.

We do not know in what particular department of the magic art Simon was most skilled. His success shows him to have been no apprentice, and suggests the command of fertile resources. The most impressive forms of magic prevailing then have survived to our day. Incantation is one form, and is the utterance of mystical words supposed to have been learned from some mysterious volume, or to have been extorted from spirits by potent spells. Another form is that of enchantmant, by which freedom of action is lost, and one is irresistibly bound by charms to serve another's uses, or another's malice. A third form is clairvoyance, or second sight; advertisements of which are so common in certain papers, proving that all rogues and dupes are not dead yet. In the methods by which this power of seeing into the future is obtained, ample scope is afforded for the exercise of genius. Thrones, wands, skulls, stars, cabalistic characters, palmistry, ecstasy, frenzy, incantations, and a hundred other means can be used, singly or in combination, to convince the beholder that the awful words he hears are golden prophecy and not tinsel pretence. The most startling and appalling form of all is necromancy. Mysterious power over the living and insight of the future are sufficiently bewildering; but