CHAPTER XV.

THE OPPOSING SPIRIT.

"AND Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. And there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and spirit by which he spake. Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God." How natural with perverted minds, when other efforts fail to prevent the influence of Divine Truth, to resort to defamation of character, to false accusations, and thence to excite public prejudice against the firm advocates of principles most difficult to overcome by error and sophistry. The enemies of the Gospel having failed to subdue Stephen by an attack upon his principles or himself personally, resorted to the basest means, even that of subornation, in order to prevent him from promulgating the Gospel. Truth needs no such infamous Satanism to sustain it, or overcome its foes; but error must needs resort to deception and calumniation.

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To condemn Jesus required false testimony. So also they suborned men who testified that Stephen had blasphemed. But the Spirit was with him, even as Jesus promised, so much so that while accused, "All looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel."

"Then said the high priest, Are these things so? And he (Stephen) said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken: the God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran," etc.-See Acts vii. Stephen was an earnest advocate of the laws and merciful bestowments of the God of Abraham, of the Abrahamic covenant, of Jesus Christ the Messiah, and of Redemption through him. And the natural man persecuted him even unto death.

"Howbeit," he said while pleading before his accusers, "the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, Heaven is my throne and earth my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord; or what is the place of my rest? Hath not my hand made all these things?

"Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost; as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the

coming of the Just One, of whom ye have now been the betrayers and murderers."

"When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth." (Some media of modern times, as we shall show, have manifested a similar spirit.) "But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. Then they' cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul."

Notice that the witnesses, vile perjurers, were foremost to stone him whom they knew innocent. "And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.-Acts vii, 48, 60.

Stephen suffered at the hands of wicked deceivers, and for the doctrines of Christianity, the name of Jesus. But he endured meekly, without retaliation, and, like his Savior, prayed for his executioners. Jesus, while on the cross,

said, "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." Stephen prayed, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge, and fell asleep."

"Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one accord gave heed to those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them. But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime, in the same city, used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that he himself was some great one, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God." Need names be mentioned to cite the mind to corresponding incidents which are now transpiring? But the history continues, saying, "And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the Apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me also this power." Simon acknowledged his power inferior to that which attended the Apostles; nevertheless he had bewitched the people of Samaria, "all of whom had said, This man is the power of God." But Peter said, "Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God

may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither lot nor part in the matter; for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent, therefore, of this thy wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be for given thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity. Then answered Simon, Pray the Lord for me." Thus Heaven's Truth is again vindicated, and the opposing principle rendered vain; and, also, the sorcerer forced to admit his magic and source of skill inferior by far to the power accompanying the Apostles. He first offers to purchase the spirit as an art and failing, solicits prayer for himself: "Pray ye to the Lord for me."--Acts viii, 5-24. Thus was the perverted nature-sphere that had formerly controlled him, and by which the people of Samaria had been deluded, overcome, and its insufficiency exposed by the light of the Spirit of Truth, and he the medium of evil influences brought to see his necessity of God's grace.

The next incident we shall notice is that of a female medium, who was under the influence of a spirit of divination, but which was cast out by Paul. The record says of her: "And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel, possessed with a spirit of divination, met us, which brought her master much gain by