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ing on our souls, so that when the evil days draw nigh, we may still have a peace which the world cannot give, and calmly wait all the days of our appointed time, till our change come. And when our troubles here are past, and we descend the dark valley, may we be supported by thine arm and cheered by the light of thy love. Hear us, God of mercy, in this our prayer, which we offer in the name of Jesus Christ, through whom be glory unto Thee, world without end. Amen.

SERMON XXIII.

SIMÓN THE MAGICIAN, OR THE WORLDLING SUBJECT TO TWO MASTERS.

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Acts viii. 18-22.

AND WHEN SIMON SAW THAT THROUGH LAYING ON OF THE APOSLLES' HANDS THE HOLY GHOST WAS GIVEn, he offeERED THEM MONEY, SAYING, GIVE ME ALSO THIS POWER, THAT ON WHOMSOEVER I LAY HANDS, HE MAY RECEIVE THE HOLY GHOST. BUT PETER SAID UNTO HIM, THY MONEY PERISH WITH THEE, BECAUSE THOU HAST THOUGHT THAT THE GIFT OF GOD MAY BE PURCHASED WITH MONEY. THOU HAST NEITHER PART NOR LOT IN THIS 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 FORGIVEN THEE."

"SPEAK, that I may know thee," said an ancient to a person whose character he was desirous of studying. In fact, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. Language is a second countenance, where the movements of the soul are painted, and which betrays its most secret mysteries. One word discloses to us the character of Simon the Magician. Simon speaks, and this odious word attaches itself for ever to his name, like a deep stain; makes of that name a symbol of baseness, and the characteristic of a crime ;-Si

mon speaks, and that word, which outrages the Apostles and astounds the Church, reveals to us the low principle of his actions, and the true nature of his useless faith.

It is, Christians, by this odious light that we are about to study this soul, exhibited to-day for your contemplation. Frightful, but instructive sight! This sight, my brethren, is that of the worldling, who calls himself a Christian, but with whom Christianity is powerless, because the world has placed its yoke and impressed its image on him. No one can serve two masters : such is the oracle of eternal wisdom. The worldling forgets it, and becoming the slave of the present and of his passions, offends God, while he fancies that he serves him. Write on your heart this important truth; and, witnesses of his shipwreck, learn to avoid the rock on which you see him perish.

Simon the Magician pretends to obey two mastershis passions and his religion. Let us examine both, and contemplate the result of their combined action. Simon is the slave of selfish and low passions; but he is not a hardened criminal, his heart is not inaccessible to truth. It is of little importance. He is the slave of his passions, and therefore the result is the same. Vanity is his first tyrant. He wished to be thought some great one: but how? By the brilliancy of his talents, by his beneficence? No; by the falsehoods of a trickster. What an amount of baseness this character implies, and how many guilty actions does it permit! Simon joins fraud to vanity. Could he, without deceit, gain himself the name of the great power of God? He employs corruption, for that is a necessary instrument of his false

hood; and he who wished to gain the Apostles by filthy lucre, was doubtless skilled in the purchase of accomplices. He was moved by vile interest, for such impostures are never disinterested. In a soul possessed by so many disgraceful passions, what place could there remain for ideas and affections of a higher order? Alas! his intellect, yes, his intellect itself seems weakened; because, by serving as the instrument to his passions, it has lost the power of appreciating what does not concern them. He deceives himself so far as to think, that he could seduce with gold St Peter and St John! This man, who has the gift of subjugating the heart of the multitude, did not perceive in the soul of the two Apostles, that unknown God who filled it, and raised them above worldly interests! Behold, how his passions degraded his soul, deadened his intellect; behold the master whom he obeyed!

But Simon is a Christian. Ought not his faith to have tempered his passions and purified his soul? Ah, what faith? That of a heart, possessed by trifling interests and fleshly passious? Of a seduced imagination, which dreams of nothing but the deceits of vanity? Of an overpowered mind, skilled only in one thing, and that of no value? Of a will, enslaved to guilty habits? Simon was a believer-he had been baptized-he pronounced certain words-he performed some external acts, but the inner man remained the same. Do you wish proof of this assertion? Reflect on the origin of his faith. The miracles of Philip drew universal attention, and effaced the feigned prodigies of the impostor. Simon, being conquered, is compelled to acknowledge in Philip the messenger of God, and to believe in

the word which he declares: his mind is convinced. But what power has this bare and cold conviction, to change the heart and purify the whole man? Notice also the effects of this faith. He continued steadfastly with Philip, says the sacred historian, and was amazed at seeing the signs and miracles which were done. But, even in this admiration, do you not discover some trace of his former disorder? Is there in it nothing allied to the passion for wonders, that had become habitual to him—nothing, to the necessity which had grown up in his soul for dazzling exhibitions? If he is really a Christian, would his faith have been restricted to a barren admiration? If the word of life has really penetrated into his soul, and placed there that glowing spark which soon embraces the whole man, would he not weep over his past errors, before men and before God? You ought to see him, you ought to hear him, confess, in the public places of Samaria, his imposturedisabuse those who had been its dupes, and restore to them what they had thereby lost. But no! expect nothing of this sort from him. His vain faith is not of power sufficient to secure such a victory. Our text gives us another proof of it-it shows him to us in the hour of temptation. Peter and John arrive at Samaria, practise imposition of hands, confer the Holy Spirit. From their lips the faithful disciples receive those marvellous gifts, that enriched the primitive church, aud sealed the testimony of the Most High. At this sight the heart of Simon is moved, his imagination is inflamed, and slumbering passion awakes with violence. Not that he envies the gifts of sanctification-but the prodigies which he sees effected, the eager attentions of the multi

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