The life and work of St. Paul

384 TEE LIFE AND WOES Of St. PAUL.
to the signs and wonders which in writing to the Corinthians he distinctly
ckims. Although St. Paul believed that God, for the furtherance of the
Gospel, did allow him to work " powers " beyond the range of human experience,
and in which he humbly recognised the work of the Spirit granted to
faith and prayer, yet he by no means frequently exercised these gifts, and
never for his own relief or during the sickness of his dearest friends. But
it was a common thing in Ephesus to use all kinds of magic remedies and
curious arts. Wo are not, therefore, surprised to hear that articles of dress
which had belonged to Paul, handkerchiefs which he had used, and aprons
with which he had been girded in the pursuit of his trade, 1 were assumed by
the Ephesians to have caught a magic efficacy, and were carried about to
sick people and demoniacs. St. Luke was not with the Apostle at Ephesns,
and enters into no details ; but it is clear that his informant, whoever he was,
had abstained from saying that this was done by St. Paul's sanction. But
since Ephesus was the head-quarters of diabolism and sorcery, the use of St.
Paul's handkerchiefs or aprons, whether authorised by him or not, was so far
overruled to beneficial results of healing as to prove the superiority of the
Christian faith in the acropolis or Paganism, and to prepare tho way for holy
worship in the stronghold of Eastern fanaticism and Grecian vice. He who
"
followed not Jesus," and yet was' enabled to cast out devils in His name,
could hardly fail to be the prototype of others who, though they acted without
sanction, were yet, for good purposes, and in that unsearched borderland
which lies between the natural and the supernatural, enabled by God's provi*
dence to achieve results which tended to the furtherance of truth.
But lest any sanction should be given to false and superstitious notions,
wo can hardly fail to see in the next anecdote which St. Luke has preserved
for us a direct rebuke of mechanical thaumrturgy. Exorcism was a practice
which had long been prevalent among the Jews, and it was often connected
with the grossest credulity and the most flagrant imposture.* Now there was
3 a Jewish priest of some distinction of the name of Sceva, whose seven sons
wandered about from place to place professing to eject demons and on learn-
;
ing the reputation of St. Paul, and hearing doubtless of the cures effected by
the application of his handkerchiefs, they thought that by combining his name
with that of Jesus, they could effect cures in the most virulent cases, which
defeated even the ring and root of Solomon. 4
Encouraged possibly by some
apparent initial success so at least the story seems to imply two of these
tribulationes quae Paulo Paulique imitatoribua ipsis miraculis sunt clariores "(Nova-
rinus).
1
crovfapia, sudnria ; ^fiiiuVtfta, scmicinct-a.
2 Jos. Antt. viii. 2, 5. For this ridiculous jugglery, which seems to have deceived
Vespasian, see my Life of Christ, i. 237. The prevalence of Jewish exorcists ia attested
by Justin Martyr, Dial. 85.
3 Acts xix. 14, px'p* a general expression ; perhaps a head of one of the twenty-
four courses.
4 JOB. Antt. I.e. We find many traces of this kind of superstition in the Talmudio
the name
writings : e.g., the belief that the Minim could cure the bites of serpents by
of Jesus (v. tupra, p. 63). In the ToUfith JAtt, the miracles of our Lord are ex-