itory he invades,
so when the Son of God appeared on earth, the devils were troubled at
His presence, and, in the agony of their terror, proclaimed His dignity.
[92:3] It would appear that some influence of an analogous character
operated on this Pythoness. The arrival of the missionaries in Philippi
alarmed the powers of darkness, and the damsel, under the pressure of an
impulse which she found it impossible to resist, told their commission.
But neither the apostles, nor our Lord, cared for credentials of such
equivocal value. As this female followed the strangers through the
streets, and in a loud voice announced their errand to the city, "Paul,
being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee, in the
name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her, and he came out the same
hour." [93:1]

The unbelieving Jews had hitherto been the great persecutors of the
Church; but now, for the first time, the apostles encountered opposition
from another quarter; and the expulsion of the spirit from the damsel
evoked the hostility of this new adversary. When the masters of the
Pythoness "saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul
and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers." [93:2]
We here discover one great cause of our Lord under the government of the
pagan emperors. The Jews were prompted by mere bigotry to display hatred
to the gospel--but the Gentiles were generally guided by the still more
ignoble principle of selfishness. Many of the heathen multitude cared
little for their idolatrous worship; but all who depended for
subsistence on the prevalence of superstition, such as the image-makers,
the jugglers, the fortune-tellers, and a considerable number of the
priests, [93:3] were dismayed and driven to desperation by the progress
of Christianity. They saw that, with its success, "the hope of their
gains was gone;" and, under pretence of zeal for the public interest,
and for the maintenance of the "lawful" ceremonies, they laboured to
intimidate and oppress the adherents of the new doctrine.

The appearance of the missionaries at Philippi must have created a
profound sensation, as otherwise it is impossible to account for the
tumult which now occurred. The "masters" of the damsel possessed of the
"spirit of divination," no doubt, took the initiatory step in the
movement; but had not the public mind been in some degree prepared for
their appeals, they could not have induced all classes of t