nded. "There was a certain man called Simon, which
beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of
Samaria, giving out that 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. And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had
bewitched them with sorceries," Acts 8:9-11. When "Aaron cast down his rod
before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent, then
Pharaoh also called the wise men, and the sorcerers: now the magicians of
Egypt they also did in like manner with their enchantments. For they cast
down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod
swallowed up their rods," Ex. 7:10-12. When Aaron turned the water of the
river to blood, "the magicians did so with their enchantments," v. 22. In
like manner they "brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt," 8:7. But when
Aaron changed the dust to lice, the magicians attempted the same with
their enchantments, "but they could not," Ex. 8:18. These sorcerers who
withstood Moses, we learn by Paul, were "Jannes and Jambres," 2 Tim. 3:8.
They belonged to an ancient profession in Egypt; for, when Pharaoh dreamed
his dreams, he first "sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and
all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dreams; but there was
none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh," Gen. 41:8. In like manner
Nebuchadnezzar "commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and
the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to show the king his dreams. So they
came, and stood before the king," Dan. 2:2.

These things were practised to some extent in Judah, but were all put away
by Josiah. "Moreover, the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards,
and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in
the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might
perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah
the priest found in the house of the Lord," 2 Kings 23:24.

The acts and influences of demoniacal agencies are apparent from the
foregoing; and the symbolization under the sixth seal, seems to indicate a
revival of those teachings and manifestations at the present time. Within
a few years, the curiosity of the community has been excited, and large
numbers of persons greatly interested, in various phenomena, known as
Mesmerism, Animal-Magnetism, Clairvoyance, Patheti