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Sketches from the Life of Paul
renounced their heathen superstitions. The practice of magic was still
to some extent continued among them. Convinced of their error by
the events which had recently occurred, they came and made a full
confession to Paul, and publicly acknowledged their secret arts to be
deceptive and Satanic. Many sorcerers also abjured the practice of
magic, and received Christ as their Saviour. They brought together
the costly books containing the mysterious “Ephesian letters,” and the
secrets of their art, and burned them in the presence of all the people.
When the books had been consumed, they proceeded to reckon up
the value of the sacrifice. It was estimated at fifty thousand pieces of
silver, equal to about ten thousand dollars.
The influence of these events was more widespread than even Paul
then realized. The manifestation of the power of Christ was a grand
victory for Christianity in the very stronghold of superstition. From
Ephesus the news was widely circulated, and a strong impetus was
given to the cause of Christ. These scenes in the ministry of Paul lived
in the memory of men, and were the means of converting many to the
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gospel, long after the apostle himself had finished his course.
When the Ephesian converts burned their books on magic, they
showed that the things in which they had once most delighted were
now the most abhorred. It was by and through magic that they had
especially offended God and imperiled their souls, and it was against
magic that they showed such indignation. Here was given the best
evidence of true conversion.
Those treatises on divination contained rules and forms of com-
munication with evil spirits. They were the regulations of the worship
of Satan,—directions for soliciting his help and obtaining information
from him. By retaining these books, the disciples would have exposed
themselves to temptation; by selling them they would have placed
temptation in the way of others. They had renounced the kingdom of
darkness, and they did not hesitate at any sacrifice to destroy its power.
Thus the truth triumphed over men’s prejudices, their favorite pursuits,
and their love of money.
It is fondly supposed that heathen superstitions have disappeared
before the civilization of the nineteenth century. But the word of God
and the stern testimony of facts declare that sorcery is practiced in
this Christian age and Christian nation as verily as by the old-time
magicians. The ancient system of magic is, in reality, the same as