They shall take up serpents. — The instance of St. Paul at Melita is the only recorded example of the kind (Acts 28:1). Power over “serpents and scorpions” had, it will be remembered, been given before (Luke 10:19).

If they drink any deadly thing... — Of this there is no recorded instance in the New Testament, but it finds an illustration in the tradition of the poisoned cup which was offered to St. John.

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