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The Acts of the Apostles
among the inmates of the prison, and the minds of all were opened to
listen to the truths spoken by the apostles. They were convinced that
the God whom these men served had miraculously released them from
bondage.
The citizens of Philippi had been greatly terrified by the earthquake,
and when in the morning the officers of the prison told the magistrates
of what had occurred during the night, they were alarmed and sent
the sergeants to liberate the apostles. But Paul declared, “They have
beaten us openly uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into
prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? nay verily; but let them
come themselves and fetch us out.”
The apostles were Roman citizens, and it was unlawful to scourge
a Roman, save for the most flagrant crime, or to deprive him of his
liberty without a fair trial. Paul and Silas had been publicly impris-
oned, and they now refused to be privately released without the proper
explanation on the part of the magistrates.
When this word was brought to the authorities, they were alarmed
for fear that the apostles would complain to the emperor, and going at
once to the prison, they apologized to Paul and Silas for the injustice
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and cruelty done them and personally conducted them out of the prison,
entreating them to depart from the city. The magistrates feared the
apostles’ influence over the people, and they also feared the Power
that had interposed in behalf of these innocent men.
Acting upon the instruction given by Christ, the apostles would
not urge their presence where it was not desired. “They went out of
the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia: and when they had
seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.”
The apostles did not regard as in vain their labors in Philippi.
They had met much opposition and persecution; but the intervention
of Providence in their behalf, and the conversion of the jailer and
his household, more than atoned for the disgrace and suffering they
had endured. The news of their unjust imprisonment and miraculous
deliverance became known through all that region, and this brought
the work of the apostles to the notice of a large number who otherwise
would not have been reached.
Paul’s labors at Philippi resulted in the establishment of a church
whose membership steadily increased. His zeal and devotion, and,
above all, his willingness to suffer for Christ’s sake, exerted a deep and