Imprisonment of Paul and Silas
49
He desired to bring the Jews to Christianity, and sought, as far as
was consistent with the faith, to remove every pretext for opposition.
Yet while he conceded this much to Jewish prejudice, his faith and
teachings declared that circumcision or uncircumcision was nothing,
but the gospel of Christ was everything.
[74]
At Philippi, Lydia, of the city of Thyatira, heard the apostles, and
her heart was open to receive the truth. She and her household were
converted and baptized, and she entreated the apostles to make her
house their home.
Day after day, as they went to their devotions, a woman with the
spirit of divination followed them, crying, “These men are the servants
of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation.” This
woman was a special agent of Satan; and, as the devils were troubled
by the presence of Christ, so the evil spirit which possessed her was ill
at ease in the presence of the apostles. Satan knew that his kingdom
was invaded, and took this way of opposing the work of the ministers
of God. The words of recommendation uttered by this woman were an
injury to the cause, distracting the minds of the people from the truths
presented to them, and throwing disrepute upon the work by causing
people to believe that the men who spoke with the Spirit and power of
God were actuated by the same spirit as this emissary of Satan.
The apostles endured this opposition for several days; then Paul,
under inspiration of the Spirit of God, commanded the evil spirit to
leave the woman. Satan was thus met and rebuked. The immediate
and continued silence of the woman testified that the apostles were
the servants of God, and that the demon had acknowledged them to
be such, and had obeyed their command. When the woman was dis-
possessed of the spirit of the devil, and restored to herself, her masters
were alarmed for their craft. They saw that all hope of receiving money
from her divinations and soothsayings was at an end, and perceived
[75]
that, if the apostles were allowed to continue their work, their own
source of income would soon be entirely cut off.
A cry was therefore raised against the servants of God, for many
were interested in gaining money by Satanic delusions. They brought
Paul and Silas before the magistrates with the charge that “these men,
being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, and teach customs which
are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.”