They comforted them and departed.— Such an extraordinary interposition of God for his suffering servants, and such an addition made to their church, had a natural tendency both to cheer their hearts, and to invigorate their pious resolutions.
Accordingly, it appears from St. Paul's Epistle to this church, that there were many excellent Christians among them, who expressed an affection for him, and a zeal for their holy religion, in a considerable degree correspondent to such encouragements and obligations. See Philippians 1:5-7; Philippians 1:29-30; Philippians 4:10; Philippians 4:14-18. Though many circumstances might now have invited their stay at Philippi, they wisely complied with the request of the magistrates, that they might not seem to express any degree of obstinacy or revenge, and might give no suspicion of any design to stir up the people to sed
Inferences.—From the chapter before us, we see by what various methods divine grace operates upon different persons. As for Lydia, she was touched by a gentle influence descending upon her like dew from heaven. Her heart was melted under the word, as snow by the sun; and by the soft, yet powerful hand of our blessed Saviour, was made willing and obedient.—But when the Lord came to subdue the stubborn heart of the savage gaoler, who seems to have taken a barbarous pleasure in afflicting his pious prisoners, he comes in the whirlwind, the tempest, and the fire. 1 Kings 19:11-12. His soul, as well as his house, was shaken with an earthquake, and the foundations, as it were, laid bare. A sudden transport of astonishment convinces him of his extreme danger. His hand is mercifully stopped in that terrible moment, in which he was rushing on to seek a refuge in hell from the seeming dangers of earth; and being touched by a secret grace which he had not as yet been instructed to seek, he falls down before Paul and Silas, and honours them as among the first of mankind, whom he had just before treated, not only as slaves, but as the worst of miscreants. He is now ready to receive the law and the gospel from their mouth; seeking the way of salvation from them, and declaring his readiness to submit to whatever they shall tell him.
In this man we have a striking example of true conversion, which seems to afford very useful matter for serious consideration. Though the scriptures continually insist upon the absolute necessity of conversion, there are multitudes of nominal Christians so wholly unacquainted with that necessity, and with the nature of true conversion, as to imagine the very idea absurd.
Conversion, in the direct meaning of the word, is a turning from, and particularly a turning from the service of sin and Satan, to the service of God and holiness. And in this sense it is used by God himself to the children of Israel, who, like the visible Christian church now, were then his professing people: and if they were called upon to turn, or be converted, surely there is the same reason for the same proceedings now. As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked should turn from his way, and live: Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
Conversion, therefore, it plainly follows, is absolutely necessary for all those, whatever name they bear, who walk in their own ways, if they would live, if they would save their souls alive. The true nature and full meaning of conversion is shewn us by the history of the gaoler; and we there learn, that three things are required to a real conversion; namely, 1 a conviction of sin: 2 a firm and applicatory belief in the divine propitiation for sin in Christ Jesus: 3 a change of heart and life.
First, a miracle highly alarming convinced the gaoler, and laid him prostrate at the apostles' feet, desiring to know what he should do to be saved. Fears for his soul's eternal welfare now first filled his heart; and a sense of his own sinfulness, and the divine greatness and justice, awakened in his bosom the most dreadful apprehensions. There were the same reasons for these apprehensions and fears before, as now; but his danger had never been so great, his views of eternity never so near. And the same is the case with all the unawakened: there is at all times, while in an un-converted state, the same reason to be alarmed; for death may come in a moment;—in a moment we, poor, perishing mortals, may be disabled from making the inquiry!
Now by whatever means this important inquiry is first raised in the heart; by whatever means the soul is led to see the danger, and guilt, and condemnation of sin, and stirred up to seek after salvation,—this is the beginning of conversion; this is the happy preparation for the spiritual, heavenly life, and, if properly pursued by agonizing prayer and active faith, will assuredly lead the penitent to a thorough conversion, and a genuine revelation of Jesus Christ in his soul.
But, 2nd, faith in Jesus Christ; a faith founded on the apostolic testimony, as recorded Acts 16:31 provides such a convicted sinner with a full and perfect answer to the great question urged, Acts 16:30 and with full and perfect peace for his conscience. There, in the grand atonement on the cross, he sees how God was just in punishing sin; there he sees how God may be merciful, consistently with his justice, in pardoning him a miserable sinner: and thus, finding experimentally in his belief of this glorious truth, what is quite sufficient for his guilty soul, he lays hold upon Christ by faith; he knows that all his sins are forgiven; he becomes a thankful disciple of the suffering Jesus; and, by the power of the blessed Spirit, he walks in his steps,—is renewed in heart and life.
This is the grand test of conversion, the indisputable proof of his sincerity, both to the sinner and to others. This was one of the grand touchstones which the fathers and first preachers of the gospel always applied to the conviction and conversion of their hearers, by the word of faith which they preached. "What great command the divine precepts of the gospel (say they,) have upon the minds of men, daily experience shews. Give us a man that is passionate, and we will, through divine grace, make him mild, if he will but believe; covetous, and we will make him liberal; lustful, and we will make him temperate; cruel, and we will make him merciful; unjust and vicious, and we will make him just and unblameable. Hast thou an unchaste wife? bring her to religion; it will make her continent: hast thou an undutiful child? bring him to religion, it will make him obedient: hast thou an unfaithful servant? it will teach him fidelity. We warrant our faith, not by working of wonders, but by converting of sinners; by changing filthiness into holiness; by turning incarnate devils into mortal angels."
Just such was the mighty operation wrought upon the gaoler in the instance before us: his works immediately witnessed his sincerity. Those servants of the most high God, whom ere now he had thrust into the lowest dungeon, he brings out, and the same hour of the night washes their stripes, sets meat before them, and rejoices, believing in God. He witnesses his repentance and faith by a real reformation in his nature; and not content to hear Paul preach, to believe and be baptized; he shews, moreover, the power of his conversion in his private personal calling and profession. He becomes a good gaoler, full of pity and compassion toward his prisoners; he becomes a good father, and a good master: all his house must be taught and baptized, as well as himself.
And certainly the truth of conversion will evidence itself in the ordering and reforming of our personal calling. Religion is not a matter merely of public and common profession; is not to be found only in churches and meeting-houses; but it will enter into our private houses, and bid itself home to us as Christ did to Zaccheus, Come, "I must lodge in thine house:" it will have access and sway in all our employments; it will shew itself in all our dealings one with another; and make a man no less careful to discharge his duty to his neighbour and his brother, than to his God and Father.
True conversion will moreover manifest itself in commiserating the poor servants of God, and shewing mercy to them; in making all possible amends to those whom we have by any means injured; and in shewing all thankfulness to those whom God has been pleased to make the instruments of conveying to us his salvation. A proof of all these,—of love to his neighbour, of pity to the afflicted servants of God, of reparation for injuries, and thankfulness to the ministers of salvation,—was that act of the gaoler's, namely, his washing the stripes of Paul and Silas. And thus we see that true conversion consists in real repentance for sin; a cordial belief in that great Atonement wrought out by Christ Jesus; and in a thorough change of the dispositions and the life,—in short, a change of nature and actions; such a change as fills the heart with love to God, and to every brother, and to all mankind; and draws it forth in real acts of kindness and regard.
The only question then with us all, should be, whether or not we are in this saving state? It is in vain, and a self-delusion, to reply, "Doubtless we are; for we have been baptized; we frequent the church or meeting-house, and the other means of grace." Alas, how many perish under this specious deceit! It is not to bear a name, or to perform the mere outward services of religion, which will bless us with God's favour, or preserve us from death eternal. A true and anxious desire for our soul's salvation; an experimental knowledge of the guilt and danger of sin; a faith unfeigned in the merit and intercession of Christ, producing in us a consciousness of our adoption into the family of God; and a life of obedience and love; these alone can truly stile us children of God, and joint-heirs with Christ. Whatever may be the delusions with which men labour to sooth and satisfy their consciences, these are marks wherein no man can easily deceive himself: and surely in a matter of so great moment, as that of acceptance with God, no man would wish to deceive himself. The scriptures are plain and explicit, that without this conversion,—this repentance for sin, this living faith, and this life of obedience, we can never see God. Be it then our care, as we tender our eternal salvation, to see that those marks by God's grace be found in us, as they were in the gaoler before us; ever bearing in mind, that it is the most unreasonable folly, to pray constantly for these things, as nominal Christians do, and not to exert one endeavour towards the obtaining of them. May God enable us to be wise for ourselves in time; and thus to avoid a conduct so scandalous to our profession, and so ruinous to our immortal souls!
REFLECTIONS.—1st, We have an account of St. Paul's travels, and his acquaintance with Timothy, who, under his tuition, afterwards grew so eminent.
1. St. Paul's first visit was to Derbe and Lystra, where the Lord had provided for him an assistant and companion in his travels, a certain disciple, a young man named Timothy, whose mother was a Jewess, his father a Gentile. His exemplary conduct and excellent parts had gained him a great character among the brethren at Lystra and Iconium; St. Paul therefore was desirous to engage him to go with him; and the zealous youth readily consenting, he took and circumcised him; not as necessary to salvation, or as an obligation on him to observe the ceremonial law, that point having been settled by the apostolic decree; but as a matter in itself indifferent, and because he knew the prejudices which the unbelieving Jews would entertain against him, because they knew his mother was a Jewess; and that unless he were circumcised, they never would admit him to preach in any of their synagogues, or converse with, him, which might greatly obstruct the usefulness of his ministry. In condescension therefore to the prejudices of his countrymen, he took this step, and to the Jews became as a Jew, that he might gain the Jews; a proof of his warm affection toward his kinsmen after the flesh, though persecuted by them as their inveterate enemy.
2. As they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem. Though he had for a particular reason circumcised Timothy, he meant not to lay any stumbling-block in the way of the Gentile converts thereby, but asserted their entire liberty from all the legal institutions, according to the copies of the apostolic decree which he delivered to them. And so were the churches established in the faith; particularly, in the great doctrine of justification by faith alone, and of acceptance with God through Jesus Christ without any respect to circumcision or the Mosaical ordinances; and increased in number daily, the Lord, by the ministrations of St. Paul and his young assistant, adding to the church numbers of souls, which, under his grace, were the fruit of their labours. And that is the supreme joy of the faithful ministers of Christ, and a fresh bond to quicken their zeal and diligence, when Christ is pleased to make them see this travail of their souls.
2nd, We have,
1. St. Paul's travels continued through Phrygia and Galatia. He had purposed to go on through the proconsular Asia; but by a secret impulse of the Holy Ghost, he was forbad, other work being provided for him. His next remove was to Mysia, to a people despicable to a proverb; but the grace of Jesus knows no respect of persons: all may come to him, if they will. Thence they had designed to go into Bithynia, another province of lesser Asia: but the Spirit suffered them not, under whose guidance they directed all their motions. Therefore passing by Mysia, without making any stay, they came to Troas, near the place where the ancient city of Troy had stood; and here, it is supposed, St. Luke, the writer of this history, joined St. Paul and his company, as henceforward he usually says we, as one of those who travelled with the apostle.
2. At Troas, the Lord in a vision directed St. Paul which way to bend his course. A man of Macedonia, or, more probably, an angel, in the garb of a Macedonian, stood by him, and entreated him to come over into Macedonia, and help them by his prayers and preaching. Hereupon, assuredly concluding that this was a divine call to preach the gospel unto them, he and his fellow-travellers immediately prepared for their voyage, and came to Samothracia, a little island lying in the Archipelago, or AEgean sea; and the next day they arrived at Neapolis a port on the confines of Macedonia; and continuing their course, they reached Philippi, the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a Roman colony, governed by the Roman laws and magistrates. Note; (1.) When we see an evident call of God to a place, we may go to our work with confidence. (2.) They who are sent on God's work, must run at his bidding, and make no delay. (3.) Chief cities often afford the greatest field of usefulness, and the gospel sent thither becomes a more general blessing.
3. The first days of their arrival seemed to promise but little success: they abode there certain days, perhaps unnoticed, and unable to find a door of utterance. There seems to have been no synagogue of the Jews in this place; but some devout women, whether Jews or proselytes, resorted to an oratory without the city, near the river-side, where they used to meet for prayer on the sabbath-day: thither the apostle and his fellow-travellers went, and joined their devotions, taking an opportunity to preach to them the gospel, and lead them to the knowledge of the great salvation which is in Jesus Christ.
4. A blessing attended their labours. A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, either of silk or cloth, or the purple dye, a native of Thyatira, a city of Asia, but who was now settled at Philippi, and worshipped God, as a proselyte of the gate, heard us with great seriousness; whose heart the Lord opened by the powerful efficacy of his grace, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul, and received the truth in the light and love of it. And as she made immediate profession of her faith, she was baptized, and her household; whereupon she besought St. Paul and his friends, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, seeing you have received me into your number, shew me the confidence you place in me, and come into my house, and abide there; so desirous was she of testifying her gratitude to those from whom she had received so great spiritual blessings, and solicitous to enjoy as much as possible of their conversation, that she might grow more established in the truth; and she constrained us. Unwilling to be burdensome, they were at first backward to accept her invitation; but at last, overcome with her importunity, they consented. Note; (1.) One soul turned to God, is a great acquisition, and well worthy to be recorded. (2.) Providence sometimes brings us far from our native home, with views we little thought of; and so orders the place of our abode as to be greatly subservient to the salvation of our souls. (3.) Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God; they who sit under a preached gospel, are in the Lord's way. (4.) They who have received a blessing from God's ministers, and owe to them, under God, their souls, think they can never sufficiently shew their gratitude to them for their labours of love. (5.) We cannot but desire the approbation of those who are eminently good, and wish so to act as that they may judge us faithful to the Lord.
3rdly, A singular occurrence soon made these great preachers of the gospel more taken notice of.
1. There was a damsel possessed with a spirit of divination; for in these times of ignorance and idolatry, the devil used many such deluding instruments. And as she was paid when consulted, and was reputed of extraordinary skill, she brought her masters much gain by her soothsaying. And when St. Paul and his companions went out of the city to their oratory, this damsel for several days followed them, crying, These men are the servants of the most high God; which shew unto us the way of salvation; by which means the devil designed to prejudice the cause of Christ, as if these preachers were promoting the same interests, and were influenced by the same spirit as this soothsayer. Note; (1.) It is the honour of ministers, that they are the servants of the most high God. (2.) There is no way of salvation, but that which the gospel points out to us; without it we must for ever lie down in ignorance, guilt, and misery.
2. Grieved at her continual clamours, and justly apprehensive, lest there should seem to be a confederacy between them and her; and sorry that Satan, by her means, should deceive and delude the people of Philippi, Paul turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her, and instantly Satan's power was broken, and he came out the same hour.
3. Her masters, highly exasperated to find all their gains gone, and her soothsaying at an end, caught Paul and Silas, the two most active persons; and dragging them violently along to the forum, where the magistrates sat to administer justice, preferred a heavy complaint against them, covering their private revenge with the pretence of zeal for the public welfare, saying, These men being Jews, the refuse of the earth, and the pests of society, do exceedingly trouble our city, fomenting riots and disturbances, and interrupting the peace of the people; and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans; their doctrines and practices being utterly opposite to, and subversive of the worship of our gods, the manners of our country, and the laws of the empire. Note; (1.) The love of money is the root of all evil. (2.) Revenge and malice often wear the cloak of religious zeal, to conceal their malignity. (3.) They who are the preachers of the gospel of peace, have often thus been branded as the disturbers of society, and as the firebrands of discord.
4. The giddy multitude, inflamed by a charge so invidious, rose up in a popular tumult, ready to tear them in pieces; and the magistrates, without form of trial, swimming with the stream, rent off their clothes, and commanded the lictors, their officers, to scourge them severely with rods, as the most infamous malefactors, 1 Thessalonians 2:2. And, not content with this cruel treatment, after the many and deep stripes they had laid on them, they committed them to the town prison, strictly charging the jailor to keep them safely, that they might not escape; while they consulted what farther to do with them. And he failed not to execute the charge with abundant severity, thrusting them into the inner prison, the place allotted to the vilest criminals; and, to prevent all possibility of escape, made their feet fast in the stocks. Note; Christ's servants must prepare for sufferings, and not stagger at any reproach which, for his sake, they may be called to bear.
4thly, The misery, pain, and wretched condition in which these two innocent prisoners might be supposed to lie, would lead us to expect many a doleful groan; but wonderful to tell! we find them happier in their filthy prison, than their persecutors on beds of down.
1. At midnight Paul and Silas prayed, committing themselves cheerfully to God, looking up to him for strength to bear whatever more might be laid upon them; remembering, no doubt, their persecutors, and begging God to forgive them, not forgetting their cruel jailor; and they not only prayed, but sang praises unto God, rejoicing in their bonds, that they were counted worthy to suffer for their Master's name; and were filled with such divine consolations as made them forget all the horrors of a prison, and brought down to that dreary mansion a taste of heavenly felicity; and the prisoners heard them; so loud, so hearty were their praises, being not ashamed of their Master's service. Note; (1.) Prayer is an ease to the heart in every affliction, and joint sufferers should unite their supplications. (2.) Our trials should never untune our hearts for praise; in the midst of all, we have much, very much, for which we should be thankful. (3.) The singing of psalms or hymns is a blessed gospel ordinance, and we should never be ashamed of being heard in our families, though foolish and wicked men may ridicule the service.
2. God miraculously gives a token of his presence with them, and of his acceptance of their prayers and praises. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, a testimony of God's displeasure against their persecutors, and of his appearance on the behalf of his suffering ministers, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed; an intimation to the prisoners, that the gospel which these faithful preachers declared, was designed to deliver their souls from the more grievous bondage of guilt and corruption.
3. The jailor himself becomes a convert.
[1.] Awaked by the terrible shock, and starting from his bed, he saw, with astonishment, the prison-doors wide open; and supposing all the prisoners fled, for whose escape his own life must pay, he drew his sword in the first transports of despair, to put an end to his life, in order to prevent a more dreaded public execution.
[2.] St. Paul, who probably by divine revelation knew the fatal resolution the jailor was about to take, stays with a loud voice his uplifted arm, saying, Do thyself no harm; for we are all here. Paul and Silas thought not of escaping, and the rest were held by an invisible power. Note; The gospel word is, Do thyself no harm; all God's warnings, rebukes, and calls, are purely to rescue us from the ruin into which we were running, and to save us from sin, the cause of all our miseries.
[3.] The jailor, whose conscience the convictions of sin had now shook more terribly, than the earthquake the prison's foundations, called for a light and sprang in eagerly; and came trembling, under the most fearful sense of his dreadful guilt, and fell down before Paul and Silas, with deepest respect and veneration, and brought them out of the horrid dungeon where they were, and said, Sirs, What must I do to be saved? He now felt all the wickedness of his past conduct, particularly his cruel behaviour to these messengers of God; and, confounded at his provocations, he eagerly begs their forgiveness, and direction how he may obtain pardon at the hands of God. Note; (1.) God's Spirit works in different ways on different persons; some, like Lydia, are gently led to Christ; others pass first through the most dreadful terrors, sometimes brought to the gates of despair, and even tempted to self-murder; and yet even this, if they continue penitent, works together for their good, in order to make Christ more precious to their souls. (2.) They who have before despised and ill-used God's ministers, will, when seized by convictions of sin, entertain very different apprehensions of them, and address them with very different language. (3.) To a soul convinced of sin, all other considerations are swallowed up in that one great concern, What must I do to be saved?
[4.] Paul and Silas have an immediate answer ready for his question: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house; the salvation which they preached being free for him, though an idolatrous Gentile and bitter persecutor; and his family also would be permitted to share his blessing. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house, who were assembled on this joyful occasion. Note; (1.) The gospel proposes a free salvation in Jesus Christ to the chief of sinners. (2.) Nothing but faith in a Redeemer can bring true peace to a guilty conscience, or obtain the salvation which a sinner needs. (3.) Masters of families, who know the Lord themselves, cannot but be desirous that all under their roof may share their blessings, and be brought with them to the knowledge of the truth.
[5.] Filled now with gratitude and love, the jailor, deeply affected with the blessed truths which he heard, took them and washed their stripes, to supple and ease the wounds which their severe scourging had made in their backs, and was baptised, he and all his, straightway, desirous to come under the bonds of the covenant with his family, and to make public profession of Christianity: which done, he brought Paul and Silas into his house, and set meat before them, to refresh them, after the fatigues and fasting which they had endured; and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house, who rejoiced with him in the salvation which they had now embraced. Note; (1.) Believing in Christ is called believing in God, for he is very God; and on his being so, our everlasting hopes depend. (2.) Joy is the happy fruit of faith; they who see a reconciled God blotting out all their transgressions, cannot but rejoice in his salvation.
5thly, We have,
1. The message of the magistrates to these prisoners. In the morning, when their passion was cooled, they probably reflected upon the illegality of their proceedings; and, if they felt the earthquake, this might still more alarm their fears. Therefore they sent their serjeants to the jailor, with orders to dismiss the prisoners, willing to hush up the matter, without farther animadversion.
2. The jailor, glad to convey this message to his guests now, rather than his prisoners, informed them that they were at liberty to depart, and advised them to haste away, lest perhaps the present mind of these magistrates should change; and he wishes that all blessings and happiness may attend them.
3. St. Paul appears in no haste to go. His own innocence required vindication; and, for the sake of the disciples, he meant to assert his civil rights and privileges, and therefore bade the serjeants carry back this message to their masters, They have beaten us openly, cruelly and ignominiously, though uncondemned, without even a form of trial, being Romans, whose privileges, as citizens, are not thus insolently to be trampled upon; and have cast us into prison, as if we were the vilest slaves and criminals; and now do they thrust us out privily? as if we wanted a clandestine escape, and had broke from prison? nay verily, we will accept of our liberty on no such terms; but let them come themselves and fetch us out, acknowledging our innocence publicly, removing the reproach they have cast upon our characters, and taking shame to themselves for their illegal and tyrannical procedure, that they may act more gently for the future. Our civil rights are thus often a barrier against the fury of persecutors: the fear of the law often restrains those, who are withheld from injuring us by no fear of the Lord.
4. The magistrates, justly apprehensive of the consequence, if St. Paul should cite them before the tribunal of their superiors for their illegal proceedings, came very submissively, and besought them not to take advantage of the law against them, but to forgive the injuries they had received; and brought them out of the prison, publicly acknowledging hereby their innocence, and desired them to depart out of the city, that there might be no farther disturbance. Thus has the violence of persecutors often involved them in proceedings which they were unable to vindicate, and which have at last brought shame and confusion upon their own heads.
5. Being thus honourably discharged, they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia, their former hostess; and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, with an account of God's wondrous appearance for them, and the success of the gospel even in their prison; encouraging them therefore to stand fast in the confidence of support under all their trials; and hereupon they departed, to spread the gospel through the other provinces of Greece; leaving behind them a very flourishing church, which, from these small beginnings, rose to singular eminence.