(2) But this was not sufficient. The physical shock might arrest, but it could not instruct. It might overawe, but it could not inspire. The rumbling and the crash of the earthquake is not the only voice which breaks the midnight silence. There is the voice of prayer and praise, borne aloft to the Throne of Grace from those subterranean dungeons. We may well imagine that this voice also, so strange, so unearthly, so unlike the gibes and the curses and the blasphemies which were wont to issue from the prisoners' cells, had arrested the jailor's ear ; that they had sug- gested hopes and fears, which he could but vaguely understand ; that they held out to him a new ideal of life, at which he blindly clutched ; that, mingling with his dreams, they had moulded his awakening thoughts ; and thus insensibly they had shaped the cry which rose to his lips, " Sirs, what must I do to be saved I"1
1 J. B. Lightfoot.
136 WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?
6. The calm answer of Paul and Silas was, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved." They were not afraid of that Gospel which they came to preach ; they did not count that what God had made free, it would be prudent for man to clog with conditions. They did not say to themselves, " This wicked, this hardened jailor must not be encouraged to believe too soon in the forgiveness of sins; he must be kept at a due distance for awhile ; and then some glimpses of hope may be given him, and the prospect at some future day of a full pardon." Not so ; but the rich treasure-house of God's grace was thrown open to him at once, and he was bidden to help himself, and to make himself rich with the best gifts which were there.
II.
The Question. " What must I do to be saved ? "
1. Before we come to the words of the question we should take note that, whatever may have prompted similar questions — such as the question of the Eich Young Euler, "What shall I do that I may have eternal life ? " — this question was clearly quickened by fear. The jailor, we are told, was " trembling for fear " (ver. 29, E. V.) ; he had been alarmed by the earthquake, by the prison walls rocking and shaking, by the whole occurrences of the night. It was fear, physical fear at first, that led to the spiritual fear that was uttered in the cry, " What must I do to be saved ? "
Tf It is not necessary to say that there are many cases in which the longing for salvation has not been quickened by fear. Children who have grown up in Christian homes, and have been tenderly nurtured " in the chastening and admonition of the Lord," breathing an atmosphere of piety from their earliest years, are often sweetly drawn to Christ by His tender love, and can hardly remember the time when they did not love Christ. On the other hand, it ought never to be forgotten that in many other cases conviction of sin, and of the need of salvation, have been the direct result of personal fear of being lost. Any minister who leaves out of his preaching "the note of fear" is not only unfaithful to the truth, but he is neglecting one of the means
ACTS xvi. 30, 31 137
the Spirit of God has used in every age for the conversion of souls.1
2. Now come to the question itself : " What must I do to be saved ? " This is no worn-out, obsolete question. It is as real now as it was nineteen centuries ago ; as pertinent here in the heart of Christendom as it was there amidst the surroundings of paganism ; as vital to us as it was to that poor, bewildered jailor in that far-off Koman colony. But it matters much — it matters everything — in what sense we ask the question. What do we mean by this saying? From what evil do we desire to be rescued ?
i. What Salvation is not.
It is well first of all to see clearly what salvation is not. Dr. M. D. Shutter has forcibly stated some common mistakes as to the meaning of this great word. From what, he asks, do you want to be saved ?
(1) " Well," you answer, " I know that I have sinned, and I feel that God is angry with the wicked and hates them. I want you to tell me how to be saved from His wrath. This is my desire." Now, there is not and cannot be any such thing in God as you understand by wrath. It is true He has expressed His disappro- bation of sin in the consequences which follow the violation of His laws in the soul, the body, the universe. But this is done in love to correct evil, to turn men aside from sin, and not in frenzy. His bolts are not hurled in vengeance, as men retaliate upon each other. He does not delight in destruction. When His laws smite us in their operation, it is to heal and not to kill. The sword falls with the glitter of lightning, but also with the glow of sunrise upon its blade. Let us be sure that we can never receive harm from God, that we can never receive mischief of any kind from God.