But the girl's masters saw that now the hope of their gains was gone. Here at Philippi, as afterwards at Ephesus, the local trade in religion began to suffer from the manifestation of the Spirit of Christ, and an inter- ested appeal was made to local and national feelings against the dangerous innovations of the Jewish stran- gers. Paul and Silas were dragged before the magis- trates, the multitude clamoring loudly against them, upon the vague charge of "troubling the city," and in- trixhicing observances which were unlawful for Romans. If thi' magistrates had desired to act justly tliey might have doubted how they ought to deal with the charge. On the one hand Paul and Silas had abstained carefully, as the preachers of Christ always did, from disturbing public order, and had as yet violated no express law of the state. But on the other hand, the preaching of Jesus as King and Lord was unquestionably revolution- ary, and aggressive upon the public religion in its ef- fects; and the Roman law was decided, in general terms, against such innovations (see in Conybeare and How- son, i, 324). But the pr«tors or duumviri of Philippi
were very unworthy representatives of the Roman magistracy. They yielded without inquiry to the clamor of the inhabitants, caused the clothes of Paul and Silas to be torn from them, and themselves to be beaten, and then committed them to prison. The jail- er, having received their commands, " thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks." This cruel wrong was to be the occasion of a signal ap- pearance of the God of righteousness and deliverance. It was to be seen which were the true servants of such a God, the magistrates or these strangers. In the night Paul and Silas, sore and sleepless, but putting their trust in God, prayed and sang praises so loudly that the other prisoners could hear them. Then suddenly the ground beneath them was shaken, the doors were opened, and every prisoner's bands were struck oft' (com- pare the similar openings of prison-doors in xii, G-10, and V, 19). The jailer awoke and sprang up, saw with consternation that the prison-doors were open, and, con- cluding that the prisoners had all fled, drew his sword to kill himself. But I'aul called to him loudly, " Do thyself no harm ; we are all here." The jailer's fears were then changed to an overwhelming awe. What could this be? He called for lights, sprang in and fell trembling before the feet of Paul and Silas. Bringing them out from the inner dungeon, he exclaimed, " Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" (ri juc Stl ttoiuv 'iva (TiiiSiio). They answered, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." And they went on to speak to him and to all in his house " the Word of the Lord." The kindness he now showed them reminds us of their miseries. He washed their wounds, took them into his own house, and spread a table before them. The same night he received bap- tism, "he and all his," and rejoiced in his new-found faith in God.
In the morning the magistrates, either having heard of what had happened, or having repented of their in- justice, or having done all they meant to do by way of pacifying the multitude, sent word to the prison that the men might be let go. But legal justice was to be more clearly vindicated in the persons of these men, who had been charged with subverting public order. Paul denounced plainly the unlawful acts of the magis- trates, informing them moreover that those whom they had beaten and imprisoned without trial were Roman citizens. "And now do they thrust us out privily? Nay, verily, but let them come themselves and fetch us out." The magistrates, in great alarm, saw the neces- sity of humbling themselves (" Facinus est vinciri ci- vem Romanum, scelus verberari," Cicero, in Veri-evi, v, 66). See CiTizENSinr. They came and begged them to leave the citj'. Paul and Silas consented to do so, and, after paying a visit to " the brethren" in the house of Lydia, they dcpartcc}.
The Church thus founded at Philippi, as the first- fruits of the Gospel in Itlurope (save the nucleus already formed at Rome, Acts ii, 10), was called, as we have seen, in the name of a spiritual deliverer, of a God of justice, and of an equal Lord of freemen and slaves. That a warm and generous feeling distinguished it from the first we learn from a testimony of Paul in the Epistle written long after to this Church. " In the beginning of the Gospel," as soon as he left them, thej' began to send him gifts, some of which reached him at Thessalonica, others afterwards (Phil, iv, 15, 16). Their partnership in the Gospel {Kotviovia tig to ivayyiXiov) had gladdened the apostle from the first day (Phil, i, 5).
Leaving Luke, antl peihaps Timothy for a short time, at Philippi, Paul and Silas travelled through Ampliip- olis and ApoUonia, and stopped again at Thessalonica. At this important city there was a synagogue of the Jews. True to his custom, Paul went in to them, and for three Sabbath-days proclaimed Jesus to be the Christ, as he would have done in a city of Judaea. As usual, the proselytes were those who heard him most gladly, and among them were many women of station.