MANY of the triumphs of the Gospel have been wrought by the soldiers of Christ in seasons of apparent discomfiture, and frequently God has used the calm and rest of the spirits of His soldiers to overcome the passions of men and the power of Satan. An instance of this victorious power is found in the apostle Paul and his companion Silas, when they were at Philippi.
At Philippi the apostle found a little group of pious Jewish women, who assembled by the riverside, where prayer was wont to be made, and here he rejoiced in the first heart in Europe opened by the Lord to receive His Word. The enemy also made use of a woman in stirring up opposition to the proclamation of the truth, for a girl possessed with the spirit of divination followed Paul and Silas through the streets for some days, calling out, “These men are the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation.” Paul cast out the evil spirit, and at once drew down upon himself the fury of her masters, who could no longer use their deplorable tool to gain money, These men inflamed the people, and, influencing the authorities, caused heavy stripes to be laid upon Paul and Silas; afterwards the magistrates ordered them to be cast into the town prison. In this place the horrid underground dungeon was selected for their quarters, as if the preachers of salvation were the most turbulent disturbers of the city’s peace.
No outward circumstances could well be more miserable than theirs; but as the night wore on they cheered one another, and with prayers and hymns worshipped God. The dungeon was filled with the incense of thanksgiving, and was transformed into a house of prayer. The astonished prisoners heard these unwonted sounds, and the dungeon became, what it has been so often since, the hallowed place of divine worship. Here was a great moral victory; Paul and Silas were more than conquerors. And God heard his servants’ prayers and praises, and answered by an earthquake, and the opening of prison doors and loosing of prisoners’ chains—a symbol of His freeing men and setting them at liberty in the power of His salvation.
Then it was that the ruler of the prison, filled with fear, took up his sword to slay himself, when Paul’s loud voice, “Do thyself no harm,” reassured him. He called for a light, and sprang into the lower dungeon with the cry, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” His words clearly show that he had heard the way of salvation proclaimed, and also that his conscience was filled with dread because of God’s righteous hatred of sin. In the unlikely prison a work more wonderful was wrought than that quiet work by the river’s side.
Magistrates and their officers had all to submit to the power which dwelt in St. Paul. The victory being attained, the apostle, as was usually his custom after an outburst of persecution, left the city to go elsewhere.