MR. BURTON: I read this to bring before us, by a first-class example, how we, “made partakers of His grace,” ought to be occupied, and if so occupied, what the effect will be—without effort, but naturally. There is nothing like the effects of true Christianity and true Christian bearing that is without effort. The activity of nature is quite another thing. The first thing we have before us, leading up to these results, is that Paul and Silas had been commended to their work by the prayers of the Church. It is not that they asked for them, or even sought for them in their minds, but it was entirely the thought of the assembly itself Why? Because Paul and Silas were in the current of the Spirit, and so was the assembly. There had been a contention between Paul and Barnabas. The contention had been so sharp between them that they parted company, and Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God; and he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the Churches. Then they find they were forbidden by the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia; afterward they essayed to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them not.
How blessedly they were in the hands of the Spirit. They arrive in result at Philippi; and being there not doing any great things; we find Paul, what some people would consider wasting his time, outwardly doing nothing, to human eyes looking about him: in truth, however, waiting on the Lord. If the servant of the Lord is going to do great things, he must be found in a quiet place. Whenever anything great is going to occur, there is always the calling aside beforehand.
First he met Lydia; that was no great thing apparently. They went on the Sabbath out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made, —the right course to take, —and spake unto the women that resorted thither. The Lord opened the heart of Lydia, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. A very small beginning. Do you think the apostle knew the work had begun? Well, if he did not, one did. The Lord knew; the spirit of Python knew; satan knew the work had begun, and satan wanted to be in it. It was a wonderful thing, and a great thing for men of like passions with us. They became the detectives of satan at once. Not merely the detectives of satan as satan, but in respect of the work of God the Holy Ghost at the time. If satan had not been met by the Apostle when he was, there is not the smallest doubt that all the work would have been broken up. Where would Lydia have been? Where would the jailor have been? What a remarkable and blessed thing the ability by the Spirit to detect the working of the enemy in its infancy. Paul was very little occupied with evil: he did not give the evil time to get ahead. What a blessed thing it is for the servant of the Lord when he meets it at once and has done with it. It came in at once. “These are the servants of the Most High God who show unto us the way of salvation.” What is the consequence of faithfulness in respect of satan? Before they had time to look about them they are cast into prison.
Do you think the apostle did not have an inkling of what might happen on exposing the enemy? There was Paul and Silas bound, their backs scored, their feet fast in the stocks in the innermost prison. That is the result of meeting satan. Where is all that to end now? The spokesman for the gospel—his feet fast in the stocks, and kept fast by a man who was determined to keep him fast—it was his duty, having received such a charge. Well in the middle of the night, when they might have been bewailing their predicament, Paul and Silas were praying and singing praises to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Praying and praising! what each temple of the Holy Ghost ought to be doing, no matter what the circumstances. We have much to pray for always. We shall never be without occasion for praise. What a blessed occupation for the individual soul, and for the Church at large. Praying and praising is the gospel in itself to those that hear it. What has such effect on the unconverted soul is to see a soul or a company entirely independent of circumstances, and everything else, recognizing God in the circumstances, and praising Him notwithstanding the circumstances.
The confidence expressed in praying and praising has its effect upon others. All the prisoners were wide awake hearing them. It is a blessed thing to go forth with the gospel of God. And what an effect that, if you are simply doing as you ought to be doing—viz., praying and praising—the prisoners’ ears are opened! Every unconverted man is a prisoner. We were all in that state. But the praying and praising has not the slightest effect on the jailor. We all have to do with souls, and something more than praying and praising it must be for some souls, who seem to be free, and many even the custodians of others. This soul had to be met in its peculiar need and hardness. God met it. He shook the foundation of the prison—took the ground from under his feet.