The Story of the Bible

And this she did day after day, following Paul and his companions. Paul was troubled to see her held in the power of the evil spirit; and he spoke to the spirit, " I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!"

And in that very hour the spirit left the girl. But with the evil spirit gone from her, there were no more gains to her masters. They were very angry, and took hold of Paul and Silas, and dragged them before the rulers of the city, and they said, "These men, who are Jews, are making great trouble in our city, and are teaching the people to do what is against the law for Romans."

And they stirred up the crowd of the lowest of the people against them. To please the throng, the rulers stripped off their garments from Paul and Silas, and commanded that they should be beaten with rods. When they had received many cruel blows, they were thrown into the prison, and the jailor was charged to keep them carefully. He took them, all beaten and wounded, into the dungeon, which was in the very middle of the prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.

But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison-house were shaken; every door was opened, and all the chains on the prisoners were loosed, and all could have gone out free if fear had not held them in their places. The jailor of the prison was suddenly roused out of sleep and saw the prison-doors wide open. By the laws of the Romans, a man in charge of a prisoner must take his place if his prisoner escaped, and the jailor, thinking that the men in the prison had gotten away, drew out his sword, and was just going to kill himself, when Paul called out, "Do yourself no harm, for we are all here."

Then the jailor called for lights, and sprang into the room where Paul and Silas were, and, trembling with fear, fell down at their feet and cried out, "O, sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

And they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, and those in your house with you."

And that night, in the prison, they spoke the word of the Lord to the jailor, and to all that were with him. The jailor washed their wounds, and he and all his family were baptized in that hour. Afterward, he brought them from the prison into his own house, and set food before them. And the jailor and his household were all happy in the Lord, believing in Christ.

The rulers of the city knew well that they had done an unjust act in beating Paul and Silas, and thrusting them into prison; but they did not know that Paul and Silas, though Jews, were also free citizens of Rome, whom it was unlawful to beat or to put in prison without a fair trial. In the morning the rulers sent their officers to the jailor, saying, "Let those men go." And the jailor brought their words to Paul and said, "The rulers have sent to me to let you go; therefore, now come out of the prison, and go in peace."

But Paul said, "We are free citizens of Rome, and without a trial they have beaten us, and have cast us into prison. And now do they turn us out secretly? No, indeed, let those rulers come themselves and bring us out!"

The officers told these words to the rulers, and when the learned that these men were Roman citizens, they were frightened; for their own lives were in danger for having beaten them. They came to Paul and Silas, and begged them to go away from the prison and from the city. Then Paul and Silas walked out of the prison, and went to the house of Lydia. They met the brethren who believed in Jesus, and spoke to them words of comfort and of help. And then they went out of the city. In Philippi, from this time there was a church which Paul loved greatly and to which in after-times he wrote "The Epistle (or letter) to the Philippians."

Paul's Speech on the Hill

Acts xvii: 1 to 34.

From Philippi, Paul and Silas went to Thessalonica, which was the largest city in Macedonia. There they found many Jews, and a synagogue where the Jews worshipped. For three weeks Paul spoke at the meetings in the synagogue, and showed the meaning of the Old Testament writings that the Saviour for whom all the Jews were looking must suffer, and die, and rise again from the dead. And Paul said to them:

"This Jesus whom I preach to you, is the Christ, the Son of God and the King of Isreal."

Some of the Jews believed Paul's teachings, and a far greater number of the Greeks, the people of the city who were not Jews, became followers of Christ. And with them were some of the leading women of the city, so that a large church of believers in Christ arose in Thessalonica.