s short intercourse with
Paul and Silas in the jail, he may have been impressed by much that he
noticed in their spirit and deportment. But he had meanwhile gone to
rest, and he remained asleep until roused by the noise and tremor of the
earthquake. When he awoke and saw "the prison doors open," he was in a
paroxysm of alarm; and concluding that the prisoners had escaped, and
that he might expect to be punished, perhaps capitally, for neglect of
duty, he resolved to anticipate such a fate, and snatched his sword to
commit suicide. At this moment, a voice issuing from the dungeon where
the missionaries were confined, at once dispelled his fears as to the
prisoners, and arrested him almost in the very act of self-murder. "Paul
cried with a loud voice, saying--Do thyself no harm, for we are all
here." [95:2] These words operated on the unhappy man like a shock of
electricity. They instantaneously directed his thoughts into another
channel, and imparted intensity to feelings which, had hitherto been
comparatively dormant. The conviction flashed upon his conscience that
the men whom he had so recently thrust into the inner prison were no
impostors; that they had, as they alleged, authority to treat of matters
infinitely more important than any of the passing interests of time;
that they had, verily, a commission from heaven to teach the way of
eternal salvation; and that he and others, who had taken part in their
imprisonment, had acted most iniquitously. For what now could be more
evident than that the apostles were the servants of the Most High God?
When everything around them was enveloped in the gloom of midnight, they
seemed able to tell what was passing all over the prison. How strange
that, when the jailer was about to kill himself, a voice should issue
from a different apartment saying--Do thyself no harm! How strange that
the very man whose feet, a few hours before, had boon made fast in the
stocks, should now be the giver of this friendly counsel! How remarkable
that, when all the doors were opened, no one attempted to escape! And
how extraordinary that, during the very night on which the apostles were
imprisoned, the bands of all the inmates were loosed, and that the
building was made to rock to its foundations! Did not the earthquake
indicate that He, whom the apostles served, was able to save and to
destroy? Did it not proclaim, trumpet-tongued, that He would surely
punish their persecutors? When the jailer though