The Acts of the Apostles (1911) — PDF Scan 224

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218 THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES prison, they apologized to Paul and Silas for tlie injustice and cruelty done tliem, and personally conducted tliem out of the prison, entreating them to depart from the city. The magistrates feared the apostles' influence over the people, and they also feared the Power that had interposed in behalf of these innocent men. Acting upon the instruction given by Christ, the apostles would not urge their presence where it was not desired. ^'They went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia : and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed. " The apostles did not regard as in vain their labors in Philippi. They had met much opposition and persecution; but the intervention of Providence in their behalf, and the conversion of the jailer and his household, more than atoned for the disgrace and suffering they had endured. The news of their unjust imprisonment and miraculous deliverance became known through all that region, and this brought the work of the apostles to the notice of a large number who otherwise would not have been reached. Paul's labors at Philippi resulted in the establishment of a church whose membership) steadily increased. His zeal and devotion, and above all, his willingness to suffer for Christ's sake, exerted a deep and lasting influence upon the converts. They prized the precious truths for which the apostles had sacrificed so much, and gave themselves with wholehearted devotion to the cause of their Redeemer. That this church did not escape persecution, is shown by an expression* in Paul's letter to them. He