Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 6.djvu/172

166 forced to quit his hold, and in this case it was a strong hold; he came out the same hour.

III. The masters of the damsel that was dispossessed, made them to be taken notice of, by bringing them before the magistrates for doing it, and laying it to their charge as their crime. The preachers of the gospel would never have had an opportunity of speaking to the magistrates, if they had not been brought before them as evil doers. Observe here,

1. That which provoked them, was, that, the damsel being restored to herself, her masters saw that the hope of their gain was gone, v. 19. See here what evil the love of money is the root of! If the preaching of the gospel ruin the craft of the silversmiths (ch. 19. 24.) much more the craft of the soothsayers; and therefore here is a mighty outcry raised, when Satan's power to deceive is broken; and therefore the priests hated the gospel, because it turned men from the blind service of dumb idols, and so the hope of their gains was gone. The power Of Christ, which appeared in dispossessing the woman, and the great kindness done to her in delivering her out of Satan's hand, made no impression upon them, when they apprehended that they should lose money by it.

2. The course they took with them, was, to incense the higher powers against them, as men fit to be punished; They caught them as they went along, and, with the utmost fury and violence dragged them into the market-place, where public justice was administered. (1.) They brought them to the rulers, their justices of peace, to do by them as men taken into the hands of the law, the duumviri. (2.) From them they hurried them to the magistrates, the praetors or governors of the city, —the officers of the army, so the word signifies; but it is taken in general for the judges, or chief rulers; to them they brought their complaint.

3. The charge they exhibit against them, is, that they were the troublers of the land, v. 20. They take it for granted that they were Jews, a nation, at this time, as much an abomination to the Romans, as they had long ago been to the Egyptians. Piteous was the case of the apostles, when it was turned to their reproach that they were Jews, and yet the Jews were their most violent persecutors! (1.) The general charge against them, is, that they troubled the city, sowed discord, and disturbed the public peace, and occasioned riots and tumults; than which nothing could be more false and unjust, as was Ahab's character of Elijah, (1 Kings 18. 17.) Art thou he that troubleth Israel? If they troubled the city, it was but like the angel's troubling the water of Bethesda's pool, in order to healing; shaking, in order to a happy settlement. Thus they that rouse the sluggards, are exclaimed against for troubling them. (2.) Their proof of their charge, is, their teaching customs not proper to be admitted by a Roman colony, v. 21. The Romans were always very jealous of innovations in religion; right or wrong, they would adhere to that, how vain soever, which they had received by tradition from their fathers; no foreign or upstart deity must be allowed of, without the approbation of the senate; the gods of their country must be their gods, true or false. It was one of the laws of the twelve tables. Hath a nation changed their gods? This incensed them against the apostles, that they taught a religion destructive of polytheism and idolatry, and preached to them to turn from those vanities. This the Romans could not bear; "If this grow upon us, in a little while we shall lose our religion."

IV. The magistrates, by their proceedings against them, made them to be taken notice of.

1. By countenancing the persecution, they raised the mob upon them; (v. 22.) The multitude rose up together against them, and were ready to pull them to pieces. It has been the artifice of Satan, to make God's ministers and people odious to the commonalty, by representing them as dangerous men, and aiming at the destruction of the constitution, and the changing of the customs; when really there has been no ground for such an imputation.

2. By going on to an execution they further represented them as the vilest of malefactors; They rent off their clothes, with rage and fury, not having patience till they were taken off, in order to their being scourged. This the apostle refers to, when he speaks of their being shamefully entreated at Philippi, 1 Thess. 2. 2. They commanded that they should be whipped as vagabonds, by the lictors or beadles who attended the praetors, and carried rods with them for that purpose; this was one of those three times that Paul was beaten with rods, according to the Roman usage, which was not under the compassionate limitation of the number of stripes not to exceed forty, which was provided by the Jewish law. It is here said, that they laid many stripes upon them, (v. 23.) without counting how many, because they seemed vile unto them, Deut. 25. 3.

Now, one would think, this might have satiated their cruelty; if they must be whipped, sure they must be discharged; no, they are imprisoned, and, it is probable, their present purpose was to try them for their lives, and put them to death; else why should there be such care taken to prevent their escape?

(1.) The judges made their commitment very strict; they charged the jailer to keep them safely, and have a very watchful eye upon them, as if they were dangerous men, that either would venture to break prison themselves, or were in confederacy with those that would attempt to rescue them. Thus they endeavoured to render them odious, that they might justify themselves in the base usage they had given them.

(2.) The jailer made their confinement very severe; (v. 24.) Having received such a charge, though he might have kept them safely enough in the outer prison, yet he thrust them into the inner prison. He was sensible that the magistrates had a great indignation against these men, and were inclined to be severe with them, and therefore he thought to ingratiate himself with them, by exerting his power likewise against them to the uttermost. When magistrates are cruel, it is no wonder that the officers under them are so too. He put them into the inner prison, the dungeon, into which none were usually put but condemned malefactors, dark at noon-day, damp and cold, dirty, it is likely, and every way offensive, like that into which Jeremiah was let down; (Jer. 38. 6.) and, as if that were not enough, he made their feet fast in the stocks. Perhaps, having heard a report of the escape of the preachers of the gospel out of prison, when the doors were fast barred, (ch. 5. 19.—12. 9.) he thought he would be wiser than other jailers had been, and therefore would effectually secure them by fastening them in the stocks; and they were not the first of God's messengers that had their feet in the stocks; Jeremiah was so treated, and publicly too, in the high-gate of Benjamin, Jer. 20. 2. Joseph had his feet hurt with fetters, Ps. 105. 18. Oh what hard usage have God's servants met with, as in the former days, so in the latter times! Witness the Book of Martyrs, martyrs in Queen Mary's time.

25. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. 26. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and