Aroused from his sleep by the commotion and earthquake, the jailor hurried to the prison only to find the doors wide open. Remembering his injunction to "keep the prisoners safely," and knowing that he would forfeit his life if any had escaped, he drew his sword to take his own life, when Paul cried out: "Do thyself no harm; for we are all here!" [IMAGE: PAUL AND SILAS IN PRISON AT PHILIPPI. "Then he called for a light, and sprang in and came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas."] "Then he [the jailor] called for a light and sprang in and came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas." HIS CONVERSION [Sidenote: An All-Important Question.] Perhaps he had heard what the damsel had said, that "These men are the servants of the most high God;" it may be that he had heard them preach, or at least had been told by others what they preached. Probably the earthquake itself had convinced him that these men not only were innocent, but were servants of God. At any rate, he cried out: "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" That is the question everybody should ask, and the answer, when truthfully given, everybody should obey. [Sidenote: The Answer.] Note the answer: "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Then the servants of the Lord explained what a true belief is, expounded the "word of the Lord," taught them faith and repentance and baptism; and when the keeper of the prison and his family said they believed the Gospel to be true, he led the elders out, washed their stripes, and was baptized that same night, "he and all his straightway." Then he took them, not back to the dreary dungeon, but into his own house, and set meat before them. We are told that his heart was filled with rejoicing because he "believed in God with all his house." By doing right he had opened the windows of his soul, and the sunshine of pure happiness had radiated through his entire being. He was experiencing the truth as expressed in the song: "Doing good is a pleasure, A joy beyond measure, A blessing of duty and love." [Sidenote: Prisoners Released.] The earthquake or something else had put fear in the hearts of other men in that city, too, and among these were the magistrates who had sentenced, uncondemned, two innocent men to be beaten and imprisoned. Realizing their mistake they sent word early in the morning to the jailor to "Let those men go." [Sidenote: Paul Surprises the Jailor.] Pleased with the message, the keeper of the prison hurried to Paul and Silas crying: "The magistrates have sent to let you go: now therefore depart, and go in peace." He was surprised to hear Paul coolly answer, "No, they have beaten us openly, uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison." Now they want us to go out privily so that people will think we are pestilent fellows who escaped from jail. "Nay verily, but let them come themselves and fetch us out." [Sidenote: Magistrates Humbled.]