lieve it, we were strangely happy even
there, for the Lord was in the midst of us, as surely as He is here
amid this peace and loveliness. When we are holding Him by the
hand, feeling His presence, seeing His face in the darkness,
believing that it is His will for us to be there, it is strange how
the darkness becomes light, the suffering ceases, the horror all
passes away. I do not mean that the enemy does not intervene--that
he does not come and with his whispers seek to shake our faith, to
cloud our spirits, to shroud us in darkness and obscurity. But
thanks be to God, His Son, having overcome temptation in human
flesh, we in His strength, by Him, and through Him, and in Him,
have power to overcome. Satan came; but he did not stay, for One
that was mightier was with us. Thanks be to God who giveth us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

That was all he ever spoke of the prison life--no word of its
hardships and sufferings, only of the power of the Lord to take
away the bitterness, and to comfort, cheer, and strengthen. And so
they ceased to think or to speak of it, too. It had not hurt him.
The iron had never entered into his soul. And almost by now he had
forgotten. All was peace and joy and love. And even the knowledge
that his companions had passed away was no trouble to him.

"We shall meet so soon again," he said, and the light deepened in his
eyes. "I am so curious to know how it is with the departed--whether
they lie at rest as in a heaven-sent sleep, while their heart waketh;
or whether the Lord has work for them beyond the grave, into which
they enter at once. I long to know what that blessed state is like,
where we are with Christ, yet not in the glory of the resurrection,
but awaiting that at His good pleasure. Well, soon all this will be
made known to me; and I cannot doubt we shall meet again in joy and
love those with whom we have walked in fellowship upon this earth,
and that we shall in turn await those who follow after into peace,
and so with them look forward to the glorious day when the living
shall be changed and the dead receive their bodies back, glorified
in resurrection life, and so enter all together into the presence of
God, presented as one holy mystical body to Him, the Bride of the Lamb."

There was just one shadow that fell for a moment athwart the
perfect peace and joy of this departure. But it was not one that
could touch his spirit for more than a moment.

As he felt lif