Ah, how it irritated and angered Jews and heathen when they were unable to deprive the ancient Christians of this joy even in the moment of death! When Stephen appeared before the council, and his face was like the face of an angel because the joy of Heaven reposed within his soul--they cut to the heart and they gnashed with their teeth, cast him out of the city, and stoned him. But his joy they could not take away from him: Would that this might abide among us in greater fullness, for it is that very joy which gives us the touch of gentleness, mildness and loveliness! The Christian may say about the "little whiles" that are full of vexation, what Joseph said to his brethren: "God made everything right in order to do what He now hath done, and to preserve life." The "little whiles" may be heavy with trouble and sorrow, but it is an irremovable truth in the church of the Lord that He changes them into good purposes in order to preserve our lives. It must have been difficult for the disciples to understand the Lord's word about the "little while"--and it is difficult for us amidst our adversity to absorb thoroughly the fact that God will turn our sorrow into joy--that, forsooth, sorrow itself is pregnant with joy, shall become joy, and that these "little whiles" are necessary to the development and the ripening of the Christian life. It was only when the disciples had lived through the little while and seen the Lord once more that they understood His words. So also with us. The dark "little whiles" in our life are to be read--like the Hebraic scriptures--backward. Only when we have lived through these dark moments and when joy has found anew the way to our hearts, are we beginning to realize their meaning. _They were hours of redemption and hours of birth._ Through them we became disgusted with the evil ways of sin to such an extent that the Son of man found it possible to set us _actually free_. They were the hours of birth for the world-conquering faith and for the everlasting joy of blessedness. _We have seen the Lord again when the hours of sorrow had passed, and we have felt His presence among us._ God made everything right in order to preserve our life eternal. THE MIRACLE IN OUR AGE (ACTS 26, 8) THE miracle! Well, who believes in it nowadays? If it had been five hundred years ago, it might have been different, but in our educated age--no, we know better now! Science has spoken with the assurance of an expert and said: No miracles happen! Everything adheres to certain stringent laws; our researches have proved this, and the miracle has never existed except in the brains of undeveloped ignorant individuals.