midnight
His mother had cheered and sustained her hard lot by hopes and visions of the better life beyond -- by anticipating joys to come . She had never fully learned how God 's love , like the sunlight , could shine upon and brighten the thorny , rocky way , and cause the thorns to blossom , and delicate fragrant flowers to grow in the crevices and bloom in shaded nooks among the sharp stones . She must wait for her consolation . She must look out of her darkness to the light that shone through the portals of the tomb , forgetting that God caused His servants to sing at midnight , in the inner prison , the deepest dungeon , though scourged and bleeding . Unconsciously her son had imbibed the same ideas . Most devoutly he asked every day to be kept from sin , that he might grow in the Christian life ; but he did not ask or expect , save in a vague , general way , that help which a wise , good , earthly father would give to a young , inexperienced child , struggling with the hard , practical difficulties of this world . As the days grew darker and more full of disappointment , he had asked with increasing earnestness that he might be kept from sin -- from falling before the many and peculiar temptations that assailed him ; and we have seen how God answered his prayer , and kept him where so many would have fallen .