shadow and the pain and the disgrace of His Cross, because, looking over it, He saw the glory that awaited Him and the world, and He endured all this, this anguish of the Cross, for the joy that was set beyond. "Therefore," says Paul, "we rejoice in tribulation, in being flailed, in being pressed down as grapes in the wine-*press, in being put through discipline and strain, we rejoice in all that, because we know that tribulation worketh steadfastness, steadfastness experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed."
And you know the paradox, and the glory of it, is that the darker you make the shadows the more triumphantly hope laughs in the midst of them. The more difficult you make the night, the more hopeful and enticing is the sure confidence of the dawn that is not far away. Our word, "Cheer up! The worst is yet to come," is as deep a Christian word as was ever yet spoken. Be glad, because darker things lie just ahead and then light beyond. Thank God that you are counted worthy for tribulations like these; for these are what wash white a man's robes and make him fit to walk after the Lamb whithersoever He goes, in company with the men whose lips have never known a lie.
All this is put finely for us in "The Ballad of the White Horse," the best piece of work Chesterton has done. They were as dark days as
