Acts 16:25

But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns unto God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

This is one of the most thrilling things ever recorded of the apostolic missionaries and has inspired many a sermon and printed article on "Songs at Midnight." The bleeding, suffering apostles uttering their prayers and singing the praises of God under circumstances such as they were in was something which must indeed have amazed and enthralled the other prisoners. It was midnight, not merely in that jail, but throughout the great pagan empire also, a midnight of morals, humanity, and justice, as well as that of night; but within the inner dungeon there were songs of praise to the true God and suffering saints who offered themselves to the Father in prayer. In a wider sense, the prayers and songs raised at Philippi would at last permeate the pagan empire itself and erect the cathedrals of the historical church upon the ruins of the Roman autocracy. Paul and Silas had the grace to forgive, before they were asked, and to trust where they could not see.