never forget. A Christian friend wanted me to go and have a talk
with him. He had been bedridden for many years. This afflicted saint
comforted me and told me some wonderful things. He had fallen and
broken his back when he was about fifteen years of age, and had lain
there on his bed for some forty years. He could not be moved without
a good deal of pain, and probably not a day has passed all those
years without suffering. If any one had told him he was going to lie
there and suffer for forty years, probably he would have said he
could not do it. But day after day the grace of God has been granted
to him; and I declare to you it seemed to me as if I were in the
presence of one of God's most highly-favored children. It seemed
that when I was in that man's chamber, I was about as near heaven as
I could get on this earth. Talk about a man's face shining with the
glory of the upper world! I very seldom see a face that shines as
did his. I can imagine that the very angels when they are passing
over the city on some mission of mercy, come down into that man's
chamber to get refreshed. There he has been lying all these years,
not only without a murmur, but rejoicing all the while.

I said to him: "My friend, does the devil never tempt you to doubt
God, and to think He is a hard master?" "Well now," he said, "that
is just what he tries to do. Sometimes, as I look out of the window
and see people walking along in health, Satan whispers: 'If God is
so good, why does He keep you here all these weary years? Why, if He
loved you, instead of lying here and being dependent on others, you
might now have been a rich man, and riding in your own carriage.'"
"What do you do when the devil tempts you?" "Oh, I just take him up
to the Cross; and he had such a fright there eighteen hundred years
ago, that he cannot stand it; and he leaves me." I do not think that
bedridden saint has much trouble with doubts; he is so full of
grace.

And so if we will only come boldly to God, we shall get all the help
and strength we need. There is not a man or woman alive but may be
kept from falling, if they will let God hold them up in His almighty
arms.

There is a story in the history of Elisha the prophet that I am very
fond of; most of you are familiar with it. Sometimes we meet with
people who hesitate to accept Christ, because they are so afraid
they will not hold out. You remember there was a young prophet who
died and left a widow with two lit