I

distresses a confirmed invalid. mean the thought that he is leading a comparatively useless life. Now, do not imagine that you must needs be useless even though you may be stretched upon a sick-bed. Depend upon it, if God has a work for you to do for Him, He can enable you to do it wherever He places you. And undoubtedly He has a work for you to do, prisoner as you are.

A Christian writer observes, "It may be God's will that our days may be passed upon a weary couch of pain but still we need not be deprived of the heavenly joy of ministering. While a head to think, and a heart to care, are left to us, we may be planning for the spiritual welfare of some needy soul, and watering our plans with our prayers."

You may interest yourself in others, and do little acts of kindness towards

them. You may have an alms-bag, or a missionary-box, by your bedside, and so collect little sums from those who visit you. You may speak a word in season, or you may let the light of your Christian example shine, so that all who come near you may see what true religion is doing for you. You can pray for your fellow-men, whom you can reach by no other means. And who can tell what blessings you may bring down upon them by your earnest intercessions? And after all, a suffering child of God upon his sick-bed glorifies Him as much, by patient submission and resignation, as one actually engaged in more direct work for God.

Then, dear Friend, believe that your life, in this solitary sick-room, may be a very blessed life, a very peaceful life, yea, and a very useful life too. And truly, if you are Christ's

servant, you may cheer yourself with the happy thought, that when a few more suffering days and restless nights are past, and a few more trials are undergone, then you will be beyond the reach of suffering, and enjoy that "rest which remaineth for the people of God."

CHAPTER IX.

THE HOLY COMMUNION.

ARE you a Communicant? I mean are you one who in the days of your health loved to come to the Lord's table?

If you have hitherto lived in the neglect of this holy Ordinance, and fancy that the mere act of receiving it now will make all right, and set you fair on the way to heaven, you are greatly mistaken. The Lord's Supper is no charm to fit us for death. It is no passport to heaven. To look upon it in this light is to lower our Saviour's blessed ordinance, and to encourage ourselves in disobeying His command.

But if the Lord's Table is no new place to you-if in past days you have loved to be there-then most welcome are you now to this sacred Feast. You may, in this your day of suffering, "draw near with faith, and take this holy Sacrament to your comfort."

Or if, though once a neglecter of the Saviour's ordinance, you have through illness been brought to repentance-if the Holy Spirit has wrought within you a deep conviction of sin, and led you to the Cross-if you have heartily entered upon a new and better path-the thought may well come into your mind, May I now enjoy a privilege which in the days of my health I so sinfully neglected? Yes, if your heart has become tender, and

if

you love your Saviour, and feel an earnest desire to be His true and faithful servant, you are permitted to partake of this most precious means of