radle, He hath not
dealt with me after my sins, nor rewarded me according to my iniquities?
Is it in your will laid up with Christ in God about your crutches and
your son what Mr. Ready-to-halt dictated on his deathbed? And does God
know that there is no wish in your old heart a hundred times so warm for
your son as is this wish,--that he may prove better at handling God's
promises than you have been? Then, happy son, who has old Mr. Ready-to-
halt for his father!

6. "He whom thou hast loved and followed, though upon crutches, expects
thee at His table the next day after Easter." Take comfort, cripples!
Had it been said that the King so expects Greatheart, or Standfast, or
Valiant-for-truth, that would have been after the manner of the kings of
this world. But to insist on having Mr. Ready-to-halt beside Him by such
and such a day; to send such a post to a pilgrim who has not a single
sound bone in all his body; to a sinner without a single trustworthy
grace in all his heart; to a poor and simple believer who has nothing in
his hand but one of God's own promises--Who is a king like unto our King?
Surely King David was never a better type of Christ than when he said to
Mephibosheth, lame in both his feet from his nurse's arms: "Fear not,
Mephibosheth, for I will surely show thee kindness, and thou shalt eat
bread at my table continually." And Mephibosheth shall always be our
spokesman when he bows himself and says in return: "What is thy servant,
that thou shouldst look upon such a dead dog as I am?"

VALIANT-FOR-TRUTH

"--They are not valiant for the truth."--_Jeremiah_

"--Ye should contend earnestly for the faith."--_Jude_.

"Forget not Master Valiant-for-the-Truth,
That man of courage, tho' a very youth.
Tell every one his spirit was so stout,
No man could ever make him face about."
_Bunyan_.

"I am of Dark-land, for there was I born, and there my father and mother
are still." "Dark-land," said the guide; "doth not that lie upon the
same coast as the City of Destruction?" "Yes, it doth," replied Valiant-
for-truth. "And had I not found incommodity there, I had not forsaken it
at all; but finding it altogether unsuitable to me, and very unprofitable
for me, I forsook it for this way. Now, that which caused me to come on
pilgrimage was this. We had one Mr. Tell-true came into our parts, and
he told it about what Christian had done, that went from the City of
Destruction.