CHAPTER XXIII.

_How we ought to call upon God, and bless him in tribulation._

_Christian._ BLESSED, O Lord, be thy name for ever, who art pleased that this temptation and tribulation should come upon me.

I cannot fly it; but must needs fly to thee, that thou mayst help me, and turn it to my good.

Lord, I am now afflicted. I am much troubled with this present suffering.

And now, dear Father, what shall I say? I am in a strait, save me from this hour.

Yet therefore came I unto this hour, that thou mayst be glorified, when I shall have been brought very low, and then delivered by thee.

Let it please thee, Lord, to deliver me; for, what can I do, and whither shall I go without thee?

Grant me patience, Lord, at this time also.

Help me, my God, and then I will not fear, how grievously soever I be afflicted.

2. And now, in these my troubles, what shall I say? Lord, thy will be done, I have deserved to be afflicted.

Surely I ought to bear it; and O that I could bear it with patience, until the tempest be passed over!

But thy hand is able to take even this temptation from me, and to assuage the violence thereof, that I utterly sink not under it, as often heretofore thou hast done unto me, O my God, my merciful God.

And the more hard it is to me, the more easy is this change to the right hand of the Most High.