reformed blogging.

I ask’d the Lord that I might grow
In faith, and love, and every grace:
Might more of His salvation know,
And seek more earnestly His face.

I hoped that in some favour’d hour
At once He’s answer my request,
And, by His love’s constraining power,
Subdue my sins and give me rest.

Instead of that, He made me feel
The hidden evils of my heart,
And let the angry powers of hell
Assault my soul in every part.

‘Lord, why is this?’ I trembling cried,
‘Wilt thou pursue a worm to death?’
”Tis in this way,’ the Lord replied,
‘I answer prayer for grace and faith.

These inward trials I employ
From self and sin to set thee free:
To break thy scheme of earthly joy
That thou mayst seek thy all in Me.’
-Alexander Whyte, Thomas Shepard: Pilgrim Father and Founder of Harvard, 52.