THE FAITHFUL HELPMATE. poor creatures will have to give at the coming of the Lord." John Bunyan was, therefore, now a fast prisoner in Bedford jail, with no apparent chance of release. It was a bitter trial to part with Elizabeth and his children, who were entirely dependent on charity ; and he would of course be obliged to give up his trade of tinkering. He was resigned only because he felt he was doing his duty; and he emphatically remarked, " The prison very sweet to me Hath been since I came here ; And so would also HANGING be If God will then appear." His domestic affections were unusually strong; and he was, indeed, considered by his sterner brethren as somewhat too fond and indulgent a parent; the feelings of the father, therefore, struggled with those of the resolute Christian, and he plaintively says : -" I found myself a man en- compassed with infirmities; the parting with my wife and poor children hath often been to me in this place, as the pulling the flesh from the bones: and that not only because I am somewhat too fond of these great mercies, but also because I should have often brought to my mind the many hardships, miseries, and wants that my poor family were like to meet with should I be taken from them ; especially my poor blind child-Mary-who lay nearer to my heart than all besides. Oh, the thoughts of the 27
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