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[If Christ to try our faith ordain]
Julius courteously entreated Paul.
—xxvii. 3.
If Christ to try our faith ordain,
The cruel hearts of faithless men
To nature's bent He leaves;
And then the persecuting foe,
Let loose his enmity to show,
Our flesh or spirit grieves.
But when our Lord intends to cheer
His poor afflicted confessor,
He doth the hate remove,
And soften'd then for His design,
Soldiers' and Heathen's hearts incline
To gentleness and love.
Entreated with humanity,
Jesus Thy love's effect we see,
Thine interposal own,
In enemies or strangers kind
The favour of our God we find,
And praise our God alone.
