John 16:37: Hut Paul said unto them, Tiny have beaten, &c

He would not urge the plea before
To' avoid his Saviour's pain and shame,
But cheerfully the scourging bore,
For Jesus had endured the same,
And bade His patient followers rise
In all His footsteps to the skies.

He pleads his privilege at last,
And puts his conscious foes in fear
That Heathens when their rage was pass'd,
Might injured innocency clear,
And magistrates themselves confess
The troublers of the public peace.

A Christian innocently may
Insist on his external right,
Nor yet through fear the truth betray,
Or shamefully decline the fight,
Or hope, engaged in Jesus' cause,
To gain the crown without the cross.

The world in every age the same,
Will never wait our cause to know:
To us who teach the slaughter'd Lamb
No mercy or remorse they show;
All laws and justice they defy,
And execute before they try.