The man of God, like Christ, gives place,
No longer useful in his cause,
Nor tempts a blindfold, harden’d race,
But from the furious world withdraws,
Th’ occasion of their sin removes,
And leaves the foes he wisely loves.
The man of God, like Christ, gives place
Hymnal/Album: Originally titled: “‘But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence.’—[Matt. 12,] v. 15.” This hymn appears in the 1766 manuscript “MS Matthew.” This manuscript is part of the collection of the Methodist Archive and Research Centre in The John Rylands Library, The University of Manchester (accession number MA 1977/577, Charles Wesley Notebooks Box 3). Accessed through the website of The Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition, Duke Divinity School. Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 10 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1870), page 259.
Publishing: Public Domain