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XXVIII.

[Right notions have their slender use]

Right notions have their slender use,
But cannot a sound faith produce,
Or vital piety,
They cannot make the Godhead known,
Or manifest Jehovah one
In co-eternal three.
That virtue doth from Christ proceed,
That power which animates the dead
The Spirit of life exerts;

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The Father His own Son reveals,
The Triune God His image seals
With pardon on our hearts.
A fond imagination vain,
A shadow floating in the brain
Which we for faith misdeem,
The mere result of nature's powers,
'Tis not a work of God, but ours,
'Tis all a waking dream.
The orthodox renown'd in fight,
Fierce champions for opinions right,
May reason's strength display:
Their Arian and Socinian foes,
And heresy's whole household knows
The truth as much as they.
The Truth that makes us free indeed,
We cannot learn it from our creed,
The Truth that sanctifies,
To bring us faith returns from heaven,
And Father, Son, and Spirit given
Conducts us to the skies.
Jesus the Truth, the Life, the Way,
Thou in me with Thy Father stay,
Thou with Thy Spirit descend,
I then shall know Thee as Thou art,
The God who never will depart,
My soul's eternal Friend.