 | CHAPTER III. The poetical works of John and Charles Wesley |  |
1660.
[Strangers to nature's mystery]
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou, &c.
—iii. 8.
Strangers to nature's mystery,
We hear its sound, but cannot see
The vague impetuous wind:
The Spirit's course we cannot trace,
The secret motions of that grace
Whose sure effects we find.
We hear its sound, but cannot see
The vague impetuous wind:
The Spirit's course we cannot trace,
The secret motions of that grace
Whose sure effects we find.
The ways of God are dark to man,
In vain we would describe, explain,
Delineate, or define:
The manner still remains unknown,
The sure reality we own,
And feel that birth Divine.
In vain we would describe, explain,
Delineate, or define:
The manner still remains unknown,
The sure reality we own,
And feel that birth Divine.
Just as He lists, the Spirit blows,
But whence He comes, and whither goes,
No mortal comprehends;
How He begins His power to' exert,
By what degrees renews the heart,
Or when His progress ends.
But whence He comes, and whither goes,
No mortal comprehends;
How He begins His power to' exert,
By what degrees renews the heart,
Or when His progress ends.
The soul in which His work is done,
Alike to worldly minds unknown
To all that know not God;
The spiritual regenerate man
Others discerns, but never can
Himself be understood.
Alike to worldly minds unknown
To all that know not God;
The spiritual regenerate man
Others discerns, but never can
Himself be understood.
343
His life a daily death they see,
A riddle of absurdity,
And quite unlike their own;
While, saved from low terrestrial views
He things invisible pursues,
And pants for God alone.
A riddle of absurdity,
And quite unlike their own;
While, saved from low terrestrial views
He things invisible pursues,
And pants for God alone.
The heavenly principle within
The spring of all his acts, unseen
And unsuspected lies;
His end they cannot understand
Who seeks some undiscover'd land
A kingdom in the skies.
The spring of all his acts, unseen
And unsuspected lies;
His end they cannot understand
Who seeks some undiscover'd land
A kingdom in the skies.
| CHAPTER III. The poetical works of John and Charles Wesley | |