3242.
[The form of godliness remains]
Having a form of godliness, but denying, &c.
—iii. 5.
The form of godliness remains,
Which the dead church its saviour makes,
Or each a different form maintains,
The shadow for the substance takes;
But all the living power deny,
And call the truth of God a lie.
The living power, which saves from sin,
Which pardon on the conscience seals,
Which writes the law of love within,
And all the promises fulfils,
The christen'd infidels blaspheme,
As folly's creed, or frenzy's dream.
By this, Divinely warn'd, we know
The latest perilous times are come,
And look for Christ to' appear below,
His anti-Christian foes to doom,
And reign o'er all our earth renew'd,
The sole, supreme, eternal God.
