Hymns and Prayers to the Trinity, 31

Mysterious God in persons three,
Stir up Thy judging power,
Gainst formal crowds who bow the knee,
And only seem to' adore;
Who Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
Presume for theirs to claim,
Their zeal and orthodoxy boast,
Yet never knew Thy name.

Full of themselves, with learned pride
Their talents they display,
And Thy true worshippers deride
That walk in Christ the Way,
That live by faith, the gift of God,
Confess Thee as Thou art,
And daily feel the sprinkled blood
Which purifies our heart.

Concerning this we now agree,
Petitioners for them;
Who neither know themselves, nor Thee,
The infidels condemn:
Convince them that their faith is vain,
A feeble, broken reed,
As standing in the words of men,
The letters of a creed.

Themselves they call the church of God,
And heretics despise:
But more contemptuously explode
The wisdom of the wise;
The heartfelt faith that works by love
They count a madman's dream,
And all Thy kingdom from above
With blindfold rage blaspheme.

Ah, Lord, in them the work begin,
Their confidence abase,
Drag out to light the hidden sin
Which poisons all our race:
Thy righteous wrath from heaven be shown,
And fill their souls with grief,
And make the unbelievers groan
To feel their unbelief.

Now their foundation false o'ertum
With every show of good,
And all the superstructure burn,
The stubble, hay, and wood:
Let them with just abhorrence cast
Their virtuous rags away,
And humbled to the dust at last
For pardoning mercy pray.

When stripp'd of all but sin they grieve
Their desperate state to see,
Spiritual understanding give,
And real faith in Thee:
Shut up in unbelief release,
Reveal their sin forgiven,
And bid them go in perfect peace,
Thy confessors to heaven.