John 3:8: Strangers to nature's mystery

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.

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.

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.

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.