XXIX.

The Form decreed of tree and flower, The shape susceptible of life, Without the infused vivific Power, Were but a slumber or a strife.

He whom the plastic hand of God Himself created out of earth Remained a statue and a clod Till spirit infused to life gave birth.

So, till that hour, the Church. In Christ Her awful structure, nerve and bone, Though built, and shaped, and organised, Existed but in skeleton;

Till down on that predestined frame, Complete through all its sacred mould, The Pentecostal Spirit came,— The self-same Spirit who of old

Creative o'er the waters moved. Thenceforth the Church, made One and Whole, Arose in Him, and lived, and loved— His Temple she; and He her Soul.