Not all the outward forms on earth (Hymn, Isaac Watts)

Not all the outward forms on earth,
Nor rites that God has giv’n,
Nor will of man, nor blood, nor birth,
Can raise a soul to Heav’n.

The sovereign will of God alone
Creates us heirs of grace;
Born in the image of His Son,
A new, peculiar race.

The Spirit, like some heav’nly wind,
Blows on the sons of flesh,
New-models all the carnal mind,
And forms the man afresh.

Our quickened souls awake and rise
From the long sleep of death;
On heav’nly things we fix our eyes,
And praise employs our breath.,

David Dickson on regeneration

“Regeneration (being one in effect with effectual calling) is the work of God’s invincible power and mere grace, wherein, by his Spirit accompanying his word, he quickened a redeemed person lying dead in his sins, and reneweth him in his mind, will, and all the powers of his soul; convincing him savingly of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and making him heartily to embrace Christ and salvation, and to consecrate himself to the service of God in Christ, all the days of his life.”

Regeneration & the Regenerate Man » Therapeutica Sacra, Chp 3