The Poems of John Byrom :: :: University of Virginia Library

Many a good Sermon gives Distaste
By being spoke in too much Haste;
Which, had it been pronounc'd with Leisure,
Would have been listen'd to with Pleasure;
And thus the Preacher often gains
His Labour only for his Pains;
As (if you doubt it) may appear
From ev'ry Sunday in the Year.

III

For how indeed can one expect
The best Discourse should take Effect,
Unless the Maker thinks it worth
Some Care and Pains to set it forth?
What! does he think the Pains he took
To write it fairly in a Book,
Will do the Bus'ness?—Not a Bit:
It must be spoke as well as writ.

IV

What is a Sermon, good or bad,
If a Man reads it like a Lad?

To hear some People, when they preach,
How they run o'er all Parts of Speech,
And neither raise a Word, nor sink:
Our learned Bishops, one would think,
Had taken School-boys from the Rod,
To make Ambassadors of God.

V

So perfect is the Christian Scheme,
He that from thence shall take his Theme;
And Time to have it understood,
His Sermon cannot but be good.
If he will needs be preaching Stuff,
No Time indeed is short enough;
E'en let him read it like a Letter:
The sooner it is done, the better.

VI

But for a Man that has a Head,
(Like yours or mine, I'd like t' have said,)
That can upon Occasion raise
A just Remark, a proper Phrase:
For such a one to run along,
Tumbling his Accents o'er his Tongue,
Shows only that a Man at once
May be a Scholar and a Dunce.

VII

In point of Sermons, 'tis confest,
Our English Clergy make the best.

But this appears, we must confess,
Not from the Pulpit, but the Press.
They manage, with disjointed Skill,
The Matter well, the Manner ill;
And, what seems Paradox at first,
They make the best, and preach the worst.

VIII

Would they but speak as well as write,
Both Excellences would unite:
The outward Action being taught
To show the Strength of forward Thought.
Now, to do this, our Short-hand School
Lays down this plain and general Rule:
“Take Time enough;”—all other Graces
Will soon fill up their proper Places.