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

The Hint I gave sometime ago,
Brethren, about your preaching slow,
You took, it seems; and thereupon
Could make two Sermons out of one.
Now this Regard, to former Lines
Paid so successfully, inclines

103

To send Advice the second Part:
“Try if you cannot preach by Heart.”

II

Be not alarm'd, as if Regard
To this would prove so very hard.
The first Admonishment you fear'd
Would so turn out, till it appear'd
That Custom only made to seem
So difficult in your Esteem
What, upon Trial, now procures
Your Hearers' Ease, and also yours.

III

Do but consider how the Case
Now stands in fact in ev'ry Place,
All Christendom almost around,
Except on our reformèd Ground.
The greatest Part, untaught to brook
A Preacher's reading from a Book,
Would scarce advance within his reach,
Or then acknowledge him to preach.

IV

Long after preaching first began,
How unconceiv'd a reading Plan!
The rise of which, whatever Date
May be assign'd to it, is late;—

104

From all Antiquity remote
The manuscriptal reading Rote;
No Need, no Reason prompted then
The Pulpit to consult the Pen.

V

However well prepar'd before,
By pond'ring, or by writing o'er
What he should say, still it was said
By him that preach'd,—it was not read.
Could ancient Memory, then, better
Forbear the poring o'er the Letter,
Brethren, than yours? If you'll but try,
That Fact I'll venture to deny.

VI

Moderns, of late, give Proofs enow
(Too many, as it seems to you),
That Matters of religious Kind,
Stor'd up within the thoughtful Mind,
With any Care and Caution stor'd,
Sufficient Utterance afford
To tell an Audience what they think,
Without the Help of Pen and Ink.

VII

How apt to think too, is the Throng,
A Preacher short, a Reader long!

105

Claiming itself to be the Book
That should attract a Pastor's Look.
If you lament a careless Age,
Averse to hear the Pulpit Page,
Speak from within, not from without,
And Heart to Heart will turn about.

VIII

Try it; and if you can't succeed,
'Twill then be right for you to read;
Altho' the Heart, if that's your choice,
Must still accompany the Voice.
And tho' you should succeed, and take
The Hint, you must not merely make
Preaching extempore the View,
But ex Æternitate too.