Fugitive Poetry. 1600–1878/A Model Sermon

A Model Sermon.

It should be brief; if lengthy, it will steepOur hearts in apathy, our eyes in sleep;The dull will yawn, the chapel-lounger doze,Attention Hag, and memory's portal close.

It should be warm; a living altar-coal,To melt the icy heart and charm the soul;A sapless, dull harangue, however read,Will never rouse the soul, or raise the dead.

It should he simple, practical, and clear;No line spun theory to please the ear;No curious lay to tickle lettered pride,And leave the poor and plain unedified.

It should be tender and affectionate,As his warm theme who wept lost Salem's fate;The fiery laws with words of love allayed,Will sweetly warm and awfully persuade.

It should be manly, just, and rational,Wisely conceived, and well expressed withal;Not stuffed with silly notions, apt to stainA sacred desk, and show a muddy brain.

It should possess a well-adapted grace,To situation, audience, time, and place;A sermon formed for scholars, statesmen, lords,With peasants and mechanics ill accords.

It should with evangelic beauties bloom,Like Paul's at Corinth, Athens, or at Rome;While some Epictetus or Sterne esteem,A gracious Saviour is the Gospel theme!

It should have in it many an ardent prayer,To reach the heart, and fix and fasten there;When God and man are mutually addressedGod grants a blessing, man is truly blessed.

It should be closely, well applied at last,To make the moral nail securely fast:Thou art the man, and thou alone will makeA Felix tremble and a David quake.