Some, deeply, he will plunge into the mire;
Others incite, for honors to aspire.
The former, tempted, live in fear and doubt,
And know not, half the time, what they're about:
The latter, self-conceited, puff'd with pride,
Meek, lowly Christians scarcely can abide.
He, who would in the ministry engage,
Should ponder well that he will have to wage
A heavenly war; and he should be resign'd,
That worldly honors all be left behind;
*And, should it be required amid the strife,
To make a sacrifice of even life,
It must be done: the veriest coward's he,
Who, when the danger comes, will start and flee:
Especially, is he who leads the rest,
Supposed of skill and courage both possess'd.
A general who is not in tactics skill'd,
Is not for that excused when men are kill'd
Through his gross ignorance; but he's to blame,
As if he purposely had done the same:
For, when he took on him that high command,
He knew they much expected at his hand;
And by that act, he publicly profess'd,
That he, the skill and art of war, possess❜d:
His soldiers fearlessly all dangers faced,
Because in him full confidence they placed.
And will the preacher make apology,
That he has never read theology,
When he allows those in the Church to revel,
To quarrel, fight, and act the very devil?
He cannot be excused: if he attempt
To lead us in the narrow path, exempt
From darkness must be his, else he's not fit-
The blind will lead the blind into the pit.
His heart must be renew'd by heavenly grace,
And made a temple fit-a dwelling-place-
In which the Holy Spirit will delight
To dwell, and shed abroad his heavenly light.
Then of that light, and not, in truth, till then,
Can he bear witness unto other men;
Which he should do, as did the Baptist John,
*Who saw the Spirit coming down upon
His Master; and whose heart was fill'd with love,
And grace divine, which cometh from above.
Each should, before he is ordain'd to preach,
Consider well if he is apt to teach;
For God has not bestow'd this gift on all;
And they to whom it is denied, no call
From him have had, to what they cannot do:
Some pray with power,
and can exhort well too,
At which they might accomplish much of good,—
O what a pity but they only would!
But when they preach, me, O ye fates, detain!
If rain be needed, heaven, pour down the rain!
Icarus-like, on artificial wings,
They strive to soar above all earthly things;
Grecian fable informs us that Icarus was the son of Dædalus, a celebrated Athenian artist of antiquity; that he and his father were cast into prison, on the island of Crete, and that through the skill of the latter they effected an escape in the following manner:-Finding some wax and feathers, Dædalus soon made for himself and son, each, a pair of wings, and, fastening them to their bodies, they flew up through an opening in the prison, and directed their course across the Ægean Sea. By exercising due caution, the father
But soon, alas! they get too near the sun,
When feathers drop, and wax begins to run,—
They tremble, flutter, Heaven avert their doom!
Down, down they come, and find a watery tomb!
Then, O beware, you who would teach God's laws,
Lest you should bring reproach upon the cause!
For is it not as foolish and absurd,
*For men unskill'd to try to preach God's word,
As for a poor, conceited, foppish fool,
Unlearn'd in letters, to conduct a school?
And yet some blockheads will presume to show
That they about the Scriptures nothing know:
Trusting alone to talent, they before
Their hearers, unprepared, will rise, and bore,
And worry them, until they, for relief,
Wish they had ne'er been born, or else born deaf.
Strange, 'tis indeed, some preachers cannot see
That something's wrong-a lack of energy.
Upon their part; else they've no gift at all
To preach, and hence have never had a call ;
For this can be relied upon as true,
That God requires of none what they can't do.
"Owad some pow'r the giftie gie us,
To see oursels as others see us."
reached the land in safety; but Icarus, priding himself in his power of flight, soared so high that the heat of the sun melted the wax, with which the feathers were cemented, and, alas! he fell, never to rise again.
The author is far from believing that uneducated persons are never called to preach; but, if some whose preaching seems to produce no effect, and who put forth no efforts to become skillful in God's word, have ever received such a call, he very much doubts whether they have rightly obeyed, by doing all in their power for the salvation of souls.
If some, who'd fain be preachers, only could
Do this, they'd go at once to chopping wood,
Or something else at which they might succeed;
For in a mighty world of work, what need
To fight against the light of nature, reason,
And not to heed its dictates? It is treason
'Gainst nature's laws, as all may plainly see:
Her works, in all things, show economy.
Then, for vain glory, let none break her laws,
And bring reproach, by preaching, on Christ's cause.
But he, who has from God received a call,
Who has a burning zeal, and has withal
A gift for teaching others in the way
Of life eternal, from God's volume, may
Enter the field; yea, he must not refuse,
For God will judge him if he do not use
*The talents he has trusted to his care,
To the best purposes. O then with prayer
Let him set out; but first he must put on,
Resolved to wear it till the victory's won,
The armor of his God, the set complete,
With which he'll be enabled to defeat
The fiercest enemy; and him 't will make
Invincible: yea, hell itself can't shake
His confidence in God while this he wears,
Although the devil will set many snares.
His loins girt up with everlasting truth,
He stands in all the vigor of his youth,
And, shielded with the breast-plate righteousness,
All hellish foes he does with ease repress.
That he may freely move with grace
and ease,
He binds his sandals on, of gospel peace.
Above all else, on entering the field,
He takes full faith in God, that powerful shield
Which guards him round, securely, on all parts,
And quenches all of Satan's fiery darts.
Salvation's helmet, and the Spirit's sword,
Which represents, we're told, God's holy word,-
He takes thus arm'd, what's there for him to fear?
He frightens devils with his watchword, prayer.
And thus prepared, he's ready for the work
Of God, and in it he will nothing shirk.
His sermons, preach'd with all the grace and ease
Of Cicero or of Demosthenes,
First fix the eye, the ear, the outward part, [heart,—
Through which, at last, with power they touch the
With power divine, which cometh from above,
And fills them full of joy, and peace, and love;
Thus would all sermons have a good effect,
If first appropriate, all points correct;
And then deliver'd in a manner clear,
And plain, and not offensive to the ear.
Some preachers better, vastly better, could
Expound God's holy word if they just would :
That is, if they themselves to learn would take
More pains, and try, with all their power, to make
Their sermons sound, and forcible, and plain.
By this, one thing, at least, they'd surely gain;
They thus would keep their hearers all awake,
Without such horrid sounds as sure would break
Their pipes, if they were not elastic. Some, [come."
With thund'ring peals preach you to "kingdom
* Eph. vi, 17.
† Let no one infer, from what here follows, that the author does not consider it the business of preachers earnestly to warn sinners of their dreadful danger-far be it from him to
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