“Is The Sermon Done?”
CLOSED was the preacher's last appeal;
The worshipers were gone,
Though some still lingered here and there,
Round many a sod and stone;
When up there ran a little lad
"Sir, is the sermon done?"
"The preacher's words," replied the man,
"Are ended, it is true;
But those great precepts he has taught,
Demand attention too;
And so the sermon is not done,
But it is all to do.
"'Tis easy a short Sabbath hour,
To learn of wisdom's way
To listen to the Word of God,
And mark what preachers say;
But 'tis our duty through the week
To ponder and obey.
"Then will the sermon, boy, be done,
When evil is abhorred
God, not alone on this his day,
But every hour adored,
For piety makes every place
A temple of the Lord."
Select
"Ne'er till tomorrow's light delay
What may as well be done today;
Ne'er do the thing you'd wish undone,
Viewed by to-morrow's rising sun.
Observe these rules a single year,
And you may safely enter here."