by George Herbert
Lord, how can man preach thy eternal word?
He is brittle crazy glass:
Yet in thy temple thou dost him afford
This glorious and transcendent place,
To be a window, through thy grace.
But when thou anneal in glass thy story,
Making thy life to shine within
The Holy preacher`s; then the light and glory
More reverend grows, and more doth win:
Which else shows waterish, bleak, and thin.
Doctrine and life, colors and light, in one
When they combine and mingle, bring
A strong regard and awe: but speech alone
Doth vanish like a flaring thing,
And in the ear, not conscience ring.
The Literary World 