Even ministers of good things are like torches, a light to
others, waste and destruction to themselves.

Even ministers of good things are like torches, a light to
others, waste and destruction to themselves.

God preaches, a noted clergyman,
And the sermon is never long;
So instead of getting to heaven read more

God preaches, a noted clergyman,
And the sermon is never long;
So instead of getting to heaven at last,
I'm going all along.

Of right and wrong he taught
Truths as refined as ever Athens heard;
And (strange to tell) read more

Of right and wrong he taught
Truths as refined as ever Athens heard;
And (strange to tell) he practis'd what he preach'd.

I preached as never sure to preach again,
And as a dying man to dying men.

I preached as never sure to preach again,
And as a dying man to dying men.

There goes the parson, oh illustrious spark!
And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk.

There goes the parson, oh illustrious spark!
And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk.

They shall knaw a file, and flee unto the mountains of Hepsidam
whar the lion roareth and the Wang read more

They shall knaw a file, and flee unto the mountains of Hepsidam
whar the lion roareth and the Wang Doodle mourneth for its first
born--ah!

Oh, for a forty-parson power to chant
Thy praise, Hypocrisy! Oh, for a hymn
Loud as the read more

Oh, for a forty-parson power to chant
Thy praise, Hypocrisy! Oh, for a hymn
Loud as the virtues thou dost loudly vaunt,
Not practise!

The things that mount the rostrum with a skip,
And then skip down again, pronounce a text,
read more

The things that mount the rostrum with a skip,
And then skip down again, pronounce a text,
Cry hem; and reading what they never wrote
Just fifteen minutes, huddle up their work,
And with a well-bred whisper close the scene!

A kick that scarce would move a horse,
May kill a sound divine.

A kick that scarce would move a horse,
May kill a sound divine.