The Anvil of God’s Word

Last eve I paused beside a blacksmith’’s door
And heard the anvil ring the vesper chime;
Then looking in, I saw upon the floor,
Old Hammers worn with beating years of time.

“How many anvils have you had,” said I,
“to wear and batter on these hammers so?”
“Just one,” said he, and then with twinkling eyes,
“The anvil wears the hammers out you know.”

“And so,” I thought, “the anvil of God’s Word
For ages skeptics’ blows have beat upon,
Yet though the noise of falling blows was heard 
The anvil is unmarred, the hammers gone.”

 

–John Clifford