NOT NOW by Alice Cary

Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Thursday, February 19, 1880.

FromThe Review and Herald, Vol. 55, No. 8

NOT NOW.

By Alice Cary

The path of duty I clearly trace, I stand with conscience face to face, And all her pleas allow; Calling and crying the while for grace,— “Some other time, and some other place; Oh, not to-day; not now!”

I know ’tis a demon boding ill, I know I have power to do if I will, And I put my hand to the plow; I have fair sweet seeds in my barn, and lo! When all the furrows are ready to sow, The voice says, “Oh, not now!”

My peace I sell at the price of woe; In heart and in spirit I suffer so, The anguish wrings my brow; But still I linger and cry for grace,— “Some other time, and some other place; Oh, not to-day; not now!”

I talk to my stubborn heart and say, “The work I must do I will do to-day; I will make to the Lord a vow: And I will not rest and I will not sleep Till the vow I have vowed I rise and keep;” And the demon cries, “Not now!”

And so the days and the years go by, And so I register lie upon lie, And break with Heaven my vow; For when I would boldly take my stand, This terrible demon stays my hand,— “Oh, not to-day; not now!”

—Alice Cary.