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AN ARGUMENT FOR DAVID'S BELIEF OF A

FUTURE STATE, INFERRED FROM

BATHSHEBA'S LAST WORDS TO

HIM UPON HIS DEATH-BED.

[See 1st Kings, i. 28-32: "Then King David answered and said, Call me Bath-sheba. And she came into the King's presence, and stood before the King. And the King sware and said, As the Lord liveth, that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress, even as I sware unto thee By the Lord God of Israel, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead; even so will I certainly do this day. Then Bath-sheba bowed with her face to the earth, and did reverence to the King, and said, Let my lord King David live for ever. And King David said," &c.

I think it unnecessary to

comment upon Byrom's "inference" further than by quoting Daniel, ii. 4: "Then spake the Chaldæans to the King" [Nebuchadnezzar] "in Syriac, O King, live for ever: tell thy servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation."]

I.

F David knew not of a future Life,

IF

How understood he Bathsheba his Wife;
Who, when he lay upon his Death-bed, came
To plead for Solomon's succeeding claim ;
And, having prosper'd in her own Endeavour,
Said: "Let my Lord, King David, live for ever?"

II.

What real Wish was Bathsheba's Intent,
If Life hereafter was not what she meant?
Say, that "for ever" to a King in Health
Meant a long Life, Prosperity and Wealth,-
To one that lay a-dying, you must own,
'Twould be a mere Burlesque upon his Throne.

IO

III.

If she had pray'd for David's mild Release,

Or, “Let my Lord the King depart in Peace,”

Tho' even then 'twere difficult to stint

Her utmost Thought to so minute a Hint,—

The short-liv'd Comment might have some Pretence;
But "Live for ever" has no Sort of Sense ;-

IV.

Unless we grant her Meaning to extend
To future Life, that never has an End.
Piety will, and Reason must, confess
That her Intention never could be less.
"King, live for ever," and "God save the King,"
Old or new Phrase,-Salvation is the Thing ;—

V.

No poor Salvation to be quickly past,
And with a deadly Exit at the last,—

To which when David was so near, what Share
Could he enjoy of "Live for ever" Pray'r,
Had he not known what Bathsheba design'd,-
A Life to come of everlasting Kind?

VI.

Tho' num'rous Proofs might readily be brought
That this was always holy David's Thought,—
Yet, since by learned and long-winded Ways
Men seek to break the Force of ancient Phrase,
I single out this plain, familiar one.—
Now, give as plain an Answer thereupon!

20

30

AN EXPOSTULATION WITH A ZEALOUS SECTARIST, WHO INVEIGHED IN BITTER

TERMS AGAINST THE CLERGY

AND CHURCH INSTITUTIONS.

[The following lines are interesting, and not only or chiefly as exhibiting their author's personal loyalty towards the Establishment. The charges which he puts into the mouth of the "Zealous Sectarist," or which he had actually copied from the spoken or written words of some violent non-conformist of his day, are quite familiar to our own. Indeed, there might here and there seem rather more point in them at the close of the nineteenth century than in the middle of the eighteenth century, when ecclesiastical discipline had decayed, when the Church set to the Sects an example of torpor which on the whole they readily followed, and when such prospects of "comprehension" as remained were dimmed quite as much by the languor which prevailed in the Dissenting bodies as by that which beset the church. Thus the fighting spirit displayed by Byrom's "Sectarist" was doubly futile, and well deserved our poet's rebuke.]

NO, Sir; I cannot see to what good End

Such bitter Words against the Clergy tend,
Pour'd from a Zeal so sharp, so unallay'd,
That suffers no Exception to be made;
While the most mild Persuasions to repress
The bitter Zeal still heighten its Excess.

Its own relentless Thought while it pursues,
What unrestrain'd Expressions it can use!
Places of Worship, which the People call
Churches, are "Synagogues of Satan" all;
At all liturgic Pray'r and Praise it storms,

As "Man's Inventions, Spirit-quenching Forms;"
And, from baptismal down to burial Rite,
Sets ev'ry Service in an odious Light;

ΙΟ

All previous Order, with regard to Time,
Place, or Behaviour, passes for a Crime.

Of "Pharisaic Pride" it culls the Marks,
To represent the Bishop and his Clerks;
Who are, if offer'd any gentler Plea,

"The Devil's Ministers," both He and They;

"Blind Guides," "false Prophets," and a lengthen'd Train

Of all hard Words that chosen Texts contain.

These are the Forms which, when it would object

To those in Use, it pleases to select,

Repeated by its Devotees at once

As like to Rote as any Church Response.
Nor is a Treatment of this eager Kind

To this or that Society confin'd,

Sect, or Profession,-no, no Matter which,
"Leaders" or "led," all "fall into the Ditch;"
None but its own severe Adepts can claim
Of Truth and Spirit-Worshippers the Name.
In vain it seeks by any sacred Page
To justify this unexampled Rage.

Prophets of old, who spake against th' Abuse
Of outward Forms, were none of them so loose
As to condemn, abolish or forbid

The Things prescrib'd; but what the People did,
Who minded nothing but the mere Outside,
Neglecting wholly what it signified,—
At this Neglect the Prophets all exclaim'd.
No pious Rites has any of them blam'd;
Their true Intent was only to reduce
All outward Practice to its inward Use.

30. "Leaders," or "led," all "fall into the Ditch." "And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." (St. Matthew, xv. 14.)

20

309

40

38. But what the People did. An inverted sentence. The Prophets all exclaimed at the negligence of what the people did.

The World's Redeemer, coming to fulfil
All past Predictions of prophetic Quill,—
Who more amidst the Jewish priestly Pride
Than He with all Mosaic Rites complied?
Say, that the Christian Priests are now as bad

As those blind Leaders which the Jews then had ;- 50
Was Zacharias', Simeon's, Anna's Mind,

Any good Priest, or Man or Woman, blind

To offer Incense, or to bear a Part

In Temple Service with an upright Heart?

Can then the Faults of Clergymen or Lay
Destroy Heart-Worship at this present Day?
Will Pray'r, in vain by Pharisees preferr'd,
Not from repenting Publicans be heard?
Will the devout amongst the Christian Flock
Not be accepted, tho' the Priest should mock?
If they do right in their appointed Spheres,
His Want of Truth and Spirit is not Theirs.

Our Lord's Apostles, with an inward View
To reconcile the Gentile and the Jew,
To Faith in Him made ev'ry outward Care
The most subservient to that main Affair.
The greatest Friend to Christian Freedom, Paul,
Intent to save, was "ev'rything to All."

To keep, whatever Forms should rise or cease,
"Union of Spirit in the Bond of Peace,"

51. Was ZACHARIAS', SIMEON'S, ANNA's Mind. Zacharias, the father of St. John (see St. Luke, i. 5 seqq.); Simeon (ib., iii. 25 seqq.); Anna, "a prophetess," the mother of the Blessed Virgin (ib., 36 seqq.).

60

70

all things to all men, that I might by all means save some." (1st Corinthians, ix. 22.)

70. Union of Spirit in the Bond of Peace. "Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

68. "Ev'rything to All." "I am made (Ephesians, iv. 3.)

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