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How lovely, oh, how pleasant, when

They lived with men!

Than eagles swifter; stronger far

Than lions are;

Whom love in life so strangely tied,
The stroke of death could not divide.

Sad Israel's daughters, weep for Saul;
Lament his fall,

Who fed you with the earth's increase,
And crowned with peace;

With robes of Tyrian purple deckt,
And gems which sparkling light reflect.

How are Thy worthies by the sword

Of war devoured!

O Jonathan! the better part

Of my torn heart!

The savage rocks have drunk thy blood;
My brother! oh, how kind! how good!

GEORGE SANDYS

48

THE PARABLE OF NATHAN AND DAVID II Samuel xii. 1-14

NATHAN.

king:

"Thus Nathan saith unto his lord, the

There were two men, both dwellers in one town;
The one was mighty, and exceeding rich
In oxen, sheep, and cattle of the field;
The other poor, having nor ox nor calf,
Nor other cattle, save one little lamb,

Which he had bought, and nourished by his hand;
And it grew up, and fed with him and his,
And ate and drank as he and his were wont,
And in his bosom slept, and was to him
As was his daughter or his dearest child.
There came a stranger to the wealthy man,
And he refused and spared to take his own,
Or of his store to dress or take his meat,
But took the poor man's sheep-his only store—
And drest it for this stranger in his house.

What, tell me, shall be done to him for this?" DAVID. "Now, as the Lord doth live, this wicked

man

Is judged, and shall become the child of death; Fourfold to the poor man he shall restore That without mercy took his lamb away." NATHAN. "Thou art the man, and thou hast judged thyself.

'David,' thus saith the Lord, thy God, by me,

'I thee anointed king in Israel,

And saved thee from the tyranny of Saul;

Thy master's house I gave thee to possess,
And Judah and Jerusalem withal;

And might, thou know'st, had this been too small,
Have given thee much more.

Wherefore, then, hast thou gone so far astray
And hast done evil, and sinned in my sight?
Urias thou hast killed with the sword,-

Thou hast him slain; wherefore, from this day

forth,

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The sword shall never go from thee and thine.' DAVID. Nathan, I know against the Lord I have Sinned, O sinned grievously, and lo!

'Fore Heaven's throne doth David throw him

self."

NATHAN. "David, stand up; thus saith the Lord by me:

'David, the king, shall live,' for He hath seen

The true repentant sorrow of thy heart.

But for thou hast in this misdeed of thine

Stirred up the enemies of Israel

To triumph, and blaspheme the Lord of Hosts,
And say: 'He set a wicked man to reign
Over His loved people and His tribes,'

The child shall surely die that erst was born."

DAVID. "How just is Jacob's God in all His

works!

But must it die that David loveth so?—

Mourn, Israel; weep in Sion's gates;

Wither, ye cedar trees of Lebanon."

GEORGE PEELE

49

DAVID'S GRIEF FOR HIS CHILD

II Samuel xii. 15-23

'Twas daybreak, and the fingers of the dawn
Drew the night's curtain, and touched silently
The eyelids of the king. And David woke,
And robed himself, and prayed. The inmates, now,
Of the vast palace were astir, and feet
Glided along the tessellated floors

With a pervading murmur, and the fount
Whose music had been all the night unheard,
Played as if light had made it audible;

And each one, waking, blessed it unaware.

The fragrant strife of sunshine with the morn Sweetened the air to ecstasy; and now

The king's wont was to lie upon his couch

Beneath the sky-roof of the inner court,

And, shut in from the world, but not from Heaven,

Play with his loved son by the fountain's lip;
For, with idolatry confessed alone

To the rapt wires of his reproofless harp,
He loved the child of Bath-sheba. And when
The golden selvedge of his robe was heard
Sweeping the marble pavement, from within
Broke forth a child's laugh suddenly, and words—
Articulate, perhaps, to his heart only-

Pleading to come to him. They brought the boy,
An infant cherub, leaping as if used

To hover with that motion upon wings,

And marvellously beautiful! His brow
Had the inspired uplift of the king's,
And kingly was his infantine regard;

But his ripe mouth was of the ravishing mould
Of Bath-sheba's the hue and type of love,
Rosy and passionate—and oh, the moist
Unfathomable blue of his large eyes

Gave out its light as twilight shows a star,
And drew the heart of the beholder in!-
And this was like his mother.

David's lips

Moved with unuttered blessings, and awhile
He closed the lids upon his moistened eyes,
And, with the round cheek of the nestling boy
Press'd to his bosom, sat as if afraid
That but the lifting of his lids might jar
The heart-cup's overfulness. Unobserved
A servant of the outer court had knelt
Waiting before him; and a cloud, the while,
Had rapidly spread o'er the summer heaven;
And, as the chill of the withdrawing sun
Fell on the king, he lifted up his eyes
And frown'd upon the servant-for that hour
Was hallow'd to his heart and his fair child,
And none might seek him. And the king arose
And, with a troubled countenance, look'd up
To the fast gathering darkness; and, behold,
The servant bowed himself to earth, and said,
"Nathan, the prophet, cometh from the Lord!"
And David's lips grew white, and with a clasp

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