The history of The Old Testament In verse With One Hundred and Eighty sculptures: In Two Volumes. Vol. I. From the Creation to the Revolt of the Ten Tribes from the House of David. Vol. II. From that Revolt to the End of the Prophets. Written by Samuel Wesley ... The Cuts done by J. Sturt |
 | I, II. |
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 | The history of The Old Testament In verse |  |
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CXLIX. 2 Samuel, Chap. XI. from Ver. 14. to the End.
The Death of Uriah.
How long the Sting, and Shame, and Pain endures!
From Ill to Ill our wand'ring Nature slides,
When Piety, no more, and Virtue guides:
To cloak Adult'ry Murther must succeed,
And by base Treason brave Uriah bleed;
Tho' milder Methods first the Monarch tries,
And wou'd in vain their Guilt and Shame Disguise:
Bathshebah! for thy injur'd Lord he sends,
Who with Dispatches from the Camp attends;
But with the Pelethites the Guard he kept,
Nor in his violated Mansion slept:
He scorn'd of Ease and soft Repose to taste,
While in the Fields their Nights the Army pass'd:
Tho' twice the conscious Monarch vainly tries
To hide their Shame; the golden Goblet plies:
Well-warm'd the Warrior from his Presence sends,
And much of Kindness and of Love pretends:
The Chief persists; how dear his Firmness cost!
His Life by Murther and by Treason lost:
He to the Camp the fatal Letters bears,
Which to the Gen'ral David's Will declares:
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With Ammon's Sword the brave Uriah slays.
The News is brought, which Ammiel's Daughter hears,
And pays awhile a Widow's decent Tears:
With easie Grief she mourns her Husband dead,
But soon resumes her Robes, and shares the Monarch's Bed.
| The history of The Old Testament In verse | |