The Poems of John Byrom :: :: University of Virginia Library

Many Thanks have been order'd this Day to attend
The Receipt of your Letter, Dear Vicar and Friend;
Which at first, being left to your Leisure to frame,
Was sure to be welcome, whenever it came.
The Point which the Muse had a Mind to propose
In her free-spoken Rimes, you have handled in Prose.
All fair on both Sides; because, say it or sing,
Truth alone in the Case is the principal Thing.

II

But I cannot but marvel, that much better Sight
Than my own should not see so Meridian a Light
As that of the speaking at Pentecost Time
By the Spirit of God to the good of each Clime
In one single Tongue, by that Spirit inspir'd,
Whose Assistance did all that could then be requir'd;

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Whose Power, it is certain, could make itself known,
By a Number of Tongues or by one Tongue alone.

III

So needless the Many, so simple the One,
That I wonder what Judgment can hesitate on,
Or a learnèd Enquiry that finds, if it seek,
That the Tongue might be one in Construction of Greek;
Which, as Comma takes Place, as old Gregory said,—
Nazianzen I think—either way may be read.
“They speak in our Tongues;” or, as Crystalline clear
The Fact is to my Understanding, “We hear.”

IV

I sent you some Reasons from Baguley why
The Tongue was but one, which you choose to pass by,
And to comment St. Luke in a many-tongu'd Way
That darkens the Light which I took to be Day.
And Day it is still; for Account that you give
“So plain and so obvious” is Water in Sieve;
Which seems to be something at first-looking View,
But by Holes “plain and obvious” it quickly runs through.

V

“The Tongues which appear'd, and which sat upon each,
“All cloven and fiery,” you argue, “may teach,

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“And by Notice symbolical make it discern'd,
“That they spake in such Tongues as they never had learn'd.”
Need I tell an Hebræan, that “Tongue” is the same
In Relation to Fire, as the English Word “Flame
Which appears to be cloven;” and Proof that is spun
From the Tongues or the Flames—has too much of the Pun?

VI

When you ask, “Pray, what Reason can else be assign'd
“For Tongues?” I ask you, “Pray, what Reason for Wind?”
Not to shun a fair Question; but “Tongue” being “Flame”
May have answer'd already your questioning Aim.
I think that an Air, that a Flame from Above,
Both is and betokens the Life and the Love;—
Which if Christians were blest with, one Language would do,
And, their whole Body fill'd with, there could not be two.

VII

But let them be Symbols, the Tongues, if you will,
Of the Grace which the Spirit was pleas'd to instil,—
His Gift is as Good, if, in speaking their own,
Men made the same Truth in all Languages known.
This Effect you will grant the Good Gift to intend.
Now, supposing two Ways of atttaining one End,
Is that Explication less likely or just,
Which takes the more simple, more plainly august?

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VIII

Your Account is quite new in one Thing that I meet,
That is, “That the Speakers went into the Street,
Or went out of the House to the Multitude met.”
For of this going-out I have never read yet;
Or, if ever I did, have forgotten the Book,
And can find nothing said in th' Account of St. Luke
But what should imply both profane and devout
Coming into the House, and not them to go out.

IX

May one ask what Authority, then, you have got
For the Scene and Succession which here you allot
To the speaking Disciples, in Number fifteen,
By an Order well-fancied, but not to be seen
In the Acts or elsewhere the New Testament through;
Nor—what I shall just give a Hint of to you,—
Will you find an Apostle, not even a Paul,
In a Tongue not his own ever preaching at all.

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X

I agree, that “the Mockers who mock'd with the Throng
Knew only their vulgar, Jerusalem Tongue.”
But when you say, further, what cannot but strike,
“That the Nations, too, all understood it alike,”—
Your order'd Confusion of speaking a Store
To a Crowd out of Doors is more puzzling and more.
In the midst of such Darkness if you can see Light,
You need not complain of the Want of Eye-sight.

XI

Thus, my dear old Acquaintance, I run thro' your Plan,
And defend my Conviction as well as I can.
As to what a Bengelius or Wesley may raise
From twelve hundred and sixty prophetical Days,—

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As the Book is not here, if it otherwise could,
My Skill in the German can do you no good;
But the Part that you mention, my Author foretells
Will be put in our Tongue by a Doctor at Wells.

XII

So writes younger Wesley, who call'd here and din'd;
And to him I subscrib'd for it;—tho', in my Mind,
What Prophets have written, it's Learning in vain
Without some prophetical Gift to explain.
Nay, in Points that are clear, beyond any fair Doubt,
It is fifteen to one that the Learnèd are out.
This Ratio, I find, in one Instance is true;
Excuse the Presumption!—
Dear Vicar, Adieu!