David and Bersheba.
To a Pleasant New Tune.
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WHen David in Jerusalem
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as Royal King did rule and reign,
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Behold what happen'd unto him,
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that afterwards procur'd his pain:
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On the top of all his Palace,
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a gallant Prospect there had he,
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From whence he might, as pleas'd his Grace,
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many a gallant Garden see.
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It chanced so upon a Day,
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the King went forth to take the Air,
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All in the pleasant Month of May,
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whereas he spy'd a Lady fair,
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Her Beauty was most excellent,
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and brighter than the Morning-sun;
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By which the King incontinent
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was to her Favour quickly won:
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She stood within a pleasant Bower
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all naked for to wash her there,
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Her Body like a Lilly-flower,
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was cover'd with her golden Hair:
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The King was wounded with her Love,
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and what she was he did require;
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He could not his Affections move,
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he had in her such great Desire.
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She is Uriahs Wife, quoth they,
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a Captain of your Princely Train,
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That in your Wars is now away,
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and she doth all alone remain.
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Then said the King, Bring her to me,
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for with her Love my Heart is slain;
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The Princess of Beauty sure is she,
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for whom I do great Grief sustain.
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The Servants they do soon prepare
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to do the Message of the King;
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And Bersheba, that Lady fair,
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unto the Court did quickly bring.
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The King rejoyced at her sight,
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and won her Love, and laid her by;
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When they in sport had spent that Night,
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and that the Sun was risen high;
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The King his leave most kindly took,
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till that three Months were gone and past,
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And then again he did return
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with wondrous speed and haste;
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And then in Bersheba so fair,
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she found her former Health exil'd,
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By certain Tokens that she saw,
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the King had gotten her with Child:
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Then to the King she made her Moan,
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and told him how the Case did stand;
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The King sent for her Husband home,
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to cloak the matter out of hand.
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When from the Camp Uriah came,
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the King receiv'd him courteously,
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Demanding how all things did frame,
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concerning of the Enemy:
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Uriah shewed his Highness all
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the Accidents of Warlike Strife;
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Then said the King, This Night you shall
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keep Company with your own Wife?
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The Ark of God, Uriah said,
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with Judahs Hoast and Israel
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Keep in the Field, and not a Man
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within the House where they do dwell;
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Then should I take my Ease (quoth he)
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in bed of down with my fair Wife?
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O King, he said, that may not be,
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so long as I enjoy my Life.
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Then did the King a Letter frame,
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to Joab, General of the Hoast,
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And by Uriah sent the same,
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but certainly his Life it cost.
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And when the King for certain knew,
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Uriah thus had murdered been,
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Fair Bersheba to the Court he drew,
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and made of her his Royal Queen.
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Then God that saw this wicked Deed,
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was angry at King Davids Sin;
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The Prophet Nathan then with speed
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came thus complaining unto him:
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O David, ponder what I say,
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a great Abuse I shall you tell;
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For thou that rul'st in Equity,
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should see the People ruled well;
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Two Men within the City dwell,
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the one is rich, the other poor;
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The rich in Cattle doth excel,
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the other nothing hath in store,
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Saving one little silly Sheep,
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which young he did with Money buy,
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With his own Bread he did it feed,
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amongst his Children tenderly,
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The rich Man had a Stranger came
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unto his House that lov'd him dear,
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The poor Man's Sheep therefore he took,
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and thereof made his Friend good chear;
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Because that he his own would save,
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he us'd the Man most cruelly.
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Then by the Lord, the King did swear,
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the rich Man for that Fault should dye.
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Thou art the Man, the Prophet said,
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the Princely Crown God gave to thee,
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The Lord's Wife thou thy own hast made,
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and many more of fair Beauty.
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Why hast thou so defiled thy Life,
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and slain Uriah with the Sword,
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And taken home his wedded Wife,
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regarding not God's holy Word?
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Therefore behold, thus saith the Lord,
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Great Wars upon thy House shall be;
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Because thou hast my Laws abhord,
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much I'll be sure to cast on thee.
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I'll take thy Wives before thy face;
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and give them to thy Neighbour's Use,
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And thou thereby shall reap Disgrace,
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for Man shall laugh at thy Abuse.
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Then David cryed out piteously,
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Sore have I sinned against the Lord,
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In Mercy therefore look on me,
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let not my Prayers be abhor'd.
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But as the Prophet told to him,
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so did it after chance indeed,
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For God did greatly plague his Sin,
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as in the Bible you may read.
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The Scourge of Sin thus you may see,
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for Murder and Adultery;
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And grant that we may warned be,
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such crying Sins to shun and flie.
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