Classic Poem

PARABLE LI.

The Leaven of the Scribes and Pharisees.

Take heed (said Christ the Word of heav'n)
To shun the Pharisaic leav'n,
Ev'n hypocritical disguise:
For nothing's veil'd from human eyes,
Which shall not in due time be shewn,
Nor hid, but shall be fully known.
Wherefore whate'er you've spoke by night
In darkness, shall be heard in light;
And closet-whispers shall resound
Upon the house-tops all around.
And, friends, let me exhort you all,
Let not such men your hearts appall,
That can the human body kill,
Without more pow'r to evil will.
But I'll forewarn you whom to dread,
Ev'n him, who when h'has smote you dead,
Has pow'r to cast the soul in hell;
Fear him, and tremble to rebell
Are not five sparrows bought and sold,
If ev'n two farthings be but told?
Yet is there not a single bird
By God forgot, the Life and Word.
And ev'n the very locks you wear
By God are number'd to a hair.
Fear not; your lives in God's account
The worth of sparrows far surmount.
?His tenderness to human kind,
As Jesus shews, he would remind
His flock, that he has still a care
For animals in earth and air,
And those beneath the rolling tide
For all by sparrows are imply'd.
It is a most accepted thing
Before the Maker and the King,
To imitate God's goodness here.
For 'tis a truth as day-spring clear,
That brutes to kindly treat and feed
Is love to Christ in very deed.