Classic Poem

PARABLE LXVI.

The Woman and her seven Brethren

Then came the Sadducees, whose sect
The resurrection reject,
And ask'd him, ‘Moses has decreed,
‘If a man die and leave no seed,
‘His brother then his wife must wed,
‘And raise up issue in his stead.
‘Now with us from one father rose
‘Sev'n brethren: and the eldest chose
‘A wife, whom childless he resign'd,
‘And to his brother left behind;
‘This to the second, and the third,
‘Ev'n to the seventh man occurr'd.
‘The woman likewise died at last.
‘Now, at the trump's reviving blast,
‘Which with the woman shall be bless'd?
‘For of all sev'n she was possess'd.’
Christ answer'd, ‘Ye have all mistook,
‘Blind to God's pow'r and to his book.
‘For when again they shall arise,
‘They do exchange no marriage-ties,
‘And are in such a state of bliss
‘As angels. But, to clear up this,
‘Have ye not read what was imply'd
‘When thus the great Jehovah cry'd,
‘I am the God of Abraham's seed,
‘The God of Isaac bound and freed,
‘The God of Jacob still alive,
‘For death in him all souls survive.’