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النشر الإلكتروني

LXXXVIII.

St. LUKE Chap. XII. Ver. 17, to 2C.

88

17. He thought within himself, faying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 18. And he faid, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I beStow all my fruits and my goods.

19. And I will fay to my foul, Soul, thou haft much goods laid up for many years; take thine eafe, eat, drink, and be merry.

20. But God faid unto him, Thou fool, this night thy foul shall be required of thee.

LXXXIX.

Works of Charity break not the Sabbath.

HE Sabbath came, a Ruler calls our Lord,

THE

And feats him at his hofpitable Board:

A crowd of Pharifees and Lawyers went,
And plac'd themselves around with curft intent,
To watch each Word, that him they might betray,
And at his Feet a poor Infirm they lay,
Swoln with the Dropfy; nor unknown their spite
To him who fees thro' deepeft fhades of Night.
Who founds 'em thus Mafters of Ifrael! fay,
Is't juft to Heal on the seventh facred Day?
In doubtful filence they their Thoughts conceal'd,
He touch'd th' Infirm, and as he touch'd he heal'd;
Then thus refumes his Speech--- Which of you All,
Whose Ox or Ass into a Pit shall fall,
Struggling for Life, wou'd not, without delay,
Draw him from thence, tho' on the Sabbath Day?
Confounded with the Force of Truth they stand,
None cou'd a Word return to answer his Demand.

LXXXIX.

St. LUKE Chap. XIV. Ver. 3,4, 5, 6.

89

3. Fefus fpake unto the lawyers and Pharifees, fay ing, Is it lawful to heal on the fabbath-day?

4. And they held their peace. And he took him, and bealed him, and let him go:

5. And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass, or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not Straitway pull him out on the fabbath-day?

6. And they could not answer him again to thefe things.

X C.

The Guests invited to the great Supper excufe themselves.

A Lord there was who made a splendid Feast,

Inviting thither many a thankless Gueft;

But to accept his Kindnefs all deny'd,

This pleads his Oxen, that his Farm and Bride.
The Servants come, and to their Mafter show
Th' unkind Returns they met; he bids 'em go
Thro' all the Streets and Lanes, whome're they
find,

Inviting in; the Poor, the Lame, the Blind.
They did, with joyful hafte th' Invited come,
Yet in his ample Palace still was room :
Again he fends to fearch the Country round,
The Hedges and High-ways, and all they found
With an obliging force his Guefts to make,
His House to fill, and no denial take:

Since those who firft were call'd, their Doom was past,

Nor one of those Ungrate fhould of his Banquet

taft.

XC..

St. LUKE Chap. XIV. Ver. 18, to 21.

90

18. They all with one confent began to make excufe. The first faid unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and fee it: I pray thee bave me excufed.

19. And another faid, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excufed. 20. And another faid, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

21. Then the master of the house being angry, said to his fervant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.

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