Eliakim at Court had many Friends,
By whom in Secret he could work his Ends;
So that no Accusation could remove
Him, deeply rooted in his Brother’s Love.
But since the Jews to him shew’d open Hate,
Lest that his presence should embroil the State;
And that the Jews might have no cause to sin,
He’s sent to rule the Tribe of Benjamin.
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Thus two great Factions in Judea rose, So hotly each the other did oppose, ’Twas fear’d they’d fall at last from Words to Blows. | } |
Each side most zealous for the King appears,
Each full of Jealousies and disturbing Fears,
Each pleads for Amazia and the Laws,
God and Religion both do make their Cause:
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Both Loyalty profess, both opposite, Both would persuade that each was in the right, Tho’ both contrary shew as day and night. | } |
Sweet Azaria with these Troubles mov’d,
On that side hated, and by this belov’d;
Fearing th’ inveterate Malice of his Foes,
Which he sought to avoid, not to oppose,
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And lest they should their sought Occasion find, To tax him of an ill ambitious mind, By seeing all the Jews to him so kind; | } |
Lest he should grow i’th’ King’s Opinion worse,
He seeks for Council how to steer his Course,
That he might to the Court give no Offence,
But live wrapt up in his own fair Innocence,
88 The wise and thoughtful Hushai he doth find,
And thus to him he breaks his troubled Mind,
Great Councellor, and Favorite of Heav’n,
To whom the Blessing of true Wisdom’s giv’n,
Which by no Mortal can possessed be,
Whose Thoughts are not inform’d by Loyalty.
I know Reproaches upon you are thrown;
But judge your Innocency by my own.
I am accused Sir, as well as you,
And the same Foe doth both our Lives pursue.
He fears your Wisdom, may his Hindrance prove,
And me, because I have the People’s Love:
His Creatures therefore throw on you and me,
The Scandal of a curs’d Conspiracy,
Against our King and Father to rebell:
Me Absalom, and you Achitophel
They name; bad Councellor, and worser Son,
Who Traytors, durst into Rebellion run.
My Father governs with so equal Sway,
That all both love him, and his Laws obey:
He seems Heav’n’s Care, who set him in the Throne,
Preserved by his wondrous Power alone.
Oh may on him no Blemish fall or stain,
But all live happy in his peaceful Reign:
May he be happy still as he is good,
Like God in Mercy, not inclin’d to Blood.
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This is the Prayer that I daily make; For Piety shall never me forsake, Tho’ I his Royal Favor ne’er partake. | } |
And tho’ my Foes have with their subtil Art
Banish’d me from my Royal Father’s Heart,
Which is the Source of all my Grief and Woe,
My just Obedience I will ne’er forgoe.
Nor has Disgrace, nor my hot Passions wrought,
Within my Breast one bad disloyal Thought.
I ne’er believ’d my Father would betray
His People, or sought Arbitrary Sway:
Or tho’ his People did his Wrath provoke,
He meant to curb them with an Iron Yoak.
89 Yet do I think, nay more than think, the Cause
(But here his passion made some little pause,
Till sighing, at the last he thus went on)
Why my Great Father does disown his Son;
They say I am but of a spurious Brood,
My Mother being of Ignoble Blood:
For Jocoliah was but mean by Birth,
Tho’ with the King she mix’d her baser Earth.
I was begotten in my Father’s Flight,
E’er to the Crown he had obtain’d his Right:
And since I from his Favor did decline,
He has declar’d her but his Concubine.
This has the Hopes rais’d of Eliakim,
And Amaziah’s Crown design’d for him;
My Hopes are lost, and I do think it fit,
I should to God, Right, and the King submit;
But yet, wise Hushai know, I still do find,
My Birth has not so much debas’d my mind,
To make me stoop to low or mean desires;
I feel my Father’s Royal Blood inspires
My depress’d Soul, wipes off th’ ignoble Stain,
Renders me apt, or not unfit to reign.
Of David’s Royal Blood, my self I own,
And with it never can disgrace the Throne.
Tho’ my bold Spirits, mounting thus, do fly
Towards the Noble hight of Sovereignty,
And that I feel my Father’s Blood to rowl
Through every Vein and animate my Soul;
Yet so much Loyalty is sown within
My Breast, I would not Empire gain with Sin:
For when my ambitious Thoughts begin to roam,
Their Forces, I with that soon overcome.
Tho’ to God’s Laws, and to the King’s I yield,
To my known Foes I would not leave the Field.
I’d not be trampl’d on by sordid Feet,
Nor take Affronts from ev’ry one I meet:
I’d give no Cause they should my Courage doubt,
Nor to Rebellion push the vulgar Rout,
I to my Father would give no Offence,
Nor while he lives, lay to the Crown Pretence;
90 But since Life’s sweet, by Wisdom I’d keep mine,
From Baalites Hate, and Eliakim’s Design:
This my wise Friend, is my chief Business now,
To take some Sage and good Advice from you.
Hushai in Silence heard the Prince, and weigh’d
Each word he spake, then to him thus reply’d;