Page:Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral.djvu/44

When thus the king: "Dar'st thou a stripling go,
"And venture combat with so great a foe?
"Who all his days has been inur'd to fight,

"And made its deeds his study and delight:

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"Battles and bloodshed brought the monster forth,
"And clouds and whirlwinds usher'd in his birth."
When David thus: "I kept the fleecy care,
"And out there rush'd a lion and a bear;

"A tender lamb the hungry lion took,

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"And with no other weapon than my crook
"Bold I pursu'd, and chas'd him o'er the field,
"The prey deliver'd, and the felon kill'd:
"As thus the lion and the bear I slew,

"So shall Goliath fall, and all his crew:

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"The God, who sav'd me from these beasts of prey,
"By me this monster in the dust shall lay."
So David spoke. The wond'ring king reply'd;
"Go thou with heav'n and victory on thy side:

"This coat of mail, this sword gird on," he said,

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And plac'd a mighty helmet on his head:

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