Analysis of Faith And Works. A Tale.
Hannah More 1745 (Fishponds) – 1833 (Clifton, Bristol)
Good Dan and Jane were man and wife,
And lived a loving kind of life.
One point, however, they disputed
And each by turns his mate confuted.
'Twas Faith and Works, this knotty question,
They found not easy of digestion.
While Dan for Faith alone contended,
Jane equally Good Works defended.
'They are not Christians, sure, but Turks,
Who build on Faith and scoff at Works,'
Quoth Jane; while eager Dan replied,
'By none but Heathens Faith's denied.
I'll tell you, wife,' one day quoth Dan,
'A story of a right good man:
A Patriarch sage, of ancient days,
A man of Faith whom all must praise;
In his own country he possess'd
Whate'er can make a wise man blest,
His was the flock, the field, the spring,
In short, a little rural king.
Yet pleas'd he quits his native land,
By Faith in the Divine command.
God bade him go; and he, content,
Went forth, not knowing where he went:
He trusted in the promise made,
And, undisputing, straight obey'd.
The heavenly word he did not doubt,
But proved his Faith by going out.'
Jane answer'd with some little pride:
'I've an example on my side;
And though my tale be somewhat longer,
I trust you'll find it vastly stronger.
I'll tell you, Daniel, of a man,
The holiest since the world began
Who now God's favour is receiving,
For prompt
obeying
, not believing.
One only son this man possess'd,
In whom his righteous age was blest;
And more to mark the grace of heaven
This son by miracle was given.
And from this child, the word Divine,
Had promised an illustrious line.
When lo! at once a voice he hears,
Which sounds like thunder in his ears!
God says, 'Go sacrifice thy son!'
'This moment, Lord, it shall be done.'
He goes, and instantly prepares,
To slay this child of many pray'rs,
Now here you see the grand expedience,
Of
Works
, of actual, sound
obedience
.
This was not Faith, but act and deed;
The Lord commands the child shall bleed:
Thus Abraham
acted
,' Jenny cried,
'Thus Abraham trusted,' Dan replied.
'Abraham!' quoth Jane, 'why that's my man.'
'No, Abraham's he I mean,' says Dan.
'He stands a monument of Faith.'
'No, 'tis for
Works
the Scripture saith.'
''Tis for
Obedience
I commend him.'
Thus he, thus she; both warmly feel,
And lose their temper in their zeal.
Too quick each other's choice to blame,
They did not see each meant the same.
At length, 'Good wife,' said honest Dan,
'We're talking of the self-same man.
The Works you praise, I own indeed,
Grow from that Faith for which I plead.
And Abraham, whom for Faith I quote
For Works deserves especial note.
'Tis not enough of Faith to talk:
A man of God with God must walk.
Our doctrines are at last the same,
They only differ in the name.
The Faith, I fight for, is the root;
The Works, you value, are the fruit.
How shall you know my creed's sincere,
Unless in Works my Faith appear?
How shall I know a tree's alive,
Unless I see it bear and thrive?
Your Works not growing on my root,
Would prove they were not genuine Fruit.
If Faith produce no Works, I see,
That Faith is not a living tree.
Thus Faith and Works together grow;
No separate life they e'er can know.
They're soul and body, hand and heart;
What God hath join'd let no man part!'
Scheme | Text too long |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010101 01010111 11101010 0111111 110111010 111101010 111101010 110011010 11110111 11110111 11110101 1111101 11111111 01010111 01011101 01111111 01110101 10110111 11010101 01010101 11111101 11000101 11110110 11110111 11000101 01101 010011111 11111101 11011101 11010111 011111110 111111010 11110101 010010101 11111010 11 010 1010 11011101 01110111 011101110 111100110 01110101 110101001 11110111 11110011 1111011 11011111 11010001 11111101 1111010100 1 1 11001 0100 1 11111101 01010111 110 10 101 11010101 10111111 1111111 11010011 111 1 0101 11 0100 1011 11111101 01110011 11110111 11111101 11111101 11010111 01111101 11111111 01011111 11010101 11011111 01111111 101011101 11010001 01111101 01110101 11111101 01011101 11110101 01111101 11110111 111011001 11011111 11110101 11010101 110111011 11010101 11111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 3,077 |
Words | 597 |
Sentences | 40 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 99 |
Lines Amount | 99 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 2,391 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 584 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 23, 2023
- 3:01 min read
- 126 Views
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"Faith And Works. A Tale." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/42991/faith-and-works.--a-tale.>.
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