To thy delusions; justly, since they fell

expression of which she recapitulates many cirIdolatrous : but, when his purpose is

cumstances respecting the birth and early life of Among them to declare his providence

her son.-Satan again meets his infernal council, To thee not known, whence hast thou then thy truth, reports the bad success of his first temptation of But from him, or his angels president

our blessed Lord, and calls upon them for counsel In every province, who, themselves disdaining and assistance. Belial proposes the tempting of To approach thy temples, give thee in command Jesus with women. Satan rebukes Belial for his What, to the smallest tittle, thou shalt say

dissoluteness, charging on him all the profligacy To thy adorers ? Thou, with trembling fear,

of that kind ascribed by the poets to the heathen Or like a fawning parasite, obey'st :

gods, and rejects his proposal as in no respect Then to thyself ascrib'st the truth foretold.

likely to succeed. Satan then suggests other But this thy glory shall be soon retrench'd;

modes of temptation, particularly proposing 10 No more shalt thou by oracling abuse

avail himself of the circumstance of our Lord's The Gentiles; henceforth oracles are ceas'd,

hungering; and, taking a band of chosen spirits And thou no more with pomp and sacrifice

with him, returns to resume his enterprise.—Jesus Shalt be inquir'd at Delphos, or elsewhere;

hungers in the desert.-Night comes on; the At least in vain, for they shall find thee mute. manner in which our Savior passes the night is God hath now sent his living oracle

described.-Morning advances.—Satan again apInto the world to teach his final will,

pears to Jesus, and, after expressing wonder that And sends his Spirit of Truth henceforth to dwell he should be so entirely neglected in the wilderIn pious hearts, an inward oracle

ness, where others had been miraculously fed, To all truth requisite for men to know."

tempts him with a sumptuous banquet of the So spake our Savior, but the subtle fiend,

most luxurious kind. This he rejects, and tho Though inly stung with anger and disdain,

banquet vanishes.—Satan, finding our Lord not Dissembled, and this answer smooth return'd.

to be assailed on the ground of appetite, tempts “ Sharply thou hast insisted on rebuke,

him again by offering him riches, as the means of And urg'd me with hard doings, which not will acquiring power : this Jesus also rejects, produBut misery hath wrested from me. Where

cing many instances of great actions performed Easily canst thou find one miserable,

by persons under virtuous poverty, and specifying And not enforc'd oft-times to part from truth,

the danger of riches, and the cares and pains inIf it may stand him more in stead to lie,

separable from power and greatness. Say and unsay, feign, flatter, or abjure ? But thou art plac'd above me, thou art Lord; MEANWHILE the new-baptiz’d, who yet remaind From thee I can, and must submiss, endure,

At Jordan with the Baptist, and had seen Check, or reproof, and glad to 'scape so quit. Him whom they heard so late expressly call'd Hard are the ways of Truth, and rough to walk, Jesus Messiah, Son of God declar'd, Smooth on the tongue discours'd, pleasing to the ear, And on that high authority had believ'd, And tunable as sylvan pipe or song ;

And with him talk'd, and with him lodg'd; I mean What wonder then if I delight to hear

Andrew and Simon, famous after known, Her dictates from thy mouth? Most men admire With others, though in Holy Writ not nam'd; Virtue, who follow not her lore: permit me Now missing him, their joy so lately found, To hear thee when I come, (since no man comes,) (So lately found and so abruptly gone,) And talk at least, though I despair to attain. Began to doubt, and doubled many days, Thy Father, who is holy, wise, and pure,

And, as the days increas'd, increas'd their doubt. Suffers the hypocrite or atheous priest

Sometimes they thought he might be only shown, To tread his sacred courts, and minister

And for a time caught up to God, as once A bout his altar, handling holy things,

Moses was in the mount and missing long, Praying or vowing; and vouchsaf'd his voice And the great Thisbite, who on fiery wheels To Balaam reprobate, a prophet yet

Rode up to Heaven, yet once again to come : Inspir'd : disdain not such access to me."

Therefore, as those young prophets then with care To whom our Savior, with unalter'd brow : Sought lost Elijah, so in each place these “ Thy coming hither, though I know thy scope, Nigh to Bethabara ; in Jericho I bid not, or forbid: do as thou find'st

The city of palms, Ænon, and Salem old, Permission from above; thou canst not more." Machærus, and each town or city wall'd He added not: and Satan, bowing low

On this side the broad lake Genezaret, His grey dissimulation, disappear’d

Or in Perwa; but return'd in vain. Into thin air diffus'd: for now began

Then on the bank of Jordan, by a creek Night with her sullen wings to double-shade Where winds with reeds and osiers whispering play The desert ; fowls in their clay-nests were couehd; Plain fishermen, (no greater men them call.) And now wild beasts came forth the woods to roam Close in a cottage low together got,

Their unexpected loss and plaints outbreath d.

Alas, from what high hope to what relapse

Unlook’d-for are we fallin! our eyes bebeld
BOOK II.

Messiah certainly now come, so long

Expected of our fathers : we have heard
THE ARGUMENT.

His words, his wisdom full of grace and truth;

Now, now, for sure, deliverance is at hand, The disciples of Jesus, uneasy at his long absence, The kingdom shall to Israel be restor'd;

reason amongst themselves concerning it. Mary Thus we rejoic'd, but soon our joy is turn'd also gives vent to her maternal anxiety: in the Into perplexity and new ainaze :

66

For whither is he gone, what accident

Meekly compos'd awaited the fulfilling: llath rapt him from us? will he now retire The while her son, tracing the desert wild, After appearance, and again prolong

Sole, but with holiest meditations fed, Our expectation? God of Israel,

Into himself descended, and at once Send thy Messiah forth, the time is come;

All his great work to come before him set; Behold the kings of the Earth, how they oppress How to begin, how to accomplish best Thy chosen; to what height their power unjust His end of being on Earth, and mission high • They have exalted, and behind them cast

For Satan, with sly preface to return, All fear of thee ; arise, and vindicate

Had left him vacant, and with speed was gone Thy glory; free thy people from their yoke. Up to the middle region of thick air, But let us wait; thus far he hath performid, Where all his potentates in council sat; Sent his anointed, and to us reveald him, There, without sign of boast, or sign of joy, By his great prophet, pointed at and shown Solicitous and blank, he thus began. In public, and with him we have convers’d;

Princes, Heaven's ancient sons, ethereal thrones Let us be glad of this, and all our fears

Demonian spirits now, from the element Lay on his providence; he will not fail,

Each of his reign allotted, rightlier callid
Nor will withdraw him now, nor will recall, Powers of fire, air, water, and earth beneath,
Mock us with his blest sight, then snatch him hence; (So may we hold our place and these mild seats
Soon we shall see our hope, our joy, return." Without new trouble, such an enemy

Thus they, out of their plaints, new hope resume Is risen to invade us, who no less
To find whom at the first they found unsought: Threatens than our expulsion down to Hell ;
But, to his mother Mary, when she saw

I, as I undertook, and with the vote
Others return'd from baptism, not her son,

Consenting in full frequence was empower'd, Nor left at Jordan, tidings of him none,

Have found him, view'd him, tasted him; but find Within her breast though calm, her breast though Far other labor to be undergone pure,

Than when I dealt with Adam, first of men, Motherly cares and fears got head, and rais'd Though Adam by his wife's allurement fell, Some troubled thoughts, which she in sighs thus clad. However to this man inferior far;

“O, what avails me now that honor high If he be man by mother's side, at least To have conceiy'd of God, or that salute,

With more than human gifts from Heaven adorn'd, “ Hail highly favor'd among women blest ! Perfections absolute, graces divine, While I to sorrows am no less advanc'd,

And amplitude of mind to greatest deeds. And fears as eminent, above the lot

Therefore I am return'd, lest confidence Of other women, by the birth I bore;

Of my success with Eve in Paradise In such a season born, when scarce a shed

Deceive ye to persuasion over-sure
Could be obtain'd to shelter him or me

Of like succeeding here : I summon all
From the bleak air; a stable was our warmth, Rather to be in readiness, with hand
A manger his; yet soon enforc'd to fly,

Or counsel to assist; lest I, who erst
Thence into Egypt, ull the murderous king Thought none my equal, now be over-match’d.”
Were dead, who sought his life, and missing fillid So spake the old serpent, doubting; and from all
With infant blood the streets of Bethlehem; With clamor was assured their utmost aid
From Egypt home return'd, in Nazareth

At his command: when from amidst them rose Hath been our dwelling many years; his life Belial, the dissolutest spirit that fell, Private, unactive, calm, contemplative,

The sensualest, and, after Asmodai, Little suspicious to any king; but now

The fleshliest incubus; and thus advis'd. Full grown to man, acknowledg'd, as I hear,

" Set women in his eye, and in his walk, By John the Baptist, and in public shown,

Among daughters of men the fairest found :
Son own'd from Heaven by his Father's voice, Many are in each region passing fair
I look'd for some great change; to honor? no, As the noon sky: more like to goddesses
But trouble, as old Simeon plain foretold,

Than mortal creatures, graceful and discreet,
That to the fall and rising he should be

Expert in amorous arts, enchanting tongues Of many in Israël, and to a sign

Persuasive, virgin majesty with mild
Spoken against, that through my very soul

And sweet allay'd, yet terrible to approach,
A sword shall pierce: this is my favor'd lot, Skill'd to retire, and, in retiring, draw
My exaltation to afflictions high;

Hearts after them, tangled in amorous nets.
AMicted I may be, it seems, and blest;

Such object hath the power to soften and tame I will not argue that, nor will repine.

Severest temper, smooth the rugged'st brow
But where delays he now? some great intent Enerve, and with voluptuous hope dissolve.
Conceals him. when twelve years he scarce had seen, Draw out with credulous desire, and lead
I lost hin, but so found, as well I saw

At will the manliest, resolutest breast, .
He could not lose himself, but went about

As the magnetic hardest iron draws. His Father's business ; what he meant I mus'd, Women, when nothing else, beguild the heart Since understand ; much more his absence now Of wisest Solomon, and made him build, Thus long to some great purpose he obscures. And made him bow, to the gods of his wives." But I to wait with patience am inur'd;

To whom quick answer Satan thus return'd. My heart hath been a store-house long of things “ Belial, in much uneven scale thou weigh'st And sayings laid up, portending strange events." All others by thyself; because of old

Thus Mary, pondering oft, and oft to mind Thou thyself doat’dst on woman-kind, admiring Recalling what remarkably had passid

Their shape, their color, and attractive grace, Since first her salutation heard, with thoughts None are, thou think'st, but taken with such toys

Before the flood thou with thy lusty crew,

Nor tasted, nor had appetite ; that fast
False titled sons of God, roaming the Earth, To virtue I impute not, or count part
Cast wanton eyes on the daughters of men, Of what I suffer here; if nature need not,
And coupled with them, and begot a race. Or God support nature without repast
Have we not seen, or by relation heard,

Though needing, what praise is it 10 endure ?
In courts and regal chambers how thou lurk'st, But now I feel I hunger, which declares
In wood or grove, by mossy fountain side, Nature hath need of what she asks; yet God
In valley or green meadow, to waylay

Can satisfy that need some other way,
Some beauty rare, Calisto, Clymene,

Though hunger still remain: so it remain Daphne, or Semele, Antiopa,

Without this body's wasting, I content me, Or Amymone, Syrinx, many more

And from the sting of famine fear no harm ; Too long, then lay'st thy scapes on names ador'd, Nor mind it, fed with better thoughts, that feed A pollo, Neptune, Jupiter, or Pan,

Me hungering more to do my Father's will." Satyr, or Faun, or Sylvan? But these haunts It was the hour of nighi, when thus the Son Delight not all; among the sons of men,

Commun'd in silent walk, then laid him down
How many have with a smile made small account Under the hospitable covert nigh
Of Beauty and her lures, easily scorn'd

Of trees thick interwoven; there he slept,
All her assaults, on worthier things intent! And dream'd, as appetite is wont to dream,
Remember that Pellean conqueror,

Of meats and drinks, nature's refreshment sweet : A youth, how all the beauties of the East Him thought, he by the brook of Cherith stood, He slightly view'd, and slightly overpass'd ; And saw the ravens with their horny beaks How he, surnam'd of Africa, dismiss'd,

Food to Elijah bringing, even and morn, [broughi. In his prime youth, the fair Iberian maid.

Though ravenous, taught to abstain from what they For Solomon, he liv'd at ease, and full

He saw the prophet also, how he fled Of honor, wealth, high fare, aim'd not beyond Into the desert, and how there he slept Higher design than to enjoy his state ;

Under a juniper ; then how awak'd Thence to the bait of women lay expos'd : He found his supper on the coals prepar'd, But he, whom we attempt, is wiser far

And by the angel was bid rise and eat, Than Solomon, of more exalted mind,

And eat the second time after repose,
Made and set wholly on the accomplishment The strength whereof suffic'd him forty days :
Of greatest things. What woman will you find, Sometimes that with Elijah he partook,
Though of this age the wonder and the fame, Or as a guest with Daniel at his pulse.
On whom his leisure will vouchsafe an eye Thus wore out night; and now the herald lark
Of fond desire? Or should she, confident, Left his ground-nest, high towering to descry
As sitting queen ador'd on Beauty's throne, The Morn's approach, and greet her with his song
Descend with all her winning charms begirt As lightly from his grassy couch up rose
To enamour, as the zone of Venus once

Our Savior, and found all was but a dream;
Wrought that effect on Jove, so fables tell ; Fasting he went to sleep, and fasting wak’d.
How would one look from his majestic brow, Up to a hill anon his steps he rear'd,
Seated as on the top of Virtue's hill,

From whose high top to ken the prospect round,
Discountenance her despis'd, and put to rout If cottage were in view, sheep-cote, or herd;
All her array; her female pride deject,

But cottage, herd, or sheep-cote, none he saw;
Or turn to reverent awe! for Beauty stands Only in a bottom saw a pleasant grove,
In the admiration only of weak minds

With chant of tuneful birds resounding loud :
Led captive; cease to admire, and all her plumes Thither he bent his way, determin’d there
Fall flat, and shrink into a trivial toy,

To rest at noon, and enter'd soon the shade
At every sudden slighting quite abash'd.

High-roof'd, and walks beneath, and alleys brown, Therefore with manlier objects we must try That opened in the midst a woody scene; His constancy; with such as have more show Nature's own work it seem'd (Nature taught Art) Of worth, of honor, glory, and popular praise, And, to a superstitious eye, the haunti Rocks, whereon greatest men have oftest wreckd ; Of wood-gods and wood-nymphs: he view'd it round, Or that which only seems to satisfy

When suddenly a man before him stood ; Lawful desires of nature, not beyond ;

Not rustic as before, but seemlier clad, And now I know he hungers, where no food As one in city, or court, or palace bred, Is to be found, in the wide wilderness :

And with fair speech these words to him address'd The rest commit to me; I shall let pass

“ With granted leave officious I return, No advantage, and his strength as oft assay." But much more wonder that the Son of God

He ceas'd, and heard their grant in loud acclaim; In this wild solitude so long should bide, Then forthwith to him takes a chosen band Of all things destitute; and, well I know Of spirits, likest to himself in guile,

Not without hunger. Others of some note, To be at hand, and at his beck appear,

As story tells, have trod this wilderness ; If cause were to unfold some active scene

The fugitive bond-woman, with her son Of various persons, each to know his part: Outcast Nebaioth, yet found here relief Then to the desert takes with these his flight; By a providing angel; all the race Where, still from shade to shade, the Son of God of Israel here had famish'd, had not God Afier forty days' fasting had remain'd,

Rain'd from Heaven manna ; and that prophet bold, Now hungering first, and to himself thus said. Native of Thebez, wandering here was fed * Where will this end? four times ten days I've Twice by à voice inviting him to eat : pass'd

Of thee these forty days none hath regard, Wandering this woody maze, and human food Forty and more deserted here indeed."

i

To whom thus Jesus. " What conclud'st thou Array’d in glory on my cup to attend : hence?

Why shouldst thou then obtrude this diligence, They all had need ; I, as thou seest, have none." In vain, where no acceptance it can find ?

“ How hast thou hunger then ?" Satan replied. And with my hunger what hast thou to do? "Tell me, if food was now before thee set, Thy pompous delicacies I contemn, Wouldst thou not eat?"-" Thereafter as I like And count thy specious gists no gifts, but guiles.” The giver," answer'd Jesus. “Why should that To whom thus answer'd Satan malcontent. Cause thy refusal ?" said the subtle fiend. “ That I have also power to give, thou seest i “ Hast thou not right to all created things ? If of that power I bring thee voluntary Owe not all creatures by just right to thee

What I might have beslow'd on whom I pleas d, Duty and service, nor to stay till bid,

And rather opportunely in this place But tender all their power? Nor mention I Chose to impart to thy apparent need, Meats by the law unclean, or offer'd first

Why shouldst thou not accept it? but I see To idols, those young Daniel could resuse ;

What I can do or offer is suspect :
Nor proffer'd by an enemy, though who

Of these things others quickly will dispose,
Would scruple that, with want oppress'd? Behoid, Whose pains have earn’d the far-fet spoil.” With that
Nature asham'd, or, better to express,

Both table and provision vanish'd quite,
Troubled, that thou shouldst hunger, hath purvey'd With sound of harpies' wings and talons heard :
From all the elements her choicest store,

Only the impórtune tempter still remain'd,
To treat thee, as beseems, and as her Lord, And with these words his temptation pursued.
With honor: only deign to sit and eat.”

“By hunger, that each other creature tames, He spake no dream; for, as his words had end, Thou art not to be harm'd, therefore not mov’d; Our Savior lifting up his eyes beheld,

Thy temperance invincible besides, In ample space under the broadest shade,

For no allurement yields to appetite ;
A table richly spread, in regal mode,

And all thy heart is set on high designs,
With dishes pil'd, and meats of noblest sort High actions : but wherewith to be achiev'd ?
And savor; beasts of chase, or fowl of game, Great acts require great means of enterprise ;
In pastry built, or from the spit, or boil'd,

Thou art unknown, unfriended, low of birth,
Gris-amber-steam'd; all fish, from sea or shore, A carpenter thy father known, thyself
Freshet or purling brook, of shell or fin,

Bred up in poverty and straits at home.
And exquisitest name, for which was drain'd Lost in a desert here and hunger-bit:
Pontus, and Lucrine bay, and Afric coast. Which way, or from what hope, dost thou aspire
(A las, how simply, to these cates compar'd, To greatness ? whence authority deriv’st?
Was that crude apple that diverted Eve!) What followers, what retinue canst thou gain,
And at a stately sideboard, by the wine

Or at thy heels the dizzy multitude,
That fragrant smell diffus’d, in order stood

Longer than thou canst feed them on thy cost?
Tall stripling youths rich clad, of fairer hue Money brings honor, friends, conquest, and realms
Than Ganymed or Hylas; distant more

What rais'd Antipater the Edomite,
Under the trees now tripp'd, now solemn stood, And his son Herod plac'd on Judah's throne,
Nymphs of Diana's train, and Najades

Thy throne, but gold that got him puissant friends ?
With fruits and flowers from Amalthea's horn, Therefore, if at great things thou wouldst arrive,
And ladies of the Hesperides, that seem'd Get riches first, get wealth, and treasure heap,
Fairer than feign'd of old, or fabled since

Not difficult, if thou hearken to me : Of fairy damsels, met in forest wide

Riches are mine, fortune is in my hand; By knights of Logres, or of Lyones,

They whom I favor thrive in wealth amain,
Lancelot, or Pelleas, or Pellenore.

While virtue, valor, wisdom, sit in want."
And all the while harmonious airs were heard To whom thus Jesus patiently replied.
Of chiming strings, or charming pipes; and winds “Yet wealth, without these three, is impotent
Of gentlest gale Arabian odors fann'd

To gain dominion, or to keep it gain’d.
From their soft wings, and Flora's earliest smells. Witness those ancient empires of the Earth,
Such was the splendor; and the tempter now In height of all their flowing wealth dissolvid:
His invitation earnestly renewd.

But men indued with these have oft attain'd
" What doubts the Son of God to sit and eat? In lowest poverty to highest deeds ;
These are not fruits forbidd'n ; no interdict Gideon, and Jephtha, and the shepherd lad,
Defends the touching of these viands pure; Whose offspring on the throne of Judah sat
Their taste no knowledge works, at least of evil, So many ages, and shall yet regain
But life preserves, destroys life's enemy,

That seat, and reign in Israel without end.
Hunger, with sweet restorative delight.

Among the heathen, (for throughout the world
All these are spirits of air, and woods, and springs, To me is not unknown what hath been done
Thy gentle ministers, who come to pay

Worthy of memorial,) canst thou not remember
Thee homage, and acknowledge thee their Lord : Quintius, Fabricius, Curius, Regulus ?
What doubt'st thou, Son of God? Sit down and eat." For I esteem those names of men so poor,

To whom thus Jesus temperately replied. Who could do mighty things, and could contemn
· Said'st thou not that to all things I had right? Riches, though offer'd from the hand of kings.
And who withholds my power that right to use? And what in me seems wanting, but that I
Shall I receive by gist what of my own,

May also in this poverty as soon
When and where likes me best, I can command ? Accomplish what they did, perhaps, and more?
I can at will, doubt not, as soon as thou,

Extol not riches then, the toil of fools,
Command a table in this wilderness,

The wise man's cumbrance, if not snare ; more ap And call swift flights of angels ministrant |To slacken Virtue, and abate her edge,

1

Than prompt her to do aught may merit praise. supposing that the seeming reluctance of Jesus to What if with like aversion I reject

be thus advanced, might arise from his being un Riches and realms ? yet not for that a crown, acquainted with the world and its glories, conveys Golden in show, is but a wreath of thorns,

him to the summit of a high mountain, and from Brings dangers, troubles, cares, and sleepless nights, thence shows him most of the kingdoms of Asia, To him who wears the regal diadem,

particularly pointing out to his notice some extraWhen on his shoulders each man's burden lies; ordinary military preparations of the Parthians to For therein stands the office of a king,

resist the incursions of the Scythians. He then His honor, virtue, merit, and chief praise,

informs our Lord, that he showed him this pur That for the public all this weight he bears.

posely that he might see how necessary military Yet he, who reigns within himself, and rules exertions are to retain the possession of kingdoms, Passions, desires, and fears, is more a king;

as well as to subdue them at first, and advises him Which every wise and virtuous man attains ; to consider how impossible it was to maintain And who attains not, ill aspires to rule

Judea against two such powerful neighbors as Cities of men, or headstrong multitudes,

the Romans and Parthians, and how necessary it Subject himself to anarchy within,

would be to form an alliance with one or other Or lawless passions in him, which he serves.

of them. At the same time he recommends, and But to guide nations in the way of truth

engages to secure to him, that of the Parthians ; By saving doctrine, and from error lead

and tells him that by this means his power will To know, and knowing worship God aright,

be defended from any thing that Rome or Cesar Is yet tore kingly; this attracts the soul,

might attempt against it, and that he will be able Governs the inner man, the nobler part;

to extend his glory wide, and especially to acThat other o'er the body only reigns,

com lish, what was particularly necessary to make And oft by force, which, to a generous mind, the throne of Judea really the throne of David, So reigning, can be no sincere delight.

the deliverance and restoration of the ten tribes, Besides, to give a kingdom hath been thought still in a state of captivity. Jesus, having briefly Greater and nobler done, and to lay down

noticed the vanity of military efforts, and the Far more magnanimous, than to assume.

weakness of the arm of flesh, says, that when the Riches are needless then, both for themselves, time comes for his ascending his allotted throne, And for thy reason why they should be sought, he shall not be slack: he remarks on Satan's exTo gain a sceptre, oftest better miss'd."

traordinary zeal for the deliverance of the Israel.

ites, to whom he had always showed himself an BOOK III.

enemy, and declares their servitude to be the con

sequence of their idolatry ; but adds, that at a THE ARGUMENT.

future time it may perhaps please God to recall

them, and restore them to their liberty and native Satan, in a speech of much flattering commenda- land.

tion, endeavors to awaken in Jesus a passion for glory, by particularizing various instances of con- So spake the Son of God; and Satan stood quests achieved, and great actions performed, by Awhile, as mute, confounded what to say, persons at an early period of life. Our Lord What to reply, confuted, and convinc'd replies, by showing the vanity of worldly fame, Of his weak arguing and fallacious drift; and the improper means by which it is generally At length, collecting all his serpent wiles, attained ; and contrasts with it the true glory of With soothing words renew'd, him thus accosts. religious patience and virtuous wisdom, as ex- “I see thou know'st what is of use to know, emplified in the character of Job. Satan justifies What best to say canst say, to do canst do ; the love of glory from the example of God him- Thy actions to thy words accord, thy words self, who requires it from all his creatures. Jesus To thy large heart give utterance due, thy heart detects the fallacy of his argument, by showing Contains of good, wise, just, the perfect shape. that, as goodness is the true ground on which should kings and nations from thy mouth consult glory is due to the great Creator of all things, Thy counsel would be as the oracle sinful man can have no right whatever to it.- Urim and Thummim, those oraculous gems Satan then urges our Lord respecting his claim On Aaron's breast; or tongue of seers old, to the throne of David; he tells him that the Infallible: or wert thou sought to deeds kingdom of Judea, being at that time a province That might require the array of war, thy skill of Rome, cannot be got possession of without of conduct would be such, that all the world much personal exertion on his part, and presses Could not sustain thy prowess, or subsist him to lose no time in beginning to reign. Jesus In battle, though against thy few in arms. refers him to the time allotted for this, as for all These godlike virtues, wherefore dost thou hide other things; and, after intimating somewhat re- Affecting private life, or more obscure specting his own previous sufferings, asks Satan, In savage wilderness ? wherefore deprive why he should be so solicitous for the exaltation All Earth her wonder at thy acts, thyself of one, whose rising was destined to be his fall. The fame and glory, glory the reward Satan replies, that his own desperate state, by ex. That sole excites to high attempts, the flame cluding all hope, leaves little room for fear; and Of most erected spirits, most temper'd pure that, as his own punishment was equally doomed, Ethereal, who all pleasures else despise, he is not interested in preventing the reign of All treasures and all gain esteem as dross, one, from whose apparent benevolence he might And dignities and powers all but the highest ? rather hope for some interference in his favor.- Thy years are ripe, and over-ripe ; the son Satan still pursues his former incitements; and, of Macedonian Philip had ere these