I were spent,

resolved,

vert his rage,

est repell'a

sunny t be found,

orth and west by a thick wood:
vood he starts in wonted shape,
- Carness mood thus to him said.

ning yet betides thee, Son of God,
a midi higit: I heard the rack
sa and sky would mingle, but myself

stant; and these flaws, though mortals fear them
angerous to the pillar'd frame of heav'n,
the earth's dark basis underneath,
to the main as inconsiderable

Larmless, if not wholesome, as a sneeze

› man's less universe, and soon are gone;
Yet as being ofttimes noxious where they light
On man, beast, plant, wasteful, and turbulent,
Like turbulencies in the affairs of men,

Over whose heads they roar, and seem to point,
They oft fore-signify and threaten ill:
This tempest at this desert most was bent;
Of men at thee, for only thou here dwell'st.
Did I not tell thee, if thou did'st reject
The perfect season offer'd with my aid
To win thy destined seat, but wilt prolong
All to the push of fate, pursue thy way
Of gaining David's throne no man knows when,
For both the when and how is no where told,
Thou shalt be what thou art ordain‍d, no doubt;
For angels have proclaim'd it, but concealing
The time and means; each act is rightliest done
Not when it must, but when it may be best.

serve not this, be sure to find,
told thee, many a hard assay
nd adversities, and pains,
Israel's sceptre get fast hold;

term for a sudden gust of wind.

Whereof this ominous night that closed thee round, So many terrors, voices, prodigies,

May warn thee, as a sure fore-going sign.

So talk'd he, while the Son of GOD went on
And staid not, but in brief him answer'd thus.
Me worse than wet thou find'st not; other harm
Those terrors, which thou speak'st of, did me none;
I never fear'd they could, though noising loud
And threat'ning nigh; what they can do as signs
Betok'ning, or ill-boding, I contemn

As false portents, not sent from GOD, but thee;
Who, knowing I shall reign past thy preventing,
Obtrud'st thy offer'd aid, that I accepting
At least might seem to hold all pow'r of thee,
Ambitious spirit! and would'st be thought my God,
And storm'st refused, thinking to terrify

Me to thy will. Desist, thou art discern'd
And toil'st in vain, nor me in vain molest.

To whom the fiend now swoll'n with rage replied.
Then hear, O Son of David, virgin-born;
For Son of God to me is yet in doubt:
Of the Messiah I had heard, foretold
By all the prophets; of thy birth at length
Announced by Gabriel with the first I knew,
And of the angelic song in Bethlehem field,
On thy birthnight, that sung thee Saviour born.
From that time seldom have I ceased to eye
Thy infancy, thy childhood, and thy youth,
Thy manhood last, though yet in private bred;
Till at the ford of Jordan, whither all
Flock'd to the Baptist, I among the rest,

Though not to be baptized, by voice from heav'n
Heard thee pronounced the Son of God beloved.
Thenceforth I thought thee worth my nearer view
And narrower scrutiny, that I might learn
In what degree or meaning thou art call'd
The Son of GOD, which bears no single sense;
The Son of GOD I also am, or was,
And if I was I am; relation stands;
All men are sons of GOD; yet thee I thought

Shot seen hea. f I worekani k

To intentand by stresar?. TIL. Ama em Jower, intents te sa mnastion, mez & eagle, num, von iom am what I can. Authority I hem have had

Tary due at the auf unies have found thee
Prof gana al temptation, as a nek
flamant mi a centre irm,

7.1 the Thanet of mere man both wise and good,
Tot more: he honours, riches, kingdoms, glory,
Have seen retre santemn 4, and may again:
Temnow vias more thou art than man,
Wwth naming Son of Gon by voice from heav'n,
Aarther method I must now begin.

So saying he caught him up, and without wing
Of hippogrif bore through the air sublime
Over the wilderness and o'er the plain;
Till underneath them fair Jerusalem,
The holy city, lifted high her towers,
And higher yet the glorious temple rear'd
Her pile, far off appearing like a mount
Of alabaster, topp'd with golden spires:
There on the highest pinnacle he set
The Son of GOD, and added thus in scorn.

There stand, if thou wilt stand; to stand upright

Will ask thee skill; I to thy father's house

Have brought thee, and highest placed; highest is best; Now show thy progeny; if not to stand,

Cast thyself down; safely, if Son of GOD; A
For it is written, He will give command diwal
erning thee to his angels, in their hands
shall uplift thee, lest at any time to odT

cature, on which Aricsto's heroes were borne through the air.

Thou chance to dash thy foot against a stone.

To whom thus Jesus. Also it is written,
Tempt not the Lord thy God: he said and stood:
But Satan smitten with amazement fell.
As when earth's son Antæus,' to compare
Small things with greatest, in Irassa strove
With Jove's Alcides, and oft foil'd still rose,
Receiving from his mother earth new strength,
Fresh from his fall, and fiercer grapple join'd,
Throttled at length in th' air, expired and fell;
So after many a foil the tempter proud,
Renewing fresh assaults, amidst his pride
Fell whence he stood to see his victor fall.
And as that Theban monster that proposed
Her riddle, and him who solved it not, devour'd,
That once found out and solved, for grief and spite
Cast herself headlong from th' Ismenian steep;
So struck with dread and anguish fell the fiend,
And to his crew that sat consulting, brought
Joyless triumphals of his hoped success,
Ruin, and desperation, and dismay,

Who durst so proudly tempt the Son of GOD.
So Satan fell; and straight a fiery globe
Of angels on full sail of wing flew nigh,
Who on their plumy vans received Him soft
From His uneasy station, and upbore

As on a floating couch through the blithe air,
Then in a flow'ry valley set Him down
On a green bank, and set before Him spread
A table of celestial food, divine,

Ambrosial fruits, fetch'd from the Tree of Life,
And from the Fount of Life ambrosial drink,.
That soon refresh'd Him wearied, and repair'd
What hunger, if aught hunger had impair'd
Or thirst; and, as He fed, angelic quires.
Sung heav'nly anthems of his victory

1 A giant of Libya, son of Terra (the earth) and Neptune (the sea). Alcides (Hercules) attacked him; and as every time the giant touched the earth he received new strength, Hercules lifted

him up into the air, and squeezed him to death in his arms. Irassa was a city in Libya.

2 The Sphinx.

ng thou that a form av trd down The feet: for proot ere this then feel st Sund, yet not thy last and leadliest wound. s repulse received and hold't in hel rumph. In all her gates Abaddon ries oid attempt; hereafter learn with awe read the Son of GoD: he all unarm'd Shall chase thee with the terror of his voice demoniac holds, possession foul, y legions; yelling they shall fly, hide them in a herd of swine, mand them down into the deep