Allure, or terrify, or undermine.
Be frustrate all ye stratagems of Hell,
And devilish machinations, come to nought!"
So they in Heaven their odes & vigils tuned.
Meanwhile the Son of God, who yet some days
Lodged in Bethabara, where John baptized,
Musing, and much revolving in his breast,
How best the mighty work he might begin
Of Saviour to mankind, and which way first
Publish his Godlike office, now mature,
One day forth walk'd alone, the Spirit leading,
And his deep thoughts, the better to converse
With solitude, till far from track of men,
Thought following thought, & step by step led on,
He enter'd now the bordering desert wild,
And, with dark shades & rocks environ'd round,
His holy meditations thus pursued.
"O what a multitude of thoughts at once
Awaken'd in me swarm, while I consider
What from within I feel myself, and hear
What from without comes often to my ears,
Ill sorting, with my present state compared!
When I was yet a child, no childish play
To me was pleasing; all my mind was set
Serious to learn and know, and thence to do,
What might be public good; myself I thought
Born to that end, born to promote all truth,
All righteous things: therefore, above my years,
The law of God I read, and found it sweet,
Made it my whole delight, and in it grew
To such perfection that, ere yet my age
Had measured twice six years, at our great feast,
I went into the temple, there to hear
The teachers of our law, & to propose
What might improve my knowledge, or their own,
And was admired by all; yet this not all
To which my spirit aspired; victorious deeds
Flamed in my heart, heroic acts, one while
To rescue Israel from the Roman yoke,
Then to subdue and quell, o'er all the earth,
Brute violence, and proud tyrannic power,
Till truth were freed, and equity restored:
Yet held it more humane, more heavenly, first
By winning words to conquer willing hearts,
And make persuasion do the work of fear,
At least to try, and teach the erring soul,
Not wifully misdoing, but unaware
Misled; the stubborn only to subdue.
These growing thoughts my mother soon perceiving
By words at times cast forth, inly rejoiced,
And said to me apart, High are thy thoughts,
O Son; but nourish them, and let them soar
To what highth sacred virtue and true worth
Can raise them, though above example high;
By matchless deeds express thy matchless Sire.
For know, thou art no son of mortal man;
Though men esteem thee low of parentage,
Thy father is the Eternal King, who rules
All Heaven & Earth, angels and sons of men;
A messenger from God foretold thy birth
Conceived in me a virgin; he foretold
Thou shouldst be great, and sit on David's throne, 240
And of thy kingdom there shall be no end.
At thy nativity a glorious quire
Of angels, in the fields of Bethlehem, sung
To shepherds watching at their folds by night
And told them, the Messiah now was born,
Where they might see him ; & to thee they came,
Directed to the manger where thou laidst,
For in the inn was left no better room:
A star, not seen before, in Heaven appearing,
Guided the wise men thither from the east,
To honour thee with incense, myrrh, and gold;
By whose bright course led on, they found the place;
Affirming it thy star, new graven in Heaven,
By which they knew the king of Israel born.
Just Simeon, and prophetic Anna, warn'd
By vision, found thee in the temple, and spake
Before the altar and the vested priest,
Like things of thee, to all that present stood.'
This having heard, straight I again revolved
The law and prophets, searching what was writ
Concerning the Messiah, to our scribes
Known partly, & soon found of whom they spake
I am; this chiefly, that my way must lie
Through many a hard essay, even to the death,
Ere I the promised kingdom can attain,
Or work redemption for mankind, whose sins,
Full weight, must be transferred upon my head.
Yet, neither thus dishearten'd nor dismay'd
The time prefix'd I waited; when behold
The Baptist, of whose birth I oft had heard,
Not knew by sight, now come, who was to come
Before Messiah, and his way prepare.
I, as all others, to his baptism came,
Which I believed was from above; but he
Straight knew me, & with loudest voice proclaim'd
Me him, for it was shewn him so from Heaven,
Me him, whose harbinger he was; and first
Refused on me his baptism to confer,
As much his greater, and was hardly won:
But, as I rose out of the laving stream,
Heaven open'd her eternal doors, from whence
The Spirit descended on me like a dove;
And last, the sum of all, my Father's voice,
Audibly heard from Heaven, pronounc'd me his,
Me his beloved Son, in whom alone
He was well pleased; by which I knew the time
Now full, that I no more should live obscure,
But openly begin, as best becomes
The authority which I derived from Heaven.
And now, by some strong motion, I am led
Into this wilderness, to what intent
I learn not yet; perhaps I need not know;
For what concerns my knowledge God reveals."
So spake our Morning-star, then in his rise;
And looking round, on every side, beheld
A pathless desert, dusk with horrid shades;
The way he came not having mark'd, return
Was difficult, by human steps untrod;
And he still on was led, but with such thoughts
Accompanied, of things past and to come,
Lodged in his breast, as well might recommend
Such solitude, before choicest society.
Full forty days he pass'd, whether on hill
Sometimes, anon on shady vale, each night
Under the covert of some ancient oak,
Or cedar, to defend him from the dew,
Or harbour'd in one cave, is not reveal'd;
Nor tasted human food, nor hunger felt,
Till those days ended, hungered then at last,
Among wild beasts: they at his sight grew mild,
Nor sleeping, him, nor waking, harm'd; his walk
The fiery serpent fled, and noxious worm;
The lion and fierce tiger glared aloof.
But now an aged man, in rural weeds,
Following, as seem'd, the quest of some stray ewe
Or wither'd sticks to gather, which might serve
Against a winter's day, when winds blow keen
To warm him, wet return'd from field at eve,
He saw approach; who first with curious eye
Perused him, then with words thus utter'd spake.
Sir, what ill chance hath brought thee to this place,
So far from path or road of men, who pass
In troop or caravan? for single, none
Durst ever, who return'd, and dropp'd not here
His carcass, pined with hunger & with drought.
I ask the rather, and the more admire,
For that to me thou seem'st the man, whom late
Our new baptizing prophet at the ford
Of Jordan, honour'd so, and call'd thee Son
Of God I saw and heard, for we sometimes,
Who dwell this wild, constrain'd by want, come forth
To town or village nigh, nighest is far,
Where aught we hear, and curious are to hear
What happens new; fame also finds us out."
To whom the Son of God. "Who brought me hither
Will bring me hence; no other guide I seek."
By miracle he may," replied the swain;
"What other way I see not; for we here
Live on tough roots and stubs, to thirst inured
More than the camel, and to drink go far,
Men to much misery and hardship born:
But, if thou be the Son of God, command
That out of these hard stones be made thee bread.
So shalt thou save thyself, and us relieve
With food, whereof we wretched seldom taste."
He ended; and the Son of God replied.
"Think'st thou such force in bread? Is it not written,
For I discern thee other than thou seem'st,
Man lives not by bread only, but each word
Proceeding from the mouth of God, who fed
Our fathers here with manna? in the mount
Moses was forty days, nor eat nor drank;
And forty days Elijah, without food,
Wander'd this barren waste; the same I now :
Why dost thou then suggest to me distrust,
Knowing who I am, as I know who thou art?"
Whom thus answer'd the Arch-fiend, now undisguised
""Tis true I am that spirit unfortunate,
Who leagued with millions more in rash revolt,
Kept not my happy station, but was driven.
With them, from bliss to the bottomless deep;
Yet to that hideous place not so confined
By rigour unconniving, but that oft,
Leaving my dolorous prison, I enjoy
Large liberty to round this globe of earth,
Or range in the air; nor from the Heaven of Heavens
Hath he excluded my resort sometimes.
I came among the sons of God, when he
Gave up into my hands Uzzean Job,'
To prove him, and illustrate his high worth;
And when to all his angels he proposed
To draw the proud king Ahab into fraud,
That he might fall in Ramoth, they demurring,
I undertook that office, and the tongues
Of all his flattering prophets glibb'd with lies,
To his destruction, as I had in charge;
For what he bids I do: though I have lost
Much lustre of my native brightness, lost
To be beloved of God, I have not lost
To love; at least contemplate and admire
What I see excellent in good, or fair,
Or virtuous; I should so have lost all sense.
What can be then less in me than desire
To see thee, & approach thee, whom I know
Declared the Son of God, to hear attent
Thy wisdom, & behold thy Godlike deeds?
Men generally think me much a foe
To all mankind: why should I? they to me
Never did wrong or violence; by them
I lost not what I lost; rather, by them
I gain'd what I have gain'd, & with them dwell
Co-partner in these regions of the world,
If not disposer; lend them oft my aid,
Oft my advice, by presages and signs,
And answers, oracles, portents, and dreams,
Whereby they may direct their future life.
Envy, they say, excites me, thus to gain
Companions of my misery aud woe,
At first it may be; but long since with woe
Nearer acquainted, now I feel, by proof,
That fellowship in pain divides not smart,
Nor lightens aught each man's peculiar load.
Small consolation then, were man adjoin'd:
This wounds me most, what can it less? that man,
Man fallen shall be restored, I never more."
To whom our Saviour sternly thus replied.
"Deservedly thou grievest, composed of lies
From the beginning, and in lies wilt end;
Who boast'st release from Hell, & leave to come
Into the Heaven of Heavens: thou comest indeed
As a poor miserable captive thrall
Comes to the place, where he before had sat,
Among the prime in splendour; now deposed,
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