Nearer acquainted, now I feel by proof, 400 This wounds me most (what can it less?) that man, 405 Who boast'st release from Hell, and leave to come 410 Comes to the place where he before had sat To all the host of Heav'n: the happy place Rather inflames thy torment, representing For lying is thy sustenance, thy food. Yet thou pretend'st to truth; all oracles By thee are given, and what confess'd more true 415 420 425 430 435 And not well understood, as good not known? 440 Among them to declare his providence 445 To thee not known, whence hast thou then thy truth, But from him or his Angels president In every province; who themselves disdaining To approach thy temples, give thee in command 450 To thy adorers: thou with trembling fear, 455 The Gentiles; henceforth oracles are ceased, 460 Into the world to teach his final will, And sends his Spirit of Truth henceforth to dwell To all truth requisite for men to know. So spake our Saviour, but the subtle Fiend, Though inly stung with anger and disdain Dissembled, and this answer smooth return'd: Sharply thou hast insisted on rebuke, 465 And urged me hard with doings, which not will 470 Easily canst thou find one miserable, And not enforced oft-times to part from truth; Say and unsay, feign, flatter, or abjure? 475 Hard are the ways of Truth, and rough to walk, Smooth on the tongue discoursed, pleasing to th' ear 480 What wonder then if I delight to hear Her dictates from thy mouth? most men admire To hear thee when I come (since no man comes), To whom our Saviour with unalter'd brow: His grey dissimulation, disappear'd 485 490 495 Night with her sullen wings to double shade 500 The desert; fowls in their clay nests were couch'd; And now wild beasts came forth the woods to roam. BOOK II. THE ARGUMENT. The disciples of Jesus, uneasy at his long absence, reason amongst themselves concerning it. Mary also gives vent to her maternal anxiety; in the expression of which she recapitulates many circumstances respecting the birth and early life of her Son. Satan again meets his infernal council, reports the bad success of his first temptation of our blessed Lord, and calls upon them for council and assistance. Belial proposes the tempting of Jesus with women. Satan rebukes Belial for his dissoluteness, charging on him all the profligacy of that kind ascribed by the poets to the heathen gods, and rejects his proposal as in no respect likely to succeed. Satan then suggests other modes of temptation, particularly proposing to avail himself of the circumstance of our Lord's hungering; and, taking a band of chosen spirits with him, returns to resume his enterprise. Jesus hungers in the desert. Night comes on; the manner in which our Saviour passes the night is described. Morning advances. Satan again appears to Jesus, and, after expressing wonder that he should be so entirely neglected in the wilderness, where others had been miraculously fed, tempts him with a sumptuous banquet of the most luxurious kind. This he rejects, and the banquet vanishes. Satan, finding our Lord not to be assailed on the ground of appetite, tempts him again by offering him riches, as the means of acquiring power: this Jesus also rejects, producing many instances of great actions performed by persons under virtuous poverty, and specifying the danger of riches, and the cares and pains inseparable from power and greatness. MEAN while the new-baptized, who yet remain'd At Jordan with the Baptist, and had seen Him whom they heard so late expressly call'd Jesus Messiah, Son of God declared, And on that high authority had believed, And with him talk'd, and with him lodged, I mean With others, though in Holy Writ not named, 5 10 10 And as the days increased, increased their doubt: Therefore, as those young prophets then with care 15 Nigh to Bethabara; in Jericho 20 The city of Palms, Ænom, and Salem old, Machærus, and each town or city wall'd On this side the broad lake Genezaret, Or in Peræa; but return'd in vain. Then on the bank of Jordan, by a creek, 25 Where winds with reeds and osiers whisp'ring play, Plain fishermen, no greater men them call, Their unexpected loss and plaints outbreath'd. 30 Expected of our fathers; we have heard His words, his wisdom, full of grace and truth; Now, now, for sure, deliverance is at hand, 35 The kingdom shall to Israel be restored; Thus we rejoiced, but soon our joy is turn'd For whither is he gone, what accident Hath wrapt him from us? will he now retire 40 Send thy Messiah forth the time is come; Behold the kings of th' earth how they oppress Thy glory, free thy people from their yoke. 45 |