So reigning can be no fincere delight.
Befides, to give a kingdom hath been thought
Greater and nobler done, and to lay down
Far more magnanimous, than to affume.
Riches are needless then, both for themselves,
And for thy reason why they should be fought,
To gain a scepter, ofteft better miss'd.
So fpake the Son of GOD; and SATAN food
A-while as mute, confounded what to say,
What to reply, confuted and convinc'd
Of his weak arguing, and fallacious drift:
At length collecting all his Serpent wiles,
With foothing words renew'd, him thus accofts.
I fee thou know'ft what is of use to know, What beft to fay canft fay, to do canft do; Thy actions to thy words accord, thy words To thy large heart give utterance due; thy heart 10 Contains of good, wife, juft, the perfect shape.
Should kings and nations from thy mouth confult,
Thy counsel would be as the oracle
URIM and THUMMIM, thofe oraculous gems
On AARON's breast, or tongue of seers old
Infallible; or wert thou fought to deeds
That might require th' array of war, thy skill
Of conduct would be fuch, that all the world
Could not sustain thy prowess, or fubfift
In battel, though against thy few in arms.
These god-like Virtues wherefore doft thou hide,
Affecting private life, or more obscure
In favage wilderness? wherefore deprive
All earth her wonder at thy acts, thy felf
The fame and glory? glory, the reward
That fole excites to high attempts, the flame
Of moft erected fpirits, moft temper'd pure
Ætherial, who all pleasures else despise,
All treasures and all gain esteem as drofs,
And dignities and pow'rs, all but the highest.
Thy years are ripe, and over-ripe; the fon
Of MACEDONIAN PHILIP had ere these
Won ASIA, and the throne of CYRUS held
At his difpofe; young SCIPIO had brought down
TheCARTHAGINIAN pride; young POMPEY quell'd
The PONTIC king, and in triumph had rode.
Yet and to ripe years judgment mature,
Quench not the thirst of glory, but augment.
Great JULIUS, whom now all the world admires,
The more he grew in years, the more enflam'd
With glory, wept that he had liv'd fo long
Inglorious: but thou yet art not too late.
To whom our SAVIOUR calmly thus reply'd.
Thou neither doft perfuade me to seek wealth
For empire's fake, nor empire to affect
For glory's fake, by all thy argument.
For, what is glory, but the blaze of fame,
The peoples praife, if always praise unmixt?
And, what the people, but a herd confus'd,
A miscellaneous rabble, who extol
Things vulgar, and well weigh'd fcarce worth the They praise and they admire they know not what, And know not whom, but as one leads the other: And what delight to be by fuch extoll'd,
To live upon their tongues, and be their talk,
Of whom to be defpis'd were no small praise ?
His lot who dares be fingularly good.
Th' intelligent among them and the wife
Åre few, and glory scarce of few is rais'd.
This is true glory and renown, when GOD
Looking on th' earth, with approbation marks
The just man, and divulges him through heav'n
To all his angels, who with true applause
Recount his praifes; thus he did to Joв,
When to extend his fame through heav'n and earth, (As thou to thy reproach may'ft well remember) 66 He ask'd thee, Hast thou seen fervant JOB,
Famous he was in heav'n, on earth less known ;
Where glory is false glory, attributed
To things not glorious, men not worthy of fame.
They err, who count it glorious to fubdue
By conqueft far and wide, to over-run
Large countries, and in field great battels win,
Great cities by affault: what do these worthies,
But rob and spoil, burn, flaughter, and enslave
Peaceable nations, neighbouring, or remote?
Made captive, yet deserving freedom more
Than those their conquerors, who leave behind
Nothing but ruin wherefoe'er they rove,
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