Page:Redemption, a Poem.djvu/172

 166 REDEMPTION.

If He to man thus gives his angels charge,

(And, save the part suppress'd, so it is writ,)

Why should man merit gain, or reap reward,

When it is common to all whom 't concerns,

And each might gain, who rashness hath to try?

But I, if He, thou hop'st to hear me say,

Not being man, could not the promise plead.

Hence then, thy test stands thus. If I be man,

(Holding thy vain construction to be true,)

I fall, to rise unharm'd, and prove a god !

But if I be Messias, said to come,

I cast me down, whom naught the word concerns,

And justly meet the fate such folly brings;

Hence, God prove mortal! mortal man a god!

If thy false reas'ning prov'd the void before,

This scarcely less should merit than insane.

But I thy purpose more direct repay.

Though it be special meant, that He who comes,

Should most profuse by angels be upborne,

As most deserving angels in his train,

Who them created and confirm'd in good,

Still would thy tempting on thyself recoil,

Break thine own head, and prove thee what thou art,

Which needs no asking on my part of thee.

Here then the word of thy condemning rests

'Tis writ, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

In either sense this holds, of God, or man,

For He no promise gives, nor help, to those,

Who multiply the dangers of their way,

By scenes through which they are not call'd to pass.

Who thus attempt, or who His patience try,

To save from rash or ill-confiding trust,

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