Poetry Tuesday: Paradise Regained, Book III — The Kingdoms of the World

"Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts and eloquence."

Having failed to move the Son by hunger, Satan offers Him a kingdom.

Indeed, he offers all kingdoms.

"To thee I give;/For given to me, I give to whom I please/,No trifle; yet with this reserve, not else,/On this condition, if thou wilt fall down,/And worship me as thy superior Lord."

Then he unveils the glory of the nations.

"Look once more ere we leave this specular mount/Westward, much nearer by southwest, behold/Where on the Aegean shore a city stands/Built nobly, pure the air, and light the soil,/Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts/And eloquence."

He points to the wisdom of Greece:

"There thou shalt hear and learn the secret power/Of harmony in tones and numbers hit/By voice or hand, and various-measured verse,/Aeolian charms and Dorian lyric odes."

He points to her philosophers:

"Socrates/See there; his tenement in yonder grove;/Plato his scholar; there the Stagirite,/Founder of the Peripatetic school."

He points to her learning:

"These here revolve,/Or, as thou lik'st, at home, till contemplation/Heighten'd and rarefied, to abstract things."

What king would not desire such a kingdom?

What ruler would not seek such glory?

Yet the Son answers:

"Who therefore seeks in these/True wisdom, finds her not, or by delusion/Far worse, her false resemblance only meets,/An empty cloud."

The kingdoms remain below.

The mountain remains above.

And the Son remains unmoved.

*******************************************

Lord Jesus, help me seek first Your kingdom of righteousness, keep me from the kingdoms of this world and their false glory, O You Glorious Ohel I bow at Your throhe and want to be filled with Your goodness. I love You, Lord. Quicken me as i ask, seek, and knock in Your Name. Amen.

-----------------------------------------------------

TAKE THE WORLD, BUT GIVE ME JESUS

Take the world, but give me Jesus,

All its joys are but a name;

But His love abideth ever,

Through eternal years the same.

Refrain

Oh, the height and depth of mercy!

Oh, the length and breadth of love!

Oh, the fullness of redemption,

Pledge of endless life above!

Take the world, but give me Jesus,

Sweetest comfort of my soul;

With my Savior watching o’er me,

I can sing though billows roll.

Refrain

Take the world, but give me Jesus,

Let me view His constant smile;

Then throughout my pilgrim journey

Light will cheer me all the while.

Refrain

Take the world, but give me Jesus.

In His cross my trust shall be,

Till, with clearer, brighter vision,

Face to face my Lord I see.

Refrain

Fanny Crosby, 1879:

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain

the whole world, and lose his own soul? Mark 8:36

Next week we conclude Paradise Regained with Book IV, where Satan's final temptation ends in defeat.