XXV.

Our Founder answered, “Art thou from the pit?

Get thee behind me, if such thoughts be thine;

Did Christ his gospel to the world commit,

That his meek followers might in purple shine?

He spurned the foul temptation, it is writ,

And the Great Tempter felt his power divine;

Art thou far wiser than thy Master grown,

And spurn’st a heavenly for an earthly crown?”

XXVI.