| W. Garrett Horder, comp. The Poets’ Bible: New Testament. 1895. | | | | The Temptation of Christ | | William Croswell (1804–1851) |
| | | THOU who, for forty days and nights o’er-mastered all the might | |
| Of Satan, and the fiercest pangs of famished appetite,— | |
| O Saviour! leave us not alone to wrestle with our sin, | |
| But aid us in these holy hours of solemn discipline. | |
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| Let not the tempter tempt us, Lord, beyond our strength to bear, | 5 |
| Though, in the desert of our woe, he wildly shrieks Despair! | |
| Let not our humble confidence be in Thy promise stirred, | |
| Nor clouds of dark distrust spring up between us and Thy word. | |
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| Nor let us yet be lifted up—by him, the prince of air, | |
| To scale presumption’s dizzy height, and left to perish there; | 10 |
| Nor on the temple’s pinnacle, in our self-righteous pride, | |
| Be set for Thee to frown upon, and demons to deride. | |
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| And, oh, when pleasure, power, and pomp around our vision swim, | |
| And, through the soft, enchanting mist, he bids us worship him, | |
| Assist us from the revelling sense the sorcerer’s spell to break, | 15 |
| And tread the arch-apostate down, Redeemer, for Thy sake. | | | | |
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