Their orators, too, were far below the Hebrew
prophets. "Stay in the wilderness, then," thundered Satan, wroth at this
failure. "Since neither riches nor arms, nor power, nor yet the
contemplative life please thee, it is for thee the fittest place! But the
time will yet come when violence, stripes, and a cruel death will make
thee long for me and my proffered power. Truly the stars promise thee a
kingdom, but of what kind and when I cannot read."
As he disappeared, darkness fell, and the Son of God, still hungry and
cold, sought rest under a sheltering tree. But Satan watched near, and
forbade rest. Thunder and lightning shook the Heavens; rain drenched the
earth; the fury of the winds was loosed, and in their path the sturdiest
trees were uprooted. Ghosts, furies, raved around the holy one, but,
unshaken by fear, he endured all calmly, and came forth, as the bright sun
shone upon the earth, to meet again the Prince of Darkness.
Enraged that the terrors of the night had had no effect upon his enemy,
Satan cried out that he still doubted that the wanderer in the wilderness
was the Son of God in the true sense, and would therefore try him another
way.
So speaking, he caught him up and bore him through the air unto Jerusalem,
and setting him on the highest pinnacle of the glorious Temple, said
scornfully:--
"Stand there, if thou canst; I have placed thee highest in thy Father's
house.
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