Imatges de pàgina
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All Nature shriek'd! Creation felt the rod

Of an Almighty and offended God !*

Man from his home and happiness was thrust,

Doom'd to return to his primeval dust—

To live and labour in a cursed soil,

Replete with thorns, with thistles, and with toil.+

* And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? Gen. ch. iii.

V.

13.

† And unto Adam he said: Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying-Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed is the ground for thy sake, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Ch. iii. ver. 17, 18, 19.

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Still hadst thou died-no act of thine could save

Thy disobedience from the threaten'd grave.

What! shall the chronicles of the Most High,

Too righteous to behold iniquity,

Their sacred page dishonour, and record

His abrogated law-his broken word?

* So he drove out the man, and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims, and a flaming sword, which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life. Gen. ch. iii. v. 24.

Charge not thy Maker with unjust decree;

'Twas His who made, to legislate for thee:

'Twas His to threaten; it was thine to fear: 'Tis God's to punish; it is man's to bear. Was it for this the bow'rs of Eden shed Their balmy slumbers on thy peaceful head?

The tree of life with fruit immortal glow'd,

From crystal fountains living waters flow'd?
Soft, whispering breezes fann'd the noon-tide ray,

And songs of gladness warbl'd out the day?

Was it for this that love-unsullied love

Thy pastures liken'd to the fields above;

That every creature throng'd thy sovereign seat,

And fondling lions vied to lick thy feet?

Hide! hide! the morn when Eden's woes began,

And God's pure image fled the face of man!

Back to the depths of darkness and disgrace,

Big with the ruin of the human race,

Lo! Satan wings his shad'wy way to tell

His arch-achievement to the hosts of Hell

How Sin had triumph'd, and how Adam fell.
"Hail! puissant Prince!" the rebel angels cry;
"Thy name we worship, and thy foes defy;

"Thou, only thou, shalt be our future guide;

"We own thee, sov'reign Lord, and none beside :

"In vain Jehovah shall our hearts appal;

“The earth is vanquish'd, and the heavens shall fall!”

Impious Apostate! Source of all our woe,

Whose sting still wounds us in this vale

below;

Boast not thy victory!* The woman's seed

Thy pow'r shall scorn, and bruise the serpent's

head.+

From Jesse's root a healing branch shall spring,
And bear an antidote to draw thy sting:

* The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law; but thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. ch. xv. v. 56 and 57.

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, &c. Ch. iii. v. 15.

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