Part 10 (1/2)
”But in a careless, idle frame, I gazed about on what was made: And idle hands will gather shame, And wand'ring eyes confuse the head: I dropp'd my hoe and pruning-knife, To view the beauties of my wife.
”An idle beast of highest rank Came creeping up just at that time, And show'd to Eve a curious prank, Affirming that it was no crime:-- 'Ye shall not die as G.o.d hath said-- 'Tis all a sham, be not afraid.'
”All this was pleasant to the eye, And Eve affirm'd the fruit was good; So I gave up to gratify The meanest pa.s.sion in my blood.
O horrid guilt! I was afraid: I was condemn'd, yea I was dead.
”Here ends the life of the first man, Your father and his spotless bride; G.o.d will be true, his word must stand-- The day I sinn'd that day I died: This was my sin, this was my fall!-- This your condition, one and all.
”_Ch_. How can these fearful things agree With what we read in sacred writ-- That sons and daughters sprung from thee, Endu'd with wisdom, power, and wit; And all the nations fondly claim Their first existence in thy name?
”_Ad_. Had you the wisdom of that beast That took my heads.h.i.+p by deceit, I could unfold enough at least To prove your lineage all a cheat.
Your pedigree you do not know, The SECOND ADAM told you so.
”When I with guile was overcome, And fell a victim to the beast, My station first he did a.s.sume, Then on the spoil did richly feast.
Soon as the life had left my soul, He took possession of the whole.
”He plunder'd all my mental pow'rs, My visage, stature, speech, and gait; And, in a word, in a few hours, He was first Adam placed in state: He took my wife, he took my name; All but his nature was the same.
”Now see him hide, and skulk about, Just like a beast, and even worse, Till G.o.d in anger drove him out, And doom'd him to an endless curse.
O hear the whole creation groan!
The Man of Sin has took the throne!
”Now in my name this beast can plead, How G.o.d commanded him at first To multiply his wretched seed, Through the base medium of his l.u.s.t.
O horrid cheat! O subtle plan!
A h.e.l.lish beast a.s.sumes the man!
”This is your father in my name: Your pedigree ye now may know: He early from perdition came, And to perdition he must go.
And all his race with him shall share Eternal darkness and despair.”
[Footnote: It is curious that the Jewish Talmud (according to Eisenmenger) has a somewhat similar theory--namely, that Eve cohabited with devils for a period of one hundred and thirty years; and that Cain was not the child of Adam, but of one of these devils.]
The same theory of the fall is stated in another hymn:
”We read, when G.o.d created man, He made him able then to stand United to his Lord's command That he might be protected; But when, through Eve, he was deceiv'd, And to his wife in l.u.s.t had cleav'd, And of forbidden fruit receiv'd, He found himself rejected.
”And thus, we see, death did begin, When Adam first fell into sin, And judgment on himself did bring, Which he could not dissemble: Old Adam then began to plead, And tell the cause as you may read; But from his sin he was not freed, Then he did fear and tremble.
”Compell'd from Eden now to go, Bound in his sins, with shame and woe, And there to feed on things below-- His former situation: For he was taken from the earth, And blest with a superior birth, But, dead in sin, he's driven forth From his blest habitation.
”Now his lost state continues still, In all who do their fleshly will, And of their l.u.s.t do take their fill, And say they are commanded: Thus they go forth and multiply, And so they plead to justify Their basest crimes, and so they try To ruin souls more candid.”
The ”way of regeneration” is opened in another hymn in the same collection:
”_Victory over the Man of Sin_.
”Souls that hunger for salvation, And have put their sins away, Now may find a just relation, If they cheerfully obey; They may find the new creation, And may boldly enter in By the door of free salvation, And subdue the Man of Sin.
”Thus made free from that relation, Which the serpent did begin, Trav'ling in regeneration, Having pow'r to cease from sin; Dead unto a carnal nature, From that tyrant ever free, Singing praise to our Creator, For this blessed jubilee.