I.

The CREATION.

N the Beginning did th' All-High create

I

The Heav'n and Earth, He spake and made

it Fate:

Arofe the Embryo-Earth, unform'd and Waft, By old coeval darkness round embrac'd:

Let there be Light, faid GOD; The Light obeyd, And blazed with cheerful Beams amid the Shade; Thence rolling round produc'd the Firft bright Day, While gloomy Night her own fad Realms obey.

The vaft Expanfe above was next display'd, The restless Seas, and folid Earth were made: Earth, in her various-colour'd Mantle drefs'd, Each Tree, each Herb, creating Pow'r confefs'd.

Behold the Sun's fair Lamp which rules the Day! The Moon, which shines ferene with borrow'd Ray, High in Mid-Heav'n, and with her Starry-Train O'r folemn Night renews her peaceful Reign.

Next fee the Fowls thro' Air's wide Ocean fly, And fcaly Fish cut the low liquid Sky!

Th' Almighty call'd, and various Creatures come
At his Command from Earth's prolific Womb:
Then Man in his own Image made and blefs'd,
And pleas'd with all his Works, from all his Works
did reft.

Genefis,

I.

GENESIS, Chap. I. to Ver. 14.

1. In the beginningGod created the heaven and earth. 3. And faid, Let there be light: and there was light. 6. Let there be a firmament in the midft of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 9. Let the waters be gathered together, and let the dry-land appear.

11. Let the earth bring forth grafs, the herb yielding feed, and the fruit-tree yeilding fruit, &c.

14. Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night, &c.

Nor Herb nor Plant that voluntary grew,

Sweet Rain as yet was none, nor kindly Dew.

Can Duft-born Men be proud or vain, who know From whence they come, and whither doom'd to go? Or can they ought that's mean, when God has fet A Jewel in their earthly Cabinet?

A Soul, of heavenly Seed, of Angel-kind,
And marry'd Matter with Immortal Mind?
In friendly Pairs the mute Creation came,
Homag'd their Lord, and each receiv'd its Name :
To Man alone no Like or Second found

Of all that swim in Air, or graze the Ground:
Nor muft his Life run waft, by Heav'n defign'd
To plant the World, and propagate his Kind:
Thence, from his Side, what can't th' Almighty doe?
He moulds a Female-Man, of Heavn'ly hew:
The Strokes, than His, lefs bold, but far more fine,'
Softer each Touch, and gentler every Line,
Tho both, confefs'd, the Work of Hands divine.S
Nor left to range, a lovely Garden made,
The Bride and Bridegroom thither He convey'd:
The Makers Hands adorn'd that happy Place,
With Colonies of all th' Arboreal Race;

Thro

Thro' whofe blefs'd Shades a Crystal River glides,
And thence in Four capacious Streams divides.
Such was the blisful Bow'r our Sire enjoy'd,
Till Eve, and the curs'd Serpent him destroy'd.
---Yet ftill we haunt the Streams, and filent Grove,
And our dear Native-Gardens ftill we love;
And ftill we kope, nor hope perhaps in vain,
At length thofe Happy Manfions to regain.

'Ŏ when!
pest or'e,

It now grows near - Life's Tem

"With what loud joyful Shouts I'd hail the welcome Shore!

GENESIS, Chap. II. from Ver. 4. to Ver. 22.

v. 4. These are the Generations of the Heavens and of the Earth, when they were created &c.

5. And every Plant of the Field, before it was in the Earth, &c.

7. And the Lord God formed Man of the dust of the Ground, and breathed into his Noftrils the Breath of Life.

8. And the Lord God planted a Garden, &c.

19. And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beaft of the field, and every fowl of the air, &c. 20. And Adam gave names to all cattel, and to the fowl of the air, &c.

21. The Lord God caufed a deep fleep to fall upon Adam: and he took one of his Ribs, &c.

22. And the Rib which he had taken from Man, &c.

III.

The Serpents Temptation, the Fall of our First Parents.

Happy-Pair!--But Ah! how foort your Bliss?
How foon the Foe has enter'd Paradife!

A crefted Serpents fpeckled Form he wears,
In Mischief skill'd his Guileful Arts he shares:
Where is the Guard of Seraphs, that secures
Endanger'd Nature's tottʼring Fate, and yours?
--You make your Fate: ftand now, you always ftand!
The Terms of Life are no fevere Command:
That Tree, that deadly Tree alone forbear,

The reft with Bleffing, and with welcome share.
-- 'Tis pass'd, the Serpent has on Eve prevail'd:
Strengthned with fuch Allies he rarely fail'd:
She eats, she gives our Sire, it pleas'd his Eyes,
The tempting Flavor pleas'd, he tafts, he dies.
Groan'd the Creation, shook the Poles; and all
Convulfive Nature trembled at their Fall.

Hence all those Ills which God's fair Work deface,
Hence Sin, and Death, and Pain entail'd on all their

Race.

II. Gene