which he endeavour'd thus to difburthen with fad Complaint:

How miferable am I become, who was once fo happy! Is this the End of this new glorious World, and of me, fo lately the Glory of that Glory, who from being blefs'd am now become accurs'd? Hide me from the Face of GoD, whom to behold was once the Height of my Happiness! ----- Yet if the Mifery would end here, it were well; I deferv'd it, and would bear my own Defervings: But this will not ferve! all that I eat or drink, or fhall beget, is propagating and prolonging the Curfe. O Voice heard once with fo much Delight, INCREASE AND MULTIPLY; now it is DEATH to hear it! for what can I increafe and multiply, except it be Curfes on my own Head? Who will there be of all fucceeding Ages, but, feeling the Evil brought upon him by me, will curfe my Head? He will cry, may our impure Anceftor fare ill! for this we may thank ADAM! but thefe his Thanks fhall be the Execration! So, befides my own Curfe that abides upon me, all from me fhall rebound fiercely back on me, and tend to me as their natural Center; there being light, as having reach'd that Center, and loft their Gravity, which in other Places they had! O fleeting Joys of PARADISE, dearly bought with lafting Mifery! Did I request Thee, O Thou who mad'it me, to make me a MAN, when I was nothing but Clay? Did I follicit Thee to take me forth out of Darknefs? Or to place me here in this delicious Garden? As my Will did not concur to my Being, it were but right and just to reduce me to what I was before, that is to Duft; being defirous to refign, and give back again all I have receiv'd; feeing I have been unable to perform thy too hard Terms, by which I was to hold the Good that I had not fought. To the Lofs of that Good, (which is fufficient Penalty!) why haft thou added the Senfe of

endlefs

endless Woes? In this, thy Juftice does not feem to appear. Yet, to fay the Truth, I contest thus when it is too late; thefe Terms, whatever they might be, fhould then have been refus'd, when they were propos'd. I may be answer'd thus; thou didst accept them, wilt thou enjoy the Good, and then cavil at the Conditions? And, though GOD did make thee without thy Leave, what if thy Son prove disobedient, and being reprov'd, fhould anfwer and object to thee, wherefore didft thou beget me? I fought it not, nor defir'd it of thee! would'st thou admit of that proud Excufe of his Contempt of thee? And yet it was not thy Election, but natural Neceffity that begot him. God made thee of Choice, his own, and of his own to serve him; thy Reward was of his Grace; then thy Punishment, for certain, is justly at his Will. Then be it fo! for I fubmit; his Doom is righteous, that I am Duft and to Duft I fhall return again. O welcome Hour, come whenever it will! why does his Hand delay to execute, what his Decree fix'd upon this Day? Why do I live over it? Why am I mock'd with DEATH, and yet preferv'd and prolong'd to deathlefs Pain? How gladly would I meet the Mortality that I was fentenc'd to, and be come infenfible Earth! How gladly would I lay me down, as in my Mother's Lap! There I should reft, there I fhould fleep fecurely: His dreadful Voice would no more thunder in my Ears: I fhould not be tormented with Fears of worfe to me and my Offfpring, which now torment me with cruel Expectation!----- Yet there is one Doubt purfues me fill, left. I cannot wholly die; left that pure Breath of Life, the Spirit of MAN, which GOD breath'd into him, cannot perish together with this corporal Clay: Then who knows but in the Grave, or fome other difmal Place, I fhall die a living Death? O horrid Thought, if it be true! Yet why should it be fo? It was but Breath of Life that finn'd; and what dies but what

had

had Life and Sin? The Body, properly fpeaking; hath neither. Then all of me fhall die: Let this quiet the Doubt, fince human Understanding knows no further. For though the LORD of all be indeed infinite, is his Wrath fo to? Suppofe it! MAN is not fo, but declar'd and doom'd mortal. Then how can he exercife Wrath without End upon MA N, whom. DEATH muft end? Can he make deathlefs DEATH? That were to make a ftrange Contradiction, which is held impoffible to GoD himfelf; as it would be an Argument of Weaknefs, not of Power. Will he, for Anger's Sake, draw out finite to infinite in punifh'd MAN, to fatisfy his Anger, which never will be fatisfy'd? That were to extend his Sentence beyond Duft, and the Law of Nature; by which all Caufes elfe act, according to the Matter they have to work upon, and not to the Extent of their own Power. But fay that DEATH be not, as I fuppos'd, one Stroke, bereaving the Senfes, but endless Mifery from this Day forward; which I feel begun both within me and without me, and fo it is to laft perpetually. ----- Ah me! that Fear comes thundering back dreadfully on my defenceless Head: DEATH, as well as I, is found eternal, and both incorporated. Nor I fingle on my Part; in me all Pofterity ftands curs'd! Ah my Sons! this is a fair Patrimony that I must leave you! O! that I were able to wafte it all myfelf, and leave you none! Being fo difinherited, how would you then blefs me, who am now your Curfe! Ah! why fhould all MANKIND be thus, without Guilt, condemn'd for one MAN's Fault? MANKIND! and guiltlefs, can that be? For what can proceed from me but what is all corrupt, deprav'd both Mind and Will; not to do only, but to will the fame as me ? How then can they ftand acquitted in the Sight of GOD? After all Difputes, I am forc'd to abfolve him: All my vain Reafonings and Evafions, tho' through many Mazes, lead ftill but to my own Conviction:

First and last all the Blame juftly lights on me, and me only, as the Source and Spring of all Corruption: All the Blame! fo might the Wrath fall on me! Fond Wish! Could'ft thou fupport that Burthen, heavier to bear than the Earth; much heavier than all the World, though divided with that bad WOMAN? · Thus what thou defireft and what thou feareft, equally deftroys all Hope of Refuge, and concludes thee miferable, beyond all past and future Example; and like to nothing but SATAN, both in Crime and Doom. O CONSCIENCE! into what an Aby's of Fears and Horrors haft thou driven me? Out of which I can find no Way, but go plunging deeper and deeper!

THUS ADAM made loud Lamentation in the Stillness of the Night; which was not wholefome, cool, and mild, as it was before MAN fell; but accompanied with black Air, with dreadful Gloom and Dampnefs; which reprefented every Thing to his evil Confcience with double Terror. He lay out-ftretch'd upon the cold Ground! and often curs'd his Creation: DEATH he accus'd as often, tardy of Execution, fince it was threaten'd to be on the Day that he offended. Why (faid he) does not DEATH Come, with one thrice-welcomed Stroke to end me? Shall Truth fail to keep her Word? Why does not divine Juftice haften to be just? But DEATH does not come at all, divine Juftice not the quicker for Prayers or Cries! O Woods! O Fountains, Hills, Valleys, and Bowers! lately I taught your Shades to anfwer with Ecchoes not like thefe, and to refound a Song far different! When fad Ev E, defolate where fhe fat, beheld ADAM thus afflicted; approaching near, fhe tried with foft Words to allay the Fiercenefs of his Paffion: But ADAM, with an angry Look, thus check'd and repell'd her:

GET out of my Sight, thou Serpent! ----- That Name is fitteft for thee, who art leagu'd with him thyfelf as falfe as he, and as hateful! there's nothing wanting, but that thy Shape and ferpentine Colour, like his may fhow thy inward Fraud; to warn all Creatures henceforth to avoid thee, left that too heavenly Form, held to Sight to hide hellish Falfhood, enfnare them! ---- Had it not been for thee, I had perfifted happy; had not thy Pride and wand'ring Vanity, when it was least safe, rejected my Forewarning, and difdain'd to be thought not fit to be trufted alone; longing to be feen, though it were by the Devil himfelf; vainly thinking to over-reach him: But meeting with the Serpent, art fool'd and beguil'd; thou by him, and I'by thee, to trust thee from my Side; imagining thee to be wife, conftant, confiderate, and Proof against all Affaults; and did not understand that all was but a Show, rather than folid Virtue; all nothing but a Rib, crooked by Nature, beft thrown as found fupernumerary to my juft Number! O why did GoD, the wife CREATOR! that peopled the highest Heaven with mafculine Spirits, at laft create this Novelty upon Earth, this fair Defect of Nature? And not fill the World at once with MEN, as Heaven with Angels, without any Female? Or find out fome other Way to generate MANKIND? Then this Mitchief had not happen'd, and more that fhall happen; numberlefs Disturbances upon Earth, through the Snares of Women, and a frait Conjunction with this Sex! for either a MAN fhall never find out a fit Mate, but fuch as fome Miftake or Misfor-tune brings him; or her, he wishes for moft, and loves beft, through her Perversenefs fhall feldom gain, but fhall fee her gain'd by a far worfe than himlelf; or if fhe love him, with-held by Parents; or fhall meet her, who would be his happieft Choice, already bound in Wedlock to another, perhaps his Enemy,

out,

One