And when he took the woman from man's side, Lastly, God being made man for man's own sake, Then is the soul from God; so Pagans say, But now I feel, they pluck me by the ear, Whom my young Muse so boldly termed blind! And crave more heav'nly light, that cloud to clear; Which makes them think, God doth not make the mind. SECTION VIII. REASONS FROM DIVINITY, GOD doubtless makes her, and doth make her good, And grafts her in the body, there to spring; Which, though it be corrupted flesh and blood, Can no way to the soul corruption bring : Yet is not God the author of her ill, Though author of her being, and being there: And if we dare to judge our Maker's will, First, God from infinite eternity. Decreed, what hath been, is, or shall be done; And was resolv'd that ev'ry man should be, And in his turn his race of life should run: And so did purpose all the souls to make, Was it then fit that such a weak event Or that one penal law, by Adam broke, And change all forms of things which he foresaw? Could Eve's weak hand, extended to the tree, Whose golden links, effects and causes be; And which to God's own chair doth fix'd remain? O could we see how cause from cause doth spring! And view at once how death by sin is brought; And how from death a better life doth rise! How this God's justice, and his mercy taught! We this decree would praise, as right and wise. But we that measure times by first and last, All in himself, as in a glass, he sees; For from him, by him, through him, all things be; His sight is not discoursive, by degrees; But seeing th' whole, each single part doth see. He looks on Adam as a root or well; And on his heirs as branches, and as streams: He sees all men as one man, though they dwell In sundry cities, and in sundry realms. And as the root and branch are but one tree, So, if the root and well corrupted be, The stream and branch the same corruption take. So, when the root and fountain of mankind And as when th' hand doth strike, the man offends, (For part from whole, law severs not in this) So Adam's sin to the whole kind extends; For all their natures are but part of his. Therefore this sin of kind, not personal, The guilt thereof, and punishment to all, For as that easy law was giv'n to all, To ancestor and heir, to first and last, So was the first transgression general; And all did pluck the fruit, and all did taste. Of this we find some footsteps in our law, Which doth her root from God and Nature take; Ten thousand men she doth together draw, And of them all one corporation make : Yet these, and their successors, are but one; And so the ancestor, and all his heirs, Though they in number pass the stars of Heav'n, Are still but one; his forfeitures are theirs, And unto them are his advancements giv❜n: His civil acts do bind and bar them all; In all the blood law doth corruption make. Is it then just with us, to disinherit Th' unborn nephews, for the father's fault; And to advance again, for one man's merit, A thousand heirs that have deserved nought? And is not God's decree as just as ours, For what is this contagious sin of kind, If then a man on light conditions gain A great estate, to him and his, for ever; If wilfully he forfeit it again, Who doth bemoan his heir, or blame the giver? So, though God make the soul good, rich, and fair, And then the soul, being first from nothing brought, Yet not alone the first good qualities, Nor is it strange that Adam's ill desert Should be transferr'd unto his guilty race, When Christ his grace and justice doth impart To men unjust, and such as have no grace. |