DE LAPSU HOMINIS IN ADAM.

PAUPER amabilis et venerabilis, est benedictus,
Dives inutilis, insatiabilis, est maledictus.
Qui bona negligit, et mala diligit, intrat abyssum :
Nulla potentia, nulla pecunia liberat ipsum,
Irremeabilis, insatiabilis, illa vorago.

Hic ubi mergitur, horrida cernitur omnis imago,
Vir miserabilis Evaque flebilis hoc subjerunt,
Hic cruciamina, per sua crimina, cum meruerunt.
Jussa Dei pia, jussa salubria si tenuissent.

Vir neque fœmina, nec sua semina, morte perissent,
Sed quia spernere jussaque solvere non timuere,
Mors gravis irruit, hoc merito fuit, et periere,
Janua mortis passio fortis crimen eorum.
Attulit orbi semina morbi, totque malorum,
Illa parentes, atque sequentes culpa peremit,
Atque piarum deliciarum munus ademit,
Flebile fatum dans cruciatum, dansque dolorem,
Illa merenti perdere tanti regis honorem,
Est data sævam causa per Evam perditionis,
Dum meliorem sperat honorem voce draconis,
Hoc male credens, nos quoque lædens crimine magno,
Omnia tristi subdidit isti sæcula damno,

Stirps miserorum plena dolorum postea crevit,

His

quoque damnis pluribus annis subdita flevit.

DE RESTITUTIONE HOMINIS PER CHRISTUM.

SED Deus omnipotens, qui verbo cuncta creavit,
Sic cecidisse dolens homines quos semper amavit,
Ipse suum verbum transmisit ad infima mundi,
Exulibus miseris aperire viam redeundi.
Filius ergo Dei descendit ab arce superna,
Nunquam discedens à majestate paterna,
Qui corpus sumens animatum, numine salvo,
Processit natus sacræ de virginis alvo,
Verus homo, verusque Deus, pius et miserator,
Verus salvator, nostræque salutis amator,
Sponte sua moriens mortem moriendo peremit,
Et sic perpetua miseros à morte redemit,
Namque pia de morte resurgens, ut Leo fortis,
Restituit vitam prostrato principe mortis.

OF THE FALL OF MAN IN ADAM.

THE poor man belov'd, for virtue approv'd, right blessed is he,

Where covetous chuff, who never hath enough, accursed

shall be.

Who goodness rejecteth, and evil affecteth, shall fall in

the pit;

No plenty of pence shall free him from thence; no power nor wit.

Both unrepassable and unsatiable, that gulph will ap

pear;

Embogg'd he shall be, where nought he shall see, but horror and fear.

Adam unstable, and Eve variable, the very first time, By falling from God, deserved this rod, Oh horrible

crime!

For had they adhered to God, and him feared, by keeping his reed,

Then death had not come on, the man or the woman, their seed.

or any

But when as the man, from God's will began, basely

to revolt,

For his grievous sin, death came rushing in, and on him laid holt.

This was the great crime, which at the first time, by craft of the devil,

Did bring in the seed, of sickness and need, and all other evil:

This was the sin, which first did begin, our parents to

kill,

And heavenly food, prepar'd for our good, did utterly

spill.

Unhappy the fate, which first such a state, such sorrow

did bring,

To him that had lost, so much to our cost, our heavenly

King.

The credulous Eve, 'twas she that did give, the cause

of such evil,

Hoping that honour, would come more upon her, deceiv'd by the devil;

Believing of him, did make her to sin, to all our great

loss;

For mankind e'er since, received from hence, an horrible cross;

For all the nations, through all generations, which after have been,

With grief of their heart, have tasted the smart, of that primitive sin.

OF THE RESTORING OF MAN BY CHRIST.

BUT Jove omnipotent, all things by his word who created,

Grieving man to be fall'n, whose love was in him so innated,

Sent from above his word, for man to prepare a re

turning

Thence, where else had he lain through all eternity burning.

So God's only begotten Son, came down to redeem us;
Yet did he still himself, his Father's glory beteem us :
A body form'd with a soul, to his divinity taking,
And to be born of a virgin, his humanity making.
Born very God, very man, he a man God, merciful,
holy,

Purchased our salvation, was our Saviour wholly : For by his willing death, he Death's self wholly defeated,

And so us all from eternal death, by death rebegetted. From death again rising, he Death's prince mightily

maimed,

Whereby his own from death, to Eternal life he regained.

THE END OF THE POETICAL RHAPSODY.