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Show tS\6 _______fc___-_«*--"^ Tbe. State of Innocence, and Eve. On *&*$*»&&**] Who bore not mine, but with a bleedi I was roo ftubbom, thus tc.make:you foe! Forgive me, I am more in fault than you. Return to me, and to m y ^ ^ ™ * And, both offending for each other mourn. ' Enter Raphael. Raphael. Of Sin to warn thee, I before was fent; For Sin I now pronounce thy Punifhment. _ Yet that much lighterman thy Crimes require 3 Th'All-Good does not his Creatures Death defire: uftke muft punifh the Rebelious Deed : Yet punilh fo, as Pity fhall exceed. Adam. I neither can dilpute> Will, nor dare 3 Death will difmifs me from m y future Care, And lay me foftly in m y Native Duft, To pay the forfeit of ill-manag'd Truft. ^ Eve. W h y feek you Death ? Confider e er you fpeak 3 The Laws were hard, the Pow'r to keep 'em, weak. Did we folicite Heav'n to mould our Clay, From Darknefs, to produce us to the Day? Did we concur to Life, or chufe to be ? Was it our Will which form'd, or was it He? Since 'twas His Choice, not ours, which plac'd us here, The Laws we did not chufe, why fhould we bear? Adam. Seek not in vain our Maker to accufe: Terms were proposVU Power left us to refufe. The Good we have enjoy'dfrom Heav'ns Free-wil! And fhall we murmer to endure the 111 ? Should we a Rebel-Son's Excufe receive, Becaufe he was begot without hisleave? Heav'n's Right in us is more; firft, form'd to ferve. The Good we merit not, the 111 deferve. Raphael. Death is deferr'd, and Penitence has room To mitigate, if not rcverfe the Doom: But, for your Crime, th'Eternal does ordain In Eden you no longer fhall remain. Hence to the lower World you are exil'd : This Place, with Crimes, fhall be no more defil'd. Eve. Muft we this blisful Paradife forego? Raphael. Your Lot mult be where Thorns and Thiftles grow Unbid, as Balm and Spices did at firft; For Man, the Earth, of which he was, is curft. To Adam. By thy own Toil procur'd thou Food fhalt eat And know not Plenty, but from painful Swear, She, by a Curfe, of future Wives abhorr'd, Shall pay Obedience to her lawful Lord : And H E fhall Rule, and She in Thraldom live- Defiring more of Love than Man can give. Adam. Heav'n is all Mercy; Labour I would claufe And could fuftain this Paradife to lofe The Blifs; but not the Place 3 here could I fay Heav'n's winged Meffenger did pafs the Day •' Under this Pine the glorious Angel ftaid: * Then fhow m y wond'ring Progeny the Shade. In Woods and Lawns where-e'er thou didft appear Each Place fome Monument of thee fhould bear ' I, with green Turfs, would grateful Alters raife' AhcitDss tthnLr,toVuJ g^?h«S 'anrl.lSW lPtZhlG aucemtssh, ° aiUns d atr oto'f f neHro'end e iIs n'cco enVnffieen'r Pdrn a•aif le .M ind ^LT^MAN. 67J Fills Ocean, Earth, and Air, and all above And through the Univerfal Mafs does move Thou canft be no where diftant: Yet this place Had been thy Kingly Seat 3 and here thy Race From all the Ends of Peopled Earth had come' To rev rence Thee, and fee their Native H o me Imrnortal then 3 now Sicknefs, Care, and A-e ' And War, and Luxury's more direful Rage ' Thy Crimes have brought, to fhorten Mortal Breath With all the num'rous Family of Death Eve. M y Spirits faint, while I thefe Ills fore-know And find m y felf the faid Occafion too. ' But what is Death ? Raphael. In Vifion thou (halt fee his griefly Face The King of Terrors raging in thy Race: ' That whilft in future Fate thou fhar'ft thy Part A kind Remorfe, for Sin, may feize thy Heart' LUC SCNavTF&td ^^ ^ ****•*»** B,ttel at Land and r,cAtWi*° ?.XTl?d 0ff>inS! O unhappy State Of all Mankind, by m e betray'd to Fate! Born, through m y Crime, to be Offenders firft 3 And, for thofe Sins they could not fhun accurit Eve W h y is Life fore'd ? N o Man, who, might he chufe Would not accept what he with Pain muft lofe? Unknowing, he receives it, and, when known, He thinks it his, and values it, 'tis gone. Raphael. Behold of ev'ry Age 3 ripe Manhood fee, Decrepit Years, and helplefs Infancy: Thofe w h o by lingring Sickntfs lofe their Breath, And thofe w h o by Defpair fubborn their Death': See you, mad Fools, w h o for fome trivial RHit, For Love, or for miftaken Honour, fight: See thofe, more mad, w h o throw their lives away -^ In needlefs Wars 3 the Stakes which Monarchs lay, ( W h e n for each others Provinces they play. C Then, as if Earth too narrow were for fate, O n open Seas, their Quarrels they debate 3 In hollow Wood, they floating Armies bear 3 And force imprifon'dWinds to bring 'em near. Eve. W h o would the Miferies of M a n foreknow ? Not knowing, we but fhareour part of woe : N o w , w e the Fate of future Ages bear3 And e'er the Birth, behold our Dead appear. . Adam. The Deaths thou fhow'ft are fore'd, and full of Strife. Caft headlong from the Precipice of Life. Is there no fmooth defcent, no painlefs way O f kindly mixing with our Native Clay ? Raphael. There is3 but rarely fhall that Path be trod, Which, without Horror, leads to Death's abode. Some lew, by temp'rance taught, approaching flow, • To diftant Fate, by eafie Journeys, go : Gently they lay 'em down, as Ev'ning Sheep, O n their o w n woolly Fleeces foftly fleep. Adam. Sonoifelefs would I live, fuch Death to find, Like timely fruit, not fhaken by the W i n d , But ripely dropping from the faplefs Bough, And dying, nothing to m y felf would owe. Eve. Thus daily changing, with a duller tafte Of Teffening Joys, I, by degrees, would wafte : Stifl quitting Ground, by unperceiv'd decay, And fteal m y felf from Life, and melt away. H o•w R ahpahpapely. t hDeeya tinhd eyaotuhlheafvse P lfeeaefnu r:e s live, m J K k k k Far |