But it is plac'd in corruptible flesh,

And the compounded frame that's called man
Must be dissolved; for sin hath caused death;
And flesh must turn to earth, whence it began.

But he who man's salvation undertook
Is perfect primitive life, light, and love;
And will give compound life again to man,
In joyful glory with himself above.

But as in nature God great difference made.
Stones are not men; all have their proper place;
Men are not stars, and stars are not the sun :
So he will make great difference in grace.

Man is not helpless left to mere despair,
Life is again made possible to all,
The former terms of innocence now cease,
Mercies all sinners to repentance call.

A law of saving grace is newly made,
All that accept it and consent shall live:
Trust but a Saviour for that blessed life,
And he will freely grace and glory give.

But yet man's life on earth a warfare is,
God's grace and Satan's malice daily fight;
And all that will be sav'd must overcome;
Sin's vanquished by grace, darkness by light.

Each part their captain have, and they their bands
Not made by force, but doctrine and consent;
Each man as rational and free commands,
One draws to sin, the other to repent.

Sin hath its punishment, the worst within,
When for neglect of grace God it suspends;
But the correction of the flesh for sin,
Furthers repentance, and the soul amends.

194

Thus all on earth have some degrees of grace,
Which reason tells us they should not abuse,
Which bringeth some so far to Adam's case,
They stand or fall as they these mercies use.

But God will not his grace at random give,
And leave the event to uncertainty,
But hath his chosen, who shall surely live,
In whom his saving grace shall never die.

The two first brothers did this war begin,
He kill'd and conquer'd who was first by birth;
He that seem'd conquer'd triumphed by death,
The victor's a curs'd vagabond on earth.

This war continu'd is unto this day
Between the holy and the serpent's seed,
These brothers the prognostic instance were
Of all that ever after should succeed.

But the worst war is inward; grace and sin,
The controversy daily their debate:
That which the final victory doth win,
Determineth man's everlasting state.

A law of grace thus made to all mankind
In Adam and Noe, common roots of all,
Ill entertainment with fall'n man did find,
Who mostly to idolatry did fall.

The strength of sin is love to flesh and world,
And averse strangeness to a better life.
It stronger grew by custom, and abhorr'd
All motions tending to the soul's relief.

But God's electing grace shall not be void,
In Abel, Enoch, Noe, he this declared,
But specially in Abraham, whose great faith
He with a special promise did reward.

Not calling back the common law of grace,
He chose his seed as a peculiar nation,
Gave them a proper law and of them rais'd
The Lord incarnate, author of salvation.

Yet was their dignity most typical,

As was their law to shew what God would do,
When he the nations unto Christ would call,
And build his church as catholic anew.

Sin soon prevail'd; their land was dry and small;
Seldom from under enemies and waste;

But they God's oracles preserv'd for us,
And from their vine we all salvation taste.

But as in nature God works by degrees,
From seed to infancy, from thence to youth;
From thence to manhood and maturity;
So did he in revealing grace and truth.

Fall'n man his infancy and childhood had
In the old law's dark types and prophecies:
But in time's fulness God incarnate canie,
The Sun of righteousness to man did rise.

Three laws he did fulfil;-one as a man,
Once made for all; another as a Jew;
The third as Saviour, proper to himself.
Then for his church, he made another new.

He preach'd God's will; proclaimed saving grace,
Brought to light life and immortality;

Declar'd God's love, shew'd man God's pleased face,
A sacrifice for sinful man did die.

He came to conquer Satan, destroy sin,
And heal sick souls of worldly fleshly love,
To raise the earthly mind of man to God,
And bring him to a better life above.

PART II.

EXALT, Ú earth, thy heav'nly King,
Who bids the plants that from thee spring,
With annual verdure bloom;
Whose frequent drops of kindly rain
Prolific swell the rip'ning grain,
And bless thy fertile womb.

Ye mountains, that ambitious rise,
And lift your summits to the skies,
Revere his awful nod;

Think how ye once affrighted fled,
While Jordan sought his fountain head,
And own'd th' approaching God.

Ye trees that fill the rural scene;
Ye flowers that o'er th' enamell'd green
In native beauty reign;

O praise the Ruler of the skies,
Whose hand the genial sap supplies,
And clothes the thankful plain.

Ye secret springs, and gentle rills,
That murmuring rise among the hilis,
Or fill the humbler vale;
Praise him, at whose Almighty nod
The rugged rock dissolving flow'd,
And formed a springing well.

Praise him, ye floods, and seas profound,
Whose waves the spacious earth surround,
And roll from shore to shore;

Aw'd by his voice, ye seas, subside,
Ye floods within your channels glide,
And tremble, and adore.

Ye whales, that in the ocean play,
Or, slumbʼring in the watʼry way,
In shoals unnumber'd lie;

Praise him, by whom ye all are fed,
Praise him, without whose heav'nly and
Ye sicken, faint, and die.

Ye birds, exalt your

Maker's name,

Begin, and with the important theme
Your artless lays improve;
Wake with your songs the rising day,
Let music sound from every spray,
And fill the vocal grove.

Praise him, ye beasts, that nightly rreri
Amid the solitary gloom,

Th' expected prey to seize;
Ye slaves of the laborious plough,
Your stubborn necks obsequious bow,
And bend your wearied knees.

Ye sons of men, his praise display,
Who stampt his image on your clay,
And gave it pow'r to move:
Ye that in Judah's confines dwell,
From age to age successive tell
The wonders of his love.

Let Levi's tribe the lay prolong,
Till angels listen to the song,

And bend attentive down;

Let wonder seize the heavenly train, Pleas'd while they hear a mortal strain So sweet, so like their own.