So was the first transgression generall,

And all did plucke the fruit and all did tast.

Of this we find some foot-steps 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 if they gaine or lose their liberties;
They harme, or profit not themselues alone,
But such as in succeeding times shall rise.

And so the ancestor, and all his heires,

Though they in number passe the stars of heauen,
Are still but one; his forfeitures are theirs,
And vnto them are his aduancements giuen:

His ciuill acts doe binde and bar them all;
And as from Adam, all corruption take,
So, if the father's crime be capitall
In all the bloud, Law doth corruption make.

Is it then iust with vs, to dis-inherit

The vnborn nephewes for the father's fault?
And to aduance againe for one man's merit,
A thousand heires, that have deservèd nought?

And is not God's decree as iust as ours,

If He, for Adam's sinne, his sonnes depriue,
Of all those natiue vertues, and those powers,
Which He to him, and to his race did giue?

For what is this contagious sinne of kinde
But a priuation of that grace within ?
And of that great rich dowry of the minde
Which all had had, but for the first man's sin?

If then a man, on light conditions gaine

A great estate, to him and his, for euer;

If wilfully he forfeit it againe

Who doth bemone his heire or blame the giuer?

So, though God make the Soule good, rich and faire,
Yet when her forme is to the body knit,

Which makes the Man, which man is Adam's here
Iustly forth-with He takes His grace from it:

And then the soule being first from nothing brought, When God's grace failes her, doth to nothing fall; And this declining pronenesse unto nought,

Is euen that sinne that we are borne withall.

Yet not alone the first good qualities,

Which in the first soule were, depriuèd are ;

But in their place the contrary doe rise,

And reall spots of sinne her beauty marre.

Nor is it strange, that Adam's ill desart
Should be transferd vnto his guilty Race;
When Christ His grace and iustice doth impart
To men vniust, and such as haue no grace.

Lastly, the Soule were better so to bee

Borne slaue to sinne, then not to be at all;
Since (if she do belieue) One sets her free,
That makes her mount the higher for her fall.

Yet this the curious wits will not content;

They yet will know (sith1 God foresaw this ill)
Why His high Prouidence did not preuent
The declination of the first man's will.

If by His Word He had the current staid
Of Adam's will, which was by nature free;
It had bene one, as if His Word had said,
I will henceforth that Man no man shall bee.

For what is Man without a moouing mind,
Which hath a judging wit, and chusing will?

9 Misprinted in 1622 'sports:' 'spots' from 1599, 1602 and 1608. G. 1 'Since,' as before in 1599 and 1608 editions. G.

Now, if God's power should her election bind, Her motions then would cease and stand all still.

And why did God in man this soule infuse,

But that he should his Maker know and loue? Now, if loue be compeld and cannot chuse, How can it gratefull or thankeworthy proue?

Loue must free-hearted be, and voluntary,
And not enchanted, or by Fate constraind;
Nor like that loue, which did Ulisses carry,
To Circe's ile, with mighty charmes enchaind.

Besides, were we vnchangeable in will,

And of a wit that nothing could mis-deeme; Equall to God, Whose wisedome shineth still, And neuer erres, we might our selues esteeme.

So that if Man would be vnuariable,

He must be God, or like a rock or tree;
For euen the perfect Angels were not stable,
But had a fall more desperate then wee.

Then let vs praise that Power, which makes vs be Men as we are, and rest contented so;

And knowing Man's fall was curiositie,

Admire God's counsels, which we cannot know.

OF THE SOULE OF MAN

ain is

Clave Inheritance of his posterity

60

And let vs know that God the Maker is

Of all the Soules, in all the men that be:
Yet their corruption is no fault of His,

But the first man's that broke God's first decree.

WHY THE SOULE IS UNITED TO THE BODY.

THIS substance, and this spirit of God's owne making,

Is in the body plact, and planted heere;

"That both of God, and of the world partaking,
"Of all that is, Man might the image beare.

God first made angels bodilesse, pure minds,
Then other things, which mindlesse bodies be;
Last, He made Man, th' horizon 'twixt both kinds,
In whom we doe the World's abridgement see.2

Besides, this World below did need one wight,
Which might thereof distinguish euery part;
Make vse thereof, and take therein delight,
And order things with industry and art:

Which also God might in His works admire,

And here beneath, yeeld Him both praier and praise;

2 One of Heylin's numerous books is called 'Microcosmus:' a little Description of the great World. Oxon: 1st edn., 1622. The word is met with in other old title-pages and in theological (Puritan) writings. G.