]
In a volume of "Hymns and Poems for the Use of Believers" (Watervliet,
Ohio, 1833), Adam is made to confess the nature of his transgression and
the cause of his fall, in a dialogue with his children:
"_First Adam being dead, yet speaketh, in a dialogue with his
children_.
"_Children_. First Father Adam, where art thou?
With all thy num'rous fallen race;
We must demand an answer now,
For time hath stript our hiding-place.
Wast thou in nature made upright--
Fashion'd and plac'd in open light?
"_Adam_. Yea truly I was made upright:
This truth I never have deni'd,
And while I liv'd I lov'd the light,
But I transgress'd and then I died.
Ye've heard that I transgress'd and fell--
This ye have heard your fathers tell.
"_Ch_. Pray tell us how this sin took place--
This myst'ry we could never scan,
That sin has sunk the human race,
And all brought in by the first man.
'Tis said this is our heavy curse--
Thy sin imputed unto us.
"_Ad_. When I was plac'd on Eden's soil,
I liv'd by keeping God's commands--
To keep the garden all the while,
And labor, working with my hands.
I need not toil beyond my pow'r,
Yet never waste one precious hour.
"But in a careless, idle frame,
I gazed about on what was made:
And idle hands will gather shame,
And wand'ring eyes confuse the head:
I dropp'd my hoe and pruning-knife,
To view the beauties of my wife.
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