ADAM PRIMUS HOMO. Avoid it I cannot: thou layest it to me so hard. Lord, now I perceive what power is in man, And strength of himself, when thy sweet grace is absent. He must needs but fall, do he the best he can, And danger himself, as appeareth evident; For I sinned not too long as thou wert present; But when thou wert gone, I fell to sin by and by, And thee displeased. Good Lord, I axe thee mercy. PATER COELESTIS. Thou shalt die for it, with all thy posterity. ADAM PRIMUS HOMO. For one fault, good Lord, avenge not thyself on me, Who am but a worm or a fleshly vanity. PATER COELESTIS. I say thou shalt die, with thy whole posterity. ADAM PRIMUS HOMO. Yet mercy, sweet Lord, if any mercy may be. PATER COELESTIS. I am immutable, I may change no decree; Thou shalt die, I say, without any remedy. ADAM PRIMUS HOMO. Yet, gracious Father, extend to me thy mercy, And throw not away the work which thou hast create To thine own image, but avert from me thy hate. PATER COELESTIS. But art thou sorry from bottom of thy heart? ADAM PRIMUS HOMO. Thy displeasure is to me most heavy smart. PATER COELESTIS. Then will I tell thee what thou shalt stick unto: Life to recover, and my good favour also. ADAM PRIMUS HOMO. Tell it me, sweet Lord, that I may thereafter go. PATER COELESTIS. This is my covenant to thee and all thy offspring. For that thou hast been deceived by the serpent, I will put hatred betwixt him for his doing And the woman kind. They shall hereafter dissent; His seed with her seed shall never have agreement; Her seed shall press down his head unto the ground, Slay his suggestions, and his whole power confound. Cleave to this promise with all thy inward power, Firmly inclose it in thy remembrance fast; Fold it in thy faith with full hope day and hour, And thy salvation it will be at the last. That seed shall clear thee of all thy wickedness past, And procure thy peace with most high grace in my sight. See thou trust to it, and hold not the matter light. ADAM PRIMUS HOMO. Sweet Lord, the promise that thyself here hath made me Of thy mere goodness, and not of my deserving, In my faith I trust shall so established be By help of thy grace, that it shall be remaining, So long as I shall have here continuing, And show it I will to my posterity, That they in like case have thereby felicity. PATER COELESTIS. For a closing up, take yet one sentence with thee. ADAM PRIMUS HOMO. At thy pleasure, Lord, all things might ever be. PATER COELESTIS. For that my promise may have the deeper effect In the faith of thee and all thy generation, Take this sign with it as a seal thereto connect. Creep shall the serpent for his abhomination; The woman shall sorrow in painful propagation. Like as thou shalt find this true in outward working. So think the other, though it be an hidden thing.