_Adam._ 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 endanger himself, as appeareth evident; For I sinned not so long as thou wert present; But when thou wert gone, I fell to sin by and by, And thee displeased. Good Lord, I ask thee mercy. _Pater Cœlestis._ Thou shalt die for it and all thy posterity. _Adam._ For one fault, good Lord, avenge not thyself on me, Who am but a worm, or a fleshly vanity. _Pater Cœlestis._ I say thou shalt die with thy whole posterity. _Adam._ Yet mercy, sweet Lord, if any mercy may be. _Pater Cœlestis._ I am immutable, I may change no decree. Thou shalt die, I say, without any remedy. _Adam._ 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 Cœlestis._ But art thou sorry from bottom of thy heart? _Adam._ Thy displeasure is to me most heavy smart. _Pater Cœlestis._ Then will I tell thee what thou shalt stick unto, Life to recover, and my good favour also. _Adam._ Tell it me, sweet Lord, that I may thereafter go. _Pater Cœlestis._ 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 enclose 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._ 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 shew it I will to my posterity That they in like case have thereby felicity. _Pater Cœlestis._ For a closing up, take yet one sentence with thee. _Adam._ At thy pleasure, Lord, all things might ever be. _Pater Cœlestis._ 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 abomination, The woman shall sorrow in painful propagation. Like as thou shalt find this true in outward working, So think the other, though it be a hidden thing.