Patrick Tait

“ These Attributes of Glory each had Share:
'Tis true that Mercy seem'd obscure, and here
Did Mercy follow only in the Rear,
Till Adam fell it did not much appear.
Redemption-Work doth in a Strain more high
Each Attribute extol and glorify;
Yet this much of Creation we may say.
That it did for Redemption-Work make way;
Man must be made, fall, and be guilty deem'd. ”

“ All Kind of Beasts and every creeping Thing;
The Earth, tho' deaf, heard what its Maker said.
And his Demand it presently obey'd;
The Dust, tho' dead, did by Omnipotence,
Things into Life and Form at once commence,
The Voice of God, which makes the Deaf to hear.
Caus'd Creatures made of Earth upon't appear,
And these of many various Sort and Kind,
Answering the Idea of their Maker's Mind. ”

“ And speak, tho' mute, their great Creator's Fame.
As other Creatures, so the Waters Brood,
The human Kind supply with Store of Food;
Man's empty Belly for to fill, seems what
Of Fish th' Ocean would evacuate:
Nor this, nor that alone, can him suffice,
But his luxurious Appetite to please,
The whole Creation falls a Sacrifice.
Nought for Man's Use from Death he doth exeem. ”

“ The Fish, tho' mute, do that her Pleasure swim,
And play herself in to the gliding Stream.
The Earth, who by its Maker was design'd
To be a Dwelling for the human Kind,
Void of all Creatures, still as yet doth ly ”

“ When he did Adam of this Tree forbid,
Great condescending Goodness to him show,
Whilst he transacted with his Creatures so.
The Laws of Nature and Creation, they
Obliged Man his God for to obey;
And tho' that Man had thousand Ages stood. ”

“ To God's essential Glory, tho' 'tis true.
From all his Works there nothing does accrue;
Yet search the Scriptures, and enquire the Cause,
God made the World, and all created was;
The Reason for it there we see assign'd,
Is God, his Glory in it all design'd;
His sovereign Will and Pleasure being the Thing
Whence all he does doth take its Rise and Spring.
And tho' his Glory is not thus increast,
It is declar'd, and is made manifest.
That he is glorious; all his Creatures shew it,
Altho' they do add no Addition to it. ”

“ It wings its Way thro' tractless Paths of Air;
Some distant Miles out from its little Dome,
In quest of Flowers throughout the Fields doth roam;
From all the various Flowers it lights upon,
Of different Taste, it nothing sucks but one;
Their Taste however vastly opposite,
Is by the Genius of the Bee unite,
Who from the bitter still doth suck the sweet
When fully freighted, then it doth go home
With all its Store in to the Honey-comb,
And for the Work the little Bee hath there,
Excels the greatest Artist to compare. ”

“ For tho' before all Time, Matter, Form or Place, God himself was all in all, there being nothing else beside, nor he standing in need of any thing, but enjoying himself in his own infinite Perfections; yet of his own good Pleasure, and for the Manifestation of his Glory and Goodness, from all Eternity he had resolved upon the Creation of the Heavens and Earth, and all Creatures therein contained ”

“ Whence come the Crosses that's so thick and rife,
So interwoven thro' the Thread of Life,
That there's no Rank, no Station, no Degree,
From the contagious Taint of Sorrow free?
Whence come Diseases of a thousand Kind,
That pain the Body, Cares that vex the Mind?
From whence doth all such Misery take Root?
From Adam's eating the forbidden Fruit.
But then our Loss of a spiritual Kind,
Is that whereof we are most dark and blind;
Man's greatest Loss lies from his Sight conceal'd,
His Burden heaviest where it least is feel'd. ”

“ The Angels, Heaven's Inhabitants, even they
Created were also on the first Day;
For when the Earth's Foundation it was laid,
We read in Scripture, that 'tis of them said,
That at its laying they did so rejoice,
They sung together with united Voice:
These Creatures were made Beings so refin'd,
Yet a Degree above the human Kind;
And by the Effect of creating Power,
Angels were made entirely Spirits pure,
That have no Substance that's of ought we call
Flesh, Blood or Bones, or Ought material. ”

“ In fine, the Angels, tho' but finite Creatures,
Exceed us far, to comprehend their Natures.
My Lines about them therefore I will end,
And from such Heights as thir I'll now descend
Unto the World below, where there do ly
Things that appear more obvious to our Eye.
It seems plain from what's in Scripture said,
The Earth's Foundation the first Day was laid ”

“ And that all Creatures in Earth, Air and Sea,
Should in Subjection to this Creature be;
Then divine Power unto him did give Birth,
But fram'd his Body of the Dust or Earth,
But cast in a more curious Frame and Mould,
Than to imagine ever Angels could;
Of that bit Clay the Potter did produce
A Vessel fitted for the Master's Use:
O strange! to see so glorious a Creature,
Made of such base and corrupt Kind of Matter.
Man's Body fram'd by divine Power and Art,
Is but his natural, not his divine Part:
'Tis but design'd a Cabinet or Shell
In which his more refined Part might dwell ”

“ Doth next and last in Order it supply.
The Lord he doth then upon the sixth Day,
Creating Power again once more display,
By which the Earth, which empty was before,
Of living Creatures he doth richly store. ”

“ Up towards Heaven in highest Strains of Love.
His Conscience like a Chrystal Mirror clear,
Did, while he stood in Innocence, appear.
This Adam he was now in ev'ry Part,
A Man according to his Maker's Heart. ”

“ Only what we cannot sufficiently comprehend, let us praise and admire. And upon mature Consideration, we will find just Cause for Praise and Admiration, with regard both to the Works of Creation and Redemption. ”

“ Another Host of Creatures now appears,
Each Marks of Power and divine Wisdom bears:
Here we might find a Field wherein to treat,
Large like that Field, affords those Creatures Meat,
Whose vast and huge Dimensions to descry,
Doth all the Skill of Geographers try:
Philosophers, for all the Pains they take.
And Searches into natural Things they make.
Into this Deep howe'er they plode, yet still
They meet with Things that do surmount their Skill.
What Reason by them e'er can be assign'd.
Why Creatures differ so much in their Kind? ”

“ Now his Dominion o'er the Creatures, he
Did lose it also in a great Degree.
The Lion against him did ne'er rebel,
'Till Adam first from his Perfection fell.
The Earth also by him that did it make,
Was curs'd for the rebellious Creature's Sake,
Tho' it before did of its own Accord
All Things produce unto its Sovereign Lord.
Now of its Fruit he must not henceforth eat,
'Till it he earn with Labour, Toil and Sweat;
And as a Fruit of Man's Offence, the Field
Thorns and Thirties unto him should yield.
Now of Earth's Fruit, the great Creator says,
Man now must eat in Sorrow all his Days ”

“ This King of Beasts makes, if he do but roar,
His Fellow Creatures tremble him before.
The Dromedary, and the Ass that's stil'd
So by her Nature, and Untam'dness wild;
In populous Cities their Delight is less
Than in the Desart or the Wilderness. ”

“ Flesh of Man's Flesh, and Bone of Adam's Bone,
Was Woman made, these two were made of one;
And being two, the Lord ordained then
That these same two should be made one again.
All Creatures now are made of every Kind,
That he to make within six Days design'd:
For Woman was, as Scripture gives Relation,
The Stroke that clos'd and finish'd the Creation.
On the Uprightness of Adam and Eve at their Creation.
When Adam dropt from his Creator's Hand,
In Soul and Body upright he did stand ”

“ Nor any Favour from his Foes doth seek:
And tho' he could just by one Word of Wrath,
E'en in one Moment crush them all to Death;
Infinite Pow'r yet here most tamely stands,
Till feeble Creatures bind his Holy Hands ”

“ All Creatures that were in the World below,
There's none them was qualified so,
Except it was in merely passive Ways,
Were none of them that could their Maker praise;
There's one a wanting yet for to become
A praising Mouth to the Creation dumb:
As for the Angels, these so glorious Creatures,
And Animals were of such different Natures,
The one being Spirits pure entire, whereas
The other gross material Substance was ”

“ As to the Performance itself, if it has any thing of the Spirit or Beauties of Poetry, it is entirely the Fruit of a natural Genius; for the Author ingenuously acknowledges, that he had not the Opportunity of the more polite and refined Education, which might have greatly brightened the Genius of his Muse: For which frank Acknowledgement he hopes the nicer or more learned Readers will be the more readily induced to excuse or dispense with any thing therein that doth not keep Pace with the strict Rules of the Schools ”

“ And in particular he made our first Parents Adam and Eve after his own Image, in Knowledge, Righteousness and Holiness, with Dominion over the other earthly Creatures, and gave them a Law written in their Hearts, with Power to fulfil the same, only they were not made impeccable, but liable to Change. ”

“ In going thro' this great Work of Creation,
Yet keeped Order, Beauty and Gradation,
And did begin and end, as Scripture says.
It all within the Compass of six Days.
'Tis proper then we should in this Essay,
Begin with what was done on the first Day,
And still advance, as Scripture Light doth shew,
Of each Day's Work to take a short Review.
But Oh! the Works on thir six Days were wrought,
Them to descry surpasseth human Thought!
Who, who can know the Creatures Number vast.
From the first made, to Woman who was last
Of all the Creatures that we read of made ”

“ As what his Maker fully doth relate:
His very Tail, 'tis said of it that he
Doth move it like unto the Cedar-tree,
Unto strong Brass, 'tis in the Word declar'd,
And Iron Bars his Bones they are compar'd;
Surely the Mountains Food to him do yield,
Whereon do play all Beasts that's in the Field;
In Covert of the Reeds and Fens, and Shade
Of Trees, he lies, and there he makes his Bed;
To drink, great Rivers scarce can him supply.
He trusts he can the River Jordan dry.
The sacred Scripture also of him says. ”

“ Makes Summer, Winter, Autumn and the Spring,
He always long or short doth make our Days,
As he withdraws or visits with his Rays.
For one Half-year he doth the same increase,
The other Half diminish and make less:
Two Times each Year the Sun he doth divide
Our Days and Nights equal on either Side;
One Month in th' Year he more than sixteen Hours
Displays his Light and Heat about our Bowers ”