THE ATONEMENT.

CONTENTS OF PART THE FIRST.

Creation of the World-Of Man, who is subject to one command as the test of his obedience-Satan's insidious invasion of Eden-Man's disobedience and fall-Defeat of Satan foretold-Preaching of John the Baptist, announcing the Advent of Christ-The object of Christ's coming, and the magnitude of His love.

As the blithe herald of the vernal day

Pours to the Heavens her tributary lay,

She soars aloft on her aspiring wings,

Sings as she soars, and trembles as she sings :

So fears the muse, whose mortal pinions dare

Attempt the regions of celestial air

B

And hymn a Saviour's praise, to whom belong

The sweetest numbers of Seraphic song.

O for a spark of that immortal fire,

That woke to ecstasy the Royal lyre ;

Or for a drop of that unsullied spring,
That taught "Isaiah's hallow'd lips" to sing,

To warm my heart, to animate my lays,

And sanctify the tribute of my praise!

When Heav'n's Eternal King, who reigns on

high,

Clad with the beams of awful majesty,

In order exquisite whose pow'r controls

Each stedfast orb-each planet, as it rolls,

Had call'd from chaos this terrestrial sphere,

Out-pour'd the light and wing'd the buoyant air;
Laid the deep waters, giv'n the mountains birth,

The fields adorn'd, and fertiliz'd the earth;
Fix'd in the firmament the sun's bright ray,

To gem the night and glorify the day;

Created beasts to range the desert plain,

And whales to play within the liquid main;

Each fish that swims; each creeping thing that moves;

Each wing that flies, and every foot that roves;

Provided each with its appointed food,

And seen that all was perfect-all was good;*

*Genesis, ch. i.

Forth from the dust commanded Man to rise

Lord of the Earth, and Image of the Skies !*

For him was planted a delightful ground,

With goodly fruit and verdant foliage crown'd,
And made a fragrant-ever-blooming soil,

A paradise, unconscious of a toil; †

For man was form'd a help-meet and a bride,
"Bone of his bone," fair offspring of his side; ‡
To man was giv'n dominion; and the whole

Paid cheerful homage to the "living soul !"§

27.

So God created Man in his own image. Gen. ch. i. v. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food, &c. Ch. ii. v. 9.

I will make him an help-meet for him. Ch. ii. v. 18. § And man became a living soul. Ch. ii. v. 7.

God form'd him to be happy-and to prove

A true allegiance and a mutual love,

Gave one command: "For thee each tree that

grows,

"Puts forth its beauty and its fruit bestows;

"Even the Tree of Life, whose blossoms shed

"Celestial odours 'round its monarch-head,

"Stands in the midst of Paradise for thee,

"Crown'd with the fruit of immortality!

"But from the tree of Good and Evil-fly!

"Taste not its fruit, or thou shalt surely die."*

*And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Gen. ch. ii. v. 17 and 18.