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.
Adam. Incessant praising to thee most heavenly lord
For this thy succour, and undeserved kindness,
Thou bindest me in heart thy gracious gifts to record,
And to bear in mind, now after my heaviness,
The bruit of thy name, with inward joy and gladness.
Thou disdainest not, as well appeareth this day,
To fetch to thy fold thy first sheep going astray.
Most mighty Maker, thou castest not yet away
Thy sinful servant, which hath done most offence.
It is not thy mind for ever I should decay,
But thou reservest me, of thy benevolence,
And hast provided for me a recompence,
By thy appointment, like as I have received
In thy strong promise here openly pronounced.
This goodness, dear Lord, is of me undeserved,
I so declining from thy first institution,
At so light motions. To one that thus hath swerved,
What a lord art thou, to give such retribution!
I, damnable wretch, deserved execution
Of terrible death, without all remedy,
And to be put out of all good memory.
I am enforced to rejoice here inwardly,
An imp though I be of hell, death and damnation,
Through my own working: for I consider thy mercy
And pitiful mind for my whole generation.
It is thou, sweet Lord, that workest my salvation,
And my recovery. Therefore of a congruence
From hence thou must have my heart and obedience.
Though I be mortal, by reason of my offence,
And shall die the death like as God hath appointed:
Of this I am sure, through his high influence,
At a certain day again to be revived.
From ground of my heart this shall not be removed,
I have it in faith and therefore I will sing
This anthem to him that my salvation shall bring.
[Then with sonorous voice, on his bent knees, he begins an antiphon, "O Sapientia," which the chorus follows with instruments, as it removes from the stage. Or else in the same it may thus be sung in English:
O Eternal Sapience, that proceedest from the mouth of the highest,
reaching forth with a great power from the beginning to the end, with
heavenly sweetness disposing all creatures, come now and instruct us the
true way of thy godly prudence.