Of the Creation and Fall of Man

O All-creating God!
At whose supreme decree
Our body rose, a breathing clod.
Our soul sprang forth from Thee;
For this Thou hast design'd.
And form'd us man for this.
To know, and love Thyself, and find
In Thee our endless bliss.

Thou the first happy pair
In paradise didst place,
To reap the joys and pleasures there,
And sing the Giver's praise:
Of all the trees but one
Forbidden was, to prove
Their due regard to God alone,
Their firm, obedient love.

But, O they rashly took
Of the forbidden tree;
Thine easy, sole commandment broke.
And sinn'd, and fell from Thee:
Of their wide-spreading fault
The sad effects we find;
Anguish, and sin, and death it brought
On us, and all mankind,

Infected by their stain
In sin we all are born,
And liable to grief and pain.
Till we to dust return:
To every sin inclined.
Selfish we are, and proud.
Our will perverse, our carnal mind
Is enmity to God.

Dead to the things above,
While in our lost estate.
Children of wrath, the world we love,
And Thee by nature hate:
In pining griefs and cares
We spend our wretched breath,
And die the miserable heirs
Of everlasting death.