[print edition page number: 92]

Alice Sutcliffe

Of Our Loss by Adam, and Our Gain by Christ

From Meditations of Man’s Mortality, Or a Way to True Blessedness (1634)^[1]

The first Adam was made a living soul, the second Adam a quickening spirit. For as in Adam we all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. 1 Corinth. 15.^[2]

God by his wisdom and all-seeing pow’r
Ordained man unto eternity.
Satan through malice turns that sweet to sour;
Man eating the forbidden fruit must die.
No remedy was left to scape^[3] this curse;                          5
The sore still looked on became the worse.

He out of that delightsome place is thrown,
To travel in the world with woe distressed.
Through all his life a pilgrim he is known,
With cares and sorrows and with griefs oppressed.     10
The more he looks into his wretched state,
The more he rues his fact, but all too late.

Whereas he was created king of all,
The creatures God on Earth created had.
His glory bated is by this his fall;                                       15
No creature now on Earth remains so bad.
The senseless beast the sense of this hath found,
And having man possessed with death doth wound. [92]

The Earth disdains to yield to him her strength,
But pricking thorns and brambles forth doth send,     20
Till with his sweat and labors she at length
Only for sustenance some food doth lend.^[4]
Then he that was a heavenly creature form’d
By disobedience to a wretch is turn’d.

Of all the trees that in the Garden grew,                        25
He only was forbidden that alone.^[5]
His wife from that obedience soon him drew,
And taste thereof he did, although but one.
O wretched man! what hast thou lost hereby?
Wicked woman to cause thy husband die!                      30

T’is not saying the serpent thee deceiv’d
That can excuse the faults thou didst commit;
For of all joys thou hast thyself bereav’d,
And by thy conscience thou dost stand convict.
Thy husband not alone the fault must rue;                     35
A punishment for sin to thee is due.

For as thou now conceives thy seed in sin,
So in great sorrow thou must bring it forth.
The gain which thou by that same fruit didst win,
Thou now dost find to be but little worth.                      40
Obedience to thy husband yield thou must,
And both must die and turned be to dust.^[6]

The truth sometimes is used by the Devil,
When as he said your eyes should opened be,
And that you should discern the good from evil,          45
When you the fruit had tasted of that tree.^[7]
But he told not your actions should be sin,
And death should be the good which you should win.

For now your strength to weakness turned is,
You know the good but have no power to choose’t;    50
Your eyes is ope^[8] to see your own amiss,
And to behold the bliss you have refus’d.
You see your nakedness made vild^[9] by sin,
And now seeks for a place to hide you in.

But O, alas, your deeds discover’d are!                             55
You naked lie to those all-seeing eyes;
He views your actions and doth see you bare,
Bare of all goodness, vild deformities.
And in your selves you have no power to mend,
For all your strength is sin Satan doth lend.                  60

Now seizes on your sickness griefs and fears,
Which night and day with trouble will torment.
Your sweet delights are turned all to tears,
And now what you have done, with woe repent!
Nothing but griefs and fears and sad annoys,                65
You now possess instead of endless joys.

You were immortal, but are mortal made;
You were created pure, but now are vild;
Your splendent^[10] glories turned all to shade,
Your innocence the Devil hath beguiled.                        70
You were created children of the Lord,
But now are loathsome dung to be abhorr’d.

Which way can you recover this your loss?
What friend have you that will this great debt pay?
Can you gain pure gold from filthy dross?                      75
Or have you power to call again that day?^[11]
No, you are in a labyrinth of woe,
And endless is the maze in which you go.

Yet courage, woman, whose weak spirit’s dead;
God in his love a help for thee hath found.                    80
Be sure thy seed shall bruise the serpent’s head; [94]
Christ by his death shall Satan deadly wound.^[12]
This lion of Judea^[13] resist who can;
In him is blessed the whole offspring of man.

This promise in due time fulfill’d hath God,                  85
Unto the comfort of each mortal weight.
Christ pays our debt; he’s beaten with that rod
That doth belong unto our souls of right.
His Father’s wrath was poured upon him,
Which doth belong as due to us for sin.                          90

He died upon the cross and conquered death,
That though we die, yet live again we must.
He buried was and risen is from Earth,
And reigns with God in heaven among the just.
With him our souls and bodies rais’d hath he,              95
And from death’s thraldom^[14] now hath set us free.

This causeth Satan stir himself amain,^[15]
To see if he can win what he hath lost.
He strives to make our overthrow his gain;
He stormeth now that he by Christ is crossed.           100
And to his aid he all his forces draws,
That he may cause us to obey his laws.

Whole armies of his furies forth he sends,
In shape transformed to delude our mind;
And unto them his greatest force he lends                   105
To seize where fittest for his turn he finds.
He marks to what men are by nature given,
And unto that he turns his compass even.

Satan’s deceits are covered all with smiles,
That sin seems pleasing which our souls destroys.      110
With quaint allurements he man still beguiles;
With sweet delights he breeds man’s sad annoys.[95]
He imitates a poison rarely framed,^[16]
But once being taken, all the life blood’s stained.

Old and crafty is our enemy grown;                                115
He knows all fish at one bait will not bite.
He’ll try a thousand ways to gain his own;
He will not leave till he the mark hits right.
Some with drunkenness, murders, lust beside,
Others with idleness, excessive pride.                            120

Bacchus,^[17] that drunken god from hell, comes forth,
And reeling here and there, few scapes his knocks.
Who shuns his blows esteem’d are of no worth;
One drunkard at another’s weakness mocks.
What Isaiah saith, thereon they never think;               125
“Woe be to them are strong to pow’r in drink!”^[18]

God in his love form’d all things for man’s use,
That for his comfort they might daily be.
But they prove poison through man’s vild abuse;
Sin changeth all into deformity.                                       130
Paul for man’s health to drink wine doth advise.^[19]
But through excess, both soul and body dies.

Man by this sin more vile is than a beast;
For but sufficient^[20] they will never take.
Man’s senses fails him; sins are still increased.            135
He tracing vices doth all good forsake.
In drunkenness, Lot doth in incest fall;^[21]
Noah in his wine, his secrets shows to all.^[22]

Then lust and murder hands together take;
Like full fed beasts they neigh at neighbor’s wife. [96] 140
Stolen bread is sweet; hid water their thirsts slake.^[23]
They fall to murder through discord and strife.
For when man’s reason fails to guide his will,
He into mischief runneth headlong still.

Most people takes idleness for no sin.                            145
Thus in simplicity Satan deludes,
That precious time is lost that grace might win,
And want of action many sins includes.
That mind which unto idleness gives way,
Doth open lie to be the Devil’s prey.                              150

When David unto ease himself had given,
His eyes extravagantly look about.
Uriah’s wife he spyeth in the even;^[24]
He must, and did, enjoy her without doubt.
Satan by this his fall more strength doth gain,            155
For David bids Uriah should be slain. ^[25]

Thus by one means or other Satan snares
Man’s soul in sin, and hoodwink’d tills^[26] him on.
His cup of gold is filled up with tears;
A bitter pittance to their sweets belong.                        160
Pride in itself doth bear a poison’d breath;
No sin so small but punish’d is with death.

That sin’s thought least that’s spent in trimming fine
That carcass vild, on which the worms must prey.
They think not how their hungry soul doth pine;       165
They count not of their reckoning at last day.
But time of grace, once lost, is without call,
So headlong to destruction they do fall.

Pride, of all other sembleth^[27] most the Devil.
’Twas pride threw Satan down from heaven to hell. [97] 170
’Twas pride that author was of all man’s evil.
’Twas pride made Eve desire still to excel,
When Satan said, “As Gods, you then shall be.”^[28]
Incontinent, she tasted of that Tree.

The lep’rous sin infected so the blood,                           175
That through her offspring it hath wholly run.
Before the child can know the bad from good,
It straight is proud; Nature this hurt hath done.
A female sin it counted was to be,
But now hermaphrodite proved is she.                          180

Like Judas, Satan with each mortal deals:
His hail is hate; his flattering kiss is death.^[29]
He everywhere still watching, creeping steals
With armed troops to stifle his soul’s breath.
His sirens songs^[30] man’s mortal death intends,        185
And he must die that thereto his care lends.

As a physician with his patient still
Applies his potion as he finds it fit,
Giving to some more strong because their ill-
Disposed body oft requireth it,                                        190
Even so doth Satan with each creature deal,
But his is meant for death and not to heal.

Nature and Satan are sworn brothers still,
For neither of them moveth man to good.
By Nature, we incline to all that’s ill,                             195
Which runneth through our body with our blood.
And by our Nature oft he us assails,
And through our weakness he oft times prevails.

He by our Nature sees to what we bend,
Whether to goodness or to mischiefs run.                    200
And if he find man aim at the best end,
Then strives he for to mar all he hath done.
And by a pride of goodness makes him be
Towards his God like the proud Pharisee.^[31]

The blessings God to man doth often give,                  205
As beauty, health, riches, honors, and fame,
That he in thankfulness for them shouldst live,
Still using them to glorify his name,
Satan transformeth all this unto sin,
Through vild abuse or confidence therein.                    210

This thing the scripture evidently shows
By David’s numbering of Israel,
Whereby he thought more trust for to repose
In his great army; this to sin befell.
And drawing on God’s judgment for the same,          215
A heavy plague he on his realm did gain.^[32]

There is a sin on which small count is made,
And that is disobedience. For which sin
Samuel the prophet unto Saul once said,
From being king God had rejected him.                       220
When as he Amalek all should have slain,
Satan mov’d him to let the best remain.^[33]

This sin so great in God’s pure sight doth seem,
As that the prophet plainly doth him tell.
The Lord no better of it doth esteem                             225
Then of vild witchcraft, which in Israel
The Lord commanded banish’d quite to be.^[34]
This, like to that and to idolatry.

This only sin on all mankind did draw
God’s heavy wrath; for this, we suffer still.                   230
By Adam’s breaking God’s commanded law,
Sin with a poisoned dart our souls did kill.
For through the breach thereof there entered death,
For so ’twas sentenced by God’s own breath.

O this same sin, as an accusing one                                235
On all occasions still it guilty saith:
Fulfill God’s law; who did ne’r yet was known,
But Christ who came for to appease God’s wrath.
Then by his law we all convicted stand,
And hourly may look for God’s wrath at hand.           240

Deferring off repentance is a bait
So closely laid by that old enemy,
That few doth dive the depth of his deceit,
But unprovided many men do die.
He bids them on the good thief their eyes cast,          245
Who never did repent him till the last.^[35]

O fly, deceitful cruel enemy!
How deadly is thy hatred to us all.
Thou Ehud-like hides that will cause us die,
And sith thou fell’st, thou aim’st still at our fall.^[36]   250
In Paradise the tree death did us give,
But by the tree in Golgotha^[37] we live.

From a decline in goodness let each soul
With heedful care still study to beware.
Lest in the end for it he doth condole                            255
When as his foot is fettered in the snare.
Who once his hand upon the plough doth lay,
Must by no means look back another way.^[38]

Easy it is to plunge ourselves in sin,
But O, alas, hard to get forth again!^[39]                         260
If by our faults our souls be black within,
We then shall find all his^[40] delusions vain.
His voice of peace all peace doth from us take,
Then shun that herb where under lies the snake.

Man ought at all times have a careful eye,                    265
For many are the snares which Satan lays.
When least he thinketh on to cause him die,
He hides the bait, the which man’s soul betrays.
Of ease and pleasures he will always tell,
But his smooth path the broad way is to hell.^[41]        270

Who on this panther’s skin doth gazing stand,
Had need beware who lies in wait to catch.
Who holds a wolf by th’ears but with one hand,
Must with the other muzzle up his chaps.^[42]
If better thou dost get, leave not off so,                         275
But of all means to hurt deprive thy foe.

That man the which his enemy foil’d hath,
Must straight unarm him, lest he gather strength.
Ben-hadad’s servants, after Ahab’s wrath,
With feigned words did come to him at length,         280
And from his kindness they advantage draw,
For he that fear’d to die now made a law.^[43]

By his example let us warned be;
God’s prophet unto Ahab straight doth come
And said, “Because from death thou didst him free,  285
Be sure thy life shall stand in his life’s room.”^[44]
Leave thou not Satan till thou seest him dead,
And Jael-like, kill Sisera in the head.^[45]

He aims not at thy slips but overthrow;^[46]
Small hurts content him not; he life would spill.        290
With slight advantages he will not go;
When thou securest art, he waits to kill.
And lo, as like of thy health he’ll inquire,
But ’tis not life but death he doth desire.

Can this old serpent, this deceiving devil,                     295
Get in his head,^[47] then follow shall his tail.
If man but yield a little unto evil,
Sin will increase though creeping like a snail.
And if unto a custom it doth come,
He feels it not; his soul is now grown numb.               300

All Satan baits^[48] are glittering to the eye;
He leads man on in a delightsome train,
Till death arrests them, saying “thou must die.”
And then he lets them see all was but vain;
Then in the ugli’st^[49] form he shows them all,            305
That into desperation man may fall.

Now having such a strong and powerful foe,
What need hath man with heedful care to watch,
Lest on a sudden he from hence do go!
For death as well doth lie in wait to catch                    310
Who proves a welcome guest to a good man,
For unprovided come he never can.

Death’s ghastly looks to a good man seems sweet,
Who still prepared hath for that his end.
As Esau Jacob did embracing meet,^[50]                          315
So doth he death, accounting him his friend.
If tears do fall, they are not shed through fears,
For joy he’s^[51] come forceth from him those tears.

Can he expect death enemy to be,
Who by his present hath his force allayed?                   320
He sent before good works, much charity,
Blessing of orphans which for him have pray’d.
His sighs and tears appeased hath his King,
And this supposed foe glad news doth bring.

Death is a true guide to eternal bliss;                             325
Portal of heaven, by which we enter must;
The ladder reaching to true happiness,
Which bringeth man to live amongst the just.
By him we come God’s glorious face to see,
From which by life depriv’d we still shall be.               330

Our flesh a prison is unto our soul,
Which doth deprive it of that heavenly light.
With spiritual groans and sighs it doth condole,
Till it attain unto that wished sight.
Death is the key unlocks our misery,                              335
Looseth our bonds, and gives us liberty.

Death’s fangs are par’d, his bitter potions sweet;
His edge abated, all his hurt is done.
A godly man most kindly he doth meet,
And of a foe he is a friend become.                                 340
His stroke is like the striking of a vein,
By which small smart sick men their health do gain.

Death is the ending of our days, not life,
For having clos’d these eyes we wake to live.
Death having finished once this mortal strife,             345
Our faith in Christ new life to us doth give.
Our night is past, our day star doth appear;
Our cloud is vanished, and our morn shines clear.

Now end’s all sorrows, now all griefs are done;
Sin takes his leave, and weakness hath his end.           350
And now behold, our jubilee is come;
The harvest of our labors we attend.
Death’s potion only bitter is in show;
The taste once past, no operation so.^[52]

Man’s glass^[53] once run, his flower of life once dead,  355
That vapor vanish’d, and that span once grasp’d,
His breath once failing, all his body’s lead;
In senseless coldness all his parts are clasp’d.
He came from earth; earth house-room now him gives.
His spirit from God with God forever lives.                360

The carnal, wicked, worldly-minded men,
Who in this life their whole content have plac’d,
Doth tremble, when death mention’d is to them,
Because by him all joys from them are chased.
Their ease and pleasures changed quite will be;           365
All mirth is dash’d by present misery.

The sight of him unto their minds do bring
Remembrance of their sins they slightly passed,^[54]
The which with woe their souls do sorely sting.
For that they see the count^[55] call’d on at last,           370
Which sure on earth a hell may deemed be,
When without mercy man his sins doth see.

Those men which only to delights are given,
At the approach of death doth fear and quake.
What earth afforded they accounted heaven,               375
And now perforce they must those joys forsake.
God’s blessings they most vildly have abus’d,
And proffered time of grace they have refus’d.

And now those words which Abraham did say
To Dives when for water he did call,                              380
He finds too true, whose smarts without allay
His sorrows far more better are then gall:
“His good things only were upon this earth,
But life and them are parted quite by death.”^[56]

Terrors and fears must needs their souls affright,       385
When guilty conscience shows God’s angry eye.
O how they tremble to approach that sight
To whom their sin will out for vengeance cry!
He who on earth to grieve they did not fear,
Will give a sentence which their souls will tear.          390

O how man’s sins that mild aspect doth change!
He which for man did bleed^[57] doth man condemn,
If by their sins from the right path they range.
Wanting their guide, dangers approacheth them.
The wolf once seizing ’tis in vain to fly.                         395
Their shepherd hears not; bootless ’tis to cry.

Alas, who would this world as ought esteem,
If truly he consider everything?
Those pleasures which to man most happy seem,
Doth soonest fade, and gone they leave a sting.          400
Man upon earth no sure abiding hath,
Then fear betime^[58] before thou feel God’s wrath.

Belshazzar, when he was carousing, sat
Amongst his princes in his royal throne.
A writing turns those fair delights to jet;                      405
A hand then show’d makes bone encounter bone.
He fearful sits, whilst thus it doth indict,
“Thou’rt weigh’d in balance and art found too light.”^[59]

Man’s life’s a scene and tragic woes succeed;
A comet always future harms foretell.                            410
The happiest life by death is made to bleed;
If unprepar’d he die, he goes to hell.
The gate is shut, and they must take their lot,
For ’twill be answered, “Lo, I know you not.”^[60]

Unto a thorny field and barren land,                              415
How fitly may man’s life compared be.
What cares, what fears, what griefs are still at hand,
And for one joy ten discontents we see.
We always walk as on a bridge of glass,
And oft it cracks as over it we pass.                                420

Still barren is this world of true content;
Fruitful enough in procreating woes,
Thorny afflictions towards us are bent.
But certain joys still backwards from us goes;
Who thinks to catch them doth a shadow chase,       425
And like Ixion doth a cloud embrace.^[61]

Then why should man thus waste his precious time,
And triflingly let slip his golden days?
O, turn to God, whilst thou art in thy prime,
And put not off repentance with delays!                        430
For when death comes it then will be too late,
By tears or vows for to prorogue^[62] thy state.

Boast not of youth or honors, wealth or strength:
Who trusts to them upon a reed doth lean,
The which be sure deceive thee will at length.             435
Then strive from these vain thoughts thyself to wean,
And fill thy lamp with oil whil’st thou hast space,
Lest afterward too late thou call for grace.^[63]

Break off thy sins by true repentant tears,
And turn to God whilst it is call’d today.                      440
And rest assured he their prayers hears
That unto him incessantly do pray.
For to encourage thee, he this did say,
“Who comes to me, I will not cast away.”^[64]

Is not man’s life compared unto a flower,                     445
And, O how soon, alas, the same doth fade and die!^[65]
Then let man live prepar’d each day and hour,
Lest unawares the force of death he try.
And bear this saying always in thy mind:
As death thee leaves, so judgment will thee find.       450

And as the flower in the chiefest prime
Doth fade and die when sun his face doth hide,
(For ’tis not in the earth’s vast slippery clime
An ever-fading being to provide),
No more can strength or skill prevail at all                   455
To lengthen life when God by death doth call.

And as the spring the water forth doth put,
And by the earth drunk up no more is seen,
So when by death our thread of life^[66] is cut,
On earth we are as we had never been.                          460
Then whil’st we live, let’s strive to purchase grace,
That after death in heaven we may have place.

Alas, how many are the snares and baits
Which Satan lays our poor souls to betray!
Hyena-like, he murders by deceits,^[67]                           465
Through false delights to cause us miss our way.
His mermaids songs are only sweet in sound; ^[68]
Approach them not, lest death thy life doth wound.

Therefore, the safest way unto our bliss
Is meditation of our certain death.                                  470
And though we tread the steps of carefulness,
And all our life in sorrow draw our breath,
The guerdon^[69] of our pains our Christ will give
In causing us eternally to live.

Thus by a godly and an upright life,                                475
Man of a deadly foe may make a friend,
And by a wise provision stint^[70] that strife,
Which Satan laid to bring us to our end.
And though our flesh prove false, our God is just;
By death our soul gains heaven, our body dust.          480

Be ever vigilant in all thy ways,
And always live as in the sight of God.
Perform good actions and use no delays,
Then fear not death; it brings with it no rod.
With care attend that sure uncertainty,                         485
And live as every hour thou shouldest die.

This watchful care wounds Satan in the head,
For he that thinks of death doth shun all sin.
By thought of this, man to the world proves dead;
He counts all dross and only Christ would win.^[71]   490
No earthly joys can cause him life to love;
His soul is fixed and nothing can him move.

Thus each weak Christian may the tyrant foil,
For by Christ’s death, man armed is with strength.
Though in this combat he a while may toil,                 495
But faith in Christ gives victory at length.
And with a courage bold, man now may cry:
“Death, where’s thy sting? Grave, where’s thy victory?”^[72]

What though we die, and die we surely must,
Yet by this death we now are gainers made.                 500
For when our bodies are consum’d to dust,
We shall be rais’d from that eternal shade.
Our mort^[73] all bodies shall immortal be,
And with our souls enjoy eternity.

Our troubles in this life now changed are                     505
From tokens of his wrath unto his love.
For though a while upon the earth we share
Of griefs and troubles, yet when God above
Shall by death call us from the vale of sin,
We shall enjoy eternal bliss with him.                           510

Where all tears shall be wiped from our eyes,^[74]
All griefs and sorrows then shall ended be.
We shall be freed from all clamorous cries;
No discontents nor troubles shall we see.
But peace and joys and comforts shall be found,        515
And always in our ears a heavenly sound.

Our senses shall partake all of this bliss,
Our eyes shall evermore behold our King,
Our hearing heavenly music shall possess,
Our tongues shall evermore his praises sing.                520
Thus smell and taste, thus hands and ears and sight,
Shall evermore enjoy a full delight.

Unto this happiness and place of joy
In thy good time, sweet savior Christ us bring.
Where being freed from sorrows and annoy,               525
We evermore thy blessed praise may sing.
Where we shall never cease, but night and day
Sing praise and glory unto thee alway.^[75]