The Creation

We are told in the beginning

God created heaven and earth;

When all was without form and void

And worlds sprang into being,

At His Almighty word,

And order came out of chaos

At the sound of the voice of the Lord.

 

He moved on the face of the waters,

For darkness was over the deep;

He gathered the waters together,

And made them into a heap.

Let there be light He commanded

And straightway there was light;

He divided the light from the darkness

And He called them day and night.

 

And He said let there be a firmament

In the midst, that the waters below

Be divided from those above it;

He spake and it was so;

And God said, let dry land appear,

Where the grass and the herb may grow

And the fruitful tree may yield its fruit;

And it was even so;

For nothing His command withstood

And God saw that the land was good;

 

And lights were set in the firmament,

To divide the day and the night,

And for days and years and seasons

And for signs, and to give earth light;

And two great lights he created

And he made the greater light,

To rule by day and the lesser

He made to rule by night

 

And the stars as numberless as sands

That strew the shores of the sea;

And all the work of His mighty hands

Who inhabits eternity;

And He filled the waters abundantly

And also filled the earth

With living creatures after their kind,

Which the earth and the sea brought forth

 

Of fowl and cattle and creeping things,

He made them as he would

And he looked on his creation;

Each creature was formed as God saw fit

And nothing was made in vain

In wisdom he created it

For the use he should ordain;

 

But these were the beasts that perish

The creatures of a day,

They were not formed to continue

But to serve and pass away;

Leaving other forms to follow

Fashioned for later needs,

For among these change follows change

As age to age succeeds;

 

But after His own image

The Lord created man;

Made for a higher density

He was formed on divinest plan

And he of all the creatures

Among creatures whole

When the Lord ad breathed upon him

Became a living soul;

 

In the image of God created

To reign on the earth and be

A sharer with Him in the glory

Of immortality!

Endowed with deathless spirit

And fore-ordained of God,

The righteous to inherit

A share in in His blessed abode

Where all is glory and all is light,

And Joy in the presence of God;

 

And the wicked to be banished

From his presence evermore;

To be banished from His presence

And the glory of His power,

And to dwell in outer darkness

Where the unclean spirits be

Throughout all the endless ages

Of eternity,  ETERNITY!

 

And God when he created man

Gave him freedom of will

That he might continue in innocence

And in His favor still;

Or choosing disobedience

Fall from that high estate

Of blest communion with his God

In which he was created;

 

And He gave to him dominion

Over all the beasts of the field,

And the fowl of the air and all thing

By God’s appointment yields

Obedience unto man, and he

By the same appointment should

Yield willingly and heartily

Obedience unto God.

 

And the seventh day God rested

His labors were complete,

And the fair and new earth lay smiling

In beauty at His feet;

And the mountains grand uplifted

Their summits His heaven toward;

And the waves and billows of ocean

Swelled with praise of the Lord.

 

And the sun came forth as a strong man

Rejoicing to run a race

Or as a bridegroom from his chamber

With the glow of youth on his face;

And begun the course that continues

Throughout ages and ages of years;

And heaven and earth resounded

With the music of the spheres

 

And the morning stars sang together

And all the sons of God

Shouted for joy

 Shouted for joy and praised Him;

And all the multitude

Of the isles were glad because of him

And all earth did rejoice,

And every living creature

Was glad at the sound of His voice.

 

And the man that was new created

Worshipped also adorned,

And the seventh day was thenceforth called

The Sabbath of the Lord

Who also sanctified it

And ordained it a day of rest,

And uninterrupted worship

A holy time and blest;

 

On that first most holy Sabbath

After creatures birth

All things were pure and there was no sin

In the new created earth;

For only man the Lord had made

Was innocent and blessed

Had no commandment disobeyed

Against no law transgressed;

 

And the new made man was Adam

And to him God also gave

A helpmeet to be with him

And He called the woman Eve;

And He put them in a garden

Filled with fruits that were fair and sweet,

And he said to them, of all of these

You may freely take and eat;

 

Save only the tree that is in the midst

I charge  you, please pass it by,

For in the day that you eat thereof,

He said, ye shall surely die.

But the serpent tempted the woman

To take of the tree and eat

 And the fruit was fair and shapely

And the tasted thereof was sweet;

 

And she also gave it to her husband

And Adam took from her hand

And ate of the fruit, so both transgressed

Against the Lord’s command;

And a sense of guilt came upon them

A consciousness of sin,

For the knowledge of good and evil

Was hidden that fruit within;

 

And they feared the God who had made them

And when His voice was heard,

Hid from the presence of the Lord

And God called, Adam where art thou

And Adam trembling said

When I heard Thy voice, I hid myself

Because I was afraid.

 

And when the Lord accused them

Ye have eaten of the tree,

Each sought excuse and Adam said

The woman tempted me;

And Eve made answer faltering

And trembling at His feet

The serpent Lord, beguiled me

And therefore I did eat.

 

And the Lord their God with them was wroth

And He cursed the man and the woman both,

And He cursed the serpent that tempted Eve

Above all cattle and things that live

And he drove them out from before his face,

And angels were set to guard the place

From Adam the man and Eve his wife

Lest they should eat of the tree of life,

And live forever in guilt and sin

They were no more suffered to enter in.

 

And the tree was kept by a flaming sword,

And thus unto Adam spake the Lord

Because thou has eaten of the tree

Where of thou knowest I commanded thee

That thou should’st not eat, I will therefore make

The ground accursed for they sake

Of its fruits in sorrow thou shalt eat

And shalt earn thy bread in toil and sweat.

I shall bring forth also the thistle and thorn

And until thou unto earth return

Thy disobedience thou shalt mourn;

And as from the earth thou was taken forth

So thou shall return again to earth.

 

Through disobedience thus came sin

And through sin death was ushered in

For sin proveth our God to wrath

And ever the wages of sin is death;

And Adam learned to till the soil

And all his days were day so toil,

 

He lived nine hundred and thirty years,

Had many sorrows, shed many tears

For Cain, his first born son became

A murderer to his grief and shame;

And slew his brother; whose innocent blood

Cried from the ground to offended God

Ah woeful day!  Oh bitter crime!

Men in all ages since that time,

Have lifted impious hands to spill

The blood of their fellowmen until

The earth cries out again and again

For vengeance, as in the days of Cain;

And Cain became a fugitive

And a vagabond, afraid to live,

And tenfold more afraid to die;

For his blood cried constantly

For vengeance on him and he said

From the face of the Lord I shall be hid;

And who so findeth me will slay;

And He said in his shame and guilt and fear

My punishment’s greatedr than

 

My punishment’s greater than I can bear

And he went away from his father’s face

Bearing the mask of his deep disgrace

And thus were Adam and Eve bereft

Of their two sons, but a third son Seth

Was given to them in Abel’s stead

And in him their hearts were comforted;

 

And nothing more was of Adam said,

It is only recorded that he died;

And nothing more of many more beside

Save only that they lived and died,

Until Enoch came, who saw no death

For he walked with God, the record sayeth;

And so God took him oh how blessed

Was Enoch, thus to enter rest,

To enter the divine abode

Forevermore to walk with God;

 

And as men began to multiply

On the face of the earth, they drew not nigh

Unto God, but continually went astray;

And their thoughts were evil continually.

God saw that their wickedness was great

That they ever fell into worse estate;

And the Lord repented Him again

That ever He had created man

For the earth was filled with violence,

Man was corrupt and the evidence

Of sin abounded everywhere,

On the earth that the Lord had made so fair.

 

And the Lord God said, I will destroy

The work of my hands, I will employ,

The floods of waters upon the land

Save only Noah and they that are his

Shall live because of his righteousness;

For Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord

A just man and perfect,  He abhorred

 

 The sin and evil that were abroad,

And he continued to walk to God

And God commanded him to make

An ark for safety, and to take

Of all the living things a pair

Into the ark to preserve them there,

Till the flood of waters should abate

And provide thou food, for the small and great

That they may live, and may not die

And as God commanded, so did he

He built the ark and provisioned it

And took all creatures both small and great,

Into the ark as the Lord had said

All God commanded he obeyed

And the Lord God said unto Noah, Thou

And all thine house shall enter now

For I will cause the rain to fall

For forty days on the earth, til all

That is flesh shall perish of the flood

And thou shalt know that I am God;

 And they entered in the door of the Ark

Was closed, and the heavens above grew dark

With awful cloud, and they without

Began to fear and to cast about

For a place of refuge, they had been warned

Of the coming deluge, but had scorned

The exhortation to repent,

And had not believed what the Lord God meant

To destroy the world, trusted not His word

And neither honored nor feared the Lord,

But now when darkness covered the earth

And the deluge began to issue forth

From the clouds that hung over all the land

Fear overcame them on every hand;

And in their awful fear and dread

Of the doom that was come upon them, prayed

That the wrath offended God be stayed

But the windows of heaven were opened wide

No living creature could abide

The awful downpour, nor may hide

 From the rushing waters everywhere,

They turned it was only to meet despair.

No safety for them, not any hope

If they sought to gain the mountain top.

Rivers of water were in their track

And the horrible tempest beat them back;

They could not escape their terrible fate

Fear and repentance were come too late;

For what is man? Can he contend

Against Almighty God, whose hand

Holds all the mighty forces hid

In all the elements, and did

Create them all? And can employ

Either to bless, or to destroy;

And the waters rose by day and by night

The loftiest mountains were hid from sight;

Also the fountains of the great deep

Were broken up, there was no escape

On the earth for any living thing

Birds could not continue upon the wing

 There there was no spot where they could alight

For rest, so after a weary flight

Through rain and darkness they also fell

And were swallowed up!  But the great ark rode

Above the waters and Noah’s God

In perfect peace and safety kept

Its inmates whether they waked or slept

Because had trusted in His word

And obeyed, also feared the Lord;

But the waters prevailed and were increased

Greatly upon the earth!  Nor ceased.

The rain ‘til every mount and hill

Covered deeply and until

All living creatures that had breath

Were engulfed and swallowed up in death,

Save only Noah remained alive

And they that were with him did survive

To people the earth afresh, and they

Remained in the ark for many a day.