To its primeval innocence and bliss.
If Jesus Christ--as we are taught--was slain
From the foundation of the world, it was
Because our evil lived in essence then--
Coeval with the great, mysterious fact.
And He was slain that we might be transformed,--
Not into Adam's sweet similitude--
But the more glorious image of Himself,
A resolution of our destiny
As high transcending Eden's life and lot
As He surpasses Eden's fallen lord.

_Ruth_.

You're very bold, my brother, very bold.
Did I not know you for an earnest man,
When sacred themes move you to utterance,
I'd chide you for those most irreverent words
Which make essential to the Christian scheme
That which the scheme was made to kill, or cure.

_David_.

Yet they do save some very awkward words,
That limp to make apology for God,
And, while they justify Him, half confess
The adverse verdict of appearances.
I am ashamed that in this Christian age
The pious throng still hug the fallacy
That this dear world of ours was not ordained