12

Better end heer unborn. Why is life givn

To be thus wrested from us? rather why

Obtruded on us thus? who if we knew

What we receive, would either not accept [ 505 ]

Life offerd, or soon beg to lay it down,

Glad to be so dismist in peace. Can thus

Th Image of God in man created once

So goodly and erect, though faultie since,

To such unsightly sufferings be debast [ 510 ]

Under inhuman pains? Why should not Man,

Retaining still Divine similitude

In part, from such deformities be free,

And for his Makers Image sake exempt?

Thir Makers Image, answerd Michael, then [ 515 ]

Forsook them, when themselves they villifid

To serve ungovernd appetite, and took

His Image whom they servd, a brutish vice,

Inductive mainly to the sin of Eve.

Therefore so abject is thir punishment, [ 520 ]

Disfiguring not Gods likeness, but thir own,

Or if his likeness, by themselves defact

While they pervert pure Natures healthful rules

To loathsom sickness, worthily, since they

Gods Image did not reverence in themselves. [ 525 ]

I yield it just, said Adam, and submit.

But is there yet no other way, besides

These painful passages, how we may come

To Death, and mix with our connatural dust?

There is, said Michael, if thou well observe [ 530 ]

The rule of not too much, by temperance taught

In what thou eatst and drinkst, seeking from thence

Due nourishment, not gluttonous delight,

Till many years over thy head return:

So maist thou live, till like ripe Fruit thou drop [ 535 ]

Into thy Mothers lap, or be with ease

Gatherd, not harshly pluckt, for death mature:

This is old age; but then thou must outlive

Thy youth, thy strength, thy beauty, which will change

To witherd weak and gray; thy Senses then [ 540 ]

Obtuse, all taste of pleasure must forgoe,

To what thou hast, and for the Aire of youth

Hopeful and cheerful, in thy blood will reigne

A melancholly damp of cold and dry

To weigh thy spirits down, and last consume [ 545 ]

The Balme of Life. To whom our Ancestor.