Page:Poem on the creation of the world, or, A meditation on the wonderful operation of the divine hand.pdf/4

 Law they having ſoon broken, did thereby forfeit the divine Favour, incurred the Penalty, and involved themſelves and their Poſterity in endleſs Miſery and Woe, impoſſible to be avoided, had it not pleaſed God of his mere free Grace to provide a Remedy by the Merits and Mediation of his ever bleſſed Son the Lord Jeſuſ Chriſt.

''Theſe are the high and important Matters upon which this Book contains ſome few, faint and imperfect Thoughts: And who is ſufficient for theſe Things? For, to uſe the Words of a certain Author,'' The glorious Power, the unſearchable Wiſdom, the wonderful Order ſhining in the whole Procedure of the whole ſix Days Work, who dare undertake to declare? Only what we cannot ſufficiently comprehend, let us praiſe and admire. And upon mature Conſideration, we will find juſt Cauſe for Praiſe and Admiration, with regard both to the Works of Creation and Redemption.

As to the Performance itſelf, if it has any thing of the Spirit or Beauties of Poetry, it is entirely the Fruit of a natural Genius; for the Author ingenuouſly acknowledges, that he had not the Opportunity of the more polite and refined Education, which might have greatly brightened the Genius of his Muſe: For which frank Acknowledgement he hopes the nicer or more learned Readers will be the more readily induced to excuſe or diſpenſe with any thing therein that doth not keep Pace with the ſtrict Rules of the Schools; and if the Thoughts be in the main just and true, that Allowances will be granted in other Caſes.