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The incense of her idol-thought
Not for the born of clay

Is pride's exulting thrill,

Dark herald of the downward way,
And ominous of ill,

For even his cradled brother's smile

The haughty first-born jealously surveyed, And Envy marked the brow with hate and guile, In God's own image made.

At the still, twilight hour,
When saddest images have power,

Musing Eve her fears exprest,"He loves me not! No more with fondness free

His clear eye looks on me,

Dark passions rankle there, and moody hate
Foretells some adverse fate,

Ah! is this he, whose waking eye,
Whose faint and helpless cry
With such unmingled rapture blest?
Alas! alas! the throes his life that bought,
Were naught to this wild agony of thought
That racks my boding breast!"

So mourned the mother, in her secret heart,
With presage all too true,

And often from her midnight dream would start,
Her forehead bathed in dew;

But say what harp shall dare,

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Unless by hand immortal strung,
What pencil reach the hue

Of that intense despair

Her inmost soul that wrung!

For Cain was wroth, and in the pastures green Where Abel led his flock, 'mid waters cool and sheen, With fratricidal hand that blameless shepherd slew.

Earth learned strong lessons in her morning prime,
More strange than Chaos taught

When o'er discordant elements the darkest veil was wrought;

Man's disobedience, and expulsion dire,

The poison of the tempter's glozing tongue,-
The language of the sword of fire

At Eden's portal hung,—

Inferior creatures filled with savage hate,

No more at peace, no more subordinate,

Man's birth in agony, man's death by crime,

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Sent through her inmost heart such sickening pain,
That in her path o'er Ether's plain

She hid her head, and mourned, amid the planet-train

WOMEN

OF THE

SCRIPTURES.

EVE.

REV. EDWARD H. MAY.

HOWEVER diversified the human family may be in body or mind, its members are all evidently descended from the same parent stock. Every theory on the natural history of man, which has been introduced to the world in opposition to the Mosaic account of his creation, has, by its sandy foundation, heterogeneous materials, and cumbrous architecture, insured its own ruin; while the deepest researches of science on the same subject, have illustrated and confirmed the simple statements of the Bible.

Gratitude for what God made us, and humility for what we have made ourselves, should alike lead us to revert to our first progenitors. In the present brief article, we shall not dwell on the first and noblest specimen of the Creator's skill, but shall turn our attention to Eve, the mother of our favoured race. Her maker was her God. "Male and female created ne them." Seeing that it was not good for man to be alone, Jehovah "cast him into a deep sleep," and took one of his ribs and made him a partner. One has said (no less truly than

quaintly) that "man is dust refined, but woman dust doubly refined." As man was "made in the image of God," so also was woman. The term image must refer to the immaterial part, the soul, and especially to its spotless purity. Though the Scriptures are silent respecting her person, yet are we sure that hers was the perfection of beauty. The man indeed was all, and more than all that we can imagine, in our most sublime and poetic meditations, of august unearthly dignity. But the loveliness that by its aspect refines and elevates the affections, belongs to the soft, graceful, and more elegant form of the female. It is in full accordance with the purest emotions of the human heart to admire such beauty, as approaching nearest to the more wonderful works of the Most High. What, then, must have been this lovely parent of our race, when first presented to the wondering eyes of our father Adam! How chaste and complete the symmetry! How expressive of all that could charm, the countenance! The sparkling eyes were lit up by unsullied intelligence. The fair and roseate cheeks were untainted by the crimson blush of shame. No falsehood caused the tongue to stammer in its speech, but every expression, in look, or word, or act, was the tuneful utterance of the voice of God. The priceless jewel in this fair casket bore the impress of its Maker, and formed an alliance with the skies.

Man being formed for society, this exquisite being is given him as his wife. The marriage contract was ordained in heaven, and celebrated in Eden. Though man was sleeping when woman was formed, he was not ignorant of the material of her creation, for when God brought her to him he said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man,

therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh." To this passage the Saviour himself refers, when speaking to the Jews on the subject. Thus, marriage is not merely a civil contract, but is a Divine institution. And in its origin it is coeval with the creation; and fully demonstrates that the law of morals and the law of nature are coincident.

The first pair, thus united, have for their dwelling-place the garden of the Lord, "eastward in Eden." Many have been the disputes about the exact location of this happy spot. It is not important to acertain this point; it was doubtless in every way worthy of Him whose hand had made it. The residents were completely happy, for they were perfectly holy. Their Father smiled on them from heaven, and filled them with felicity and joy. Though not to toil, they were yet to be employed, and every work proclaimed the Maker's glory and the creature's good. The day was passed in active ease, without debasing sloth; the night returned to bless them with refreshing slumbers, undisturbed by guilty dreams. This garden, and these unpolluted pleasures, were the type of another Paradise, the dwelling of the second Adam, where all his true disciples shall with him enjoy the "glory that can never fade."

The bliss, however, of this fairest of our race, was but of short duration; full soon this happiness was marred, and gone! The tempter found his way into Eden, and sought but too successfully to ruin this more than earthly pleasure. He was not ignorant of the command that had been given by Jehovah, not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge: he knew the penalty annexed to the transgression. He, in the gay attire of the serpent, commences his attack. It is generally believed that the serpent, before he received his doom from the mouth

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