ON THE FALL OF MAN by JOHN BYROM

OF man's obedience, while in Eden blest,
What a mere trifle is here made the test!
An outward action, in itself, defin'd
To be of @3perfectly indiff'rent@1 kind;
Which, but for God's forbidding threat severe,
It had been @3superstition@1 to forbear.

A strange account; that neither does, nor can,
Make any part of true religion's plan;
But must expose it to the ridicule
Of scoffers, judging by this crooked rule:
Its friends, defending truth, as they suppose,
Lay themselves open to acuter foes.

To say that @3action, neither good nor bad,
From which no harm in nature could be had,
Was chang'd, (by positive, commanding will,
Or threat forbidding,) to a deadly ill@1,
Charges, by consequence the most direct,
On God himself that ill and its effect.

Language had surely come to a poor pass,
Before an author, of distinguish'd class
For shining talents, could endure to make,
In such a matter, such a gross mistake;
Could thus derive death's origin and root,
@3From Adam's eating of a harmless fruit.@1
"From Adam's eating?"—@3Did not God forbid
The taste of it to Adam?@1—Yes He did—
@3And was it harmless, must we understand,
To disobey God's positive commands?@1—
No, by no means; but then the @3harm@1, we see,
Came not from God's @3command@1, but from the @3tree.@1

If He command, the action must be good;
If He forbid, some ill is understood:
The tree, the fruit, had dreadful ills conceal'd,
Not @3made@1 by his forbidding, but @3reveal'd@1;
That our first parents, by a true belief,
Might know enough to shun the fatal grief.

The dire experience of a world of woe,
Forbidding Mercy will'd them not to know;
Told them what ill was in the @3false desire@1,
Which their free wills were tempted to admire;
That, of such fruit, the eating was—@3To die@1—
Its @3harmless@1 nature was the @3tempter's@1 lie.

To urge it @3now@1, and to impute the harm
Of death, and evil, to the kind alarm
Of God's command, so justly understood
To will his creatures nothing else but good,
Is, for a @3Babel fiction@1, to resign
RIGHT REASON, SCRIPTURE, and the LOVE DIVINE.

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