ON THE UNION AND THREE-FOLD DISTINCTION OF GOD, NATURE AND CREATURE by JOHN BYROM

PART FIRST

ALL that comes under our imagination
Is either @3God@1, or @3nature@1, or @3creation:@1
God is the free eternal Light or Love,
@3Before, beyond@1 all nature, and @3above:@1
The one unchangeable, unceasing will
To ev'ry good, and to no sort of ill.

Nature, @3without@1 him, is th' @3abyssal@1 dark,
Void of the light's beatifying spark;
Th' attraction of desire, by want repell'd,
Whence circling rage proceeds, and wrath unquell'd:
But, by the light's all-joyous pow'r, th' abyss
Becomes the groundwork of a @3threefold@1 bliss.

Creation is the gift of light and life
To nature's contrariety and strife;
For without nature, or desirous want,
There would be nothing to receive the grant;
Nor could a creature, or created scene
Exist, did no such @3medium@1 intervene.

@3Creature@1 and God would be the same; the thought,
Which books inform us that Spinoza taught,
Would then be true; and we be forc'd to call
Things good or bad, "the @3Parts@1 of the great @3All:"@1
In whatsoever state itself may be
Nature is @3his@1, but nature is not @3He.@1

Like as the dark, behind the shining glass,
By hind'ring rays that of themselves would pass,
Affords that glimpse of objects to the view,
Which the transparent mirror could not do;
So does the life of nature, in its place,
Reflect the glories of the life of grace.

Of ev'ry creature's happiness, the growth
Depends upon the union of them both;
And all, that God proceeded to create,
Came forth, at first, in this united state;
No evil wrath or darkness could begin
To shew itself, but by a @3creature's@1 sin.

And were not @3nature@1 separate, alone,
Such a dark @3wrath@1, it could not have been shewn:
Its hidden properties are ground as good
For life's support, as bones to flesh and blood:
The false, unnatural, ungodly will,
That lays them open, is sole cause of ill.

When it is caus'd, @3renouncing@1, to be sure,
All such-like wills, contributes to the cure;
That nature's @3wrathful@1 forms may not appear,
Nor what is made subservient domineer;
But God's @3good@1 will all evil ones subdue,
And bless all @3nature@1, and all @3creature@1 too.

PART SECOND.

THIS universal blessing to inspire
Was God's eternal purpose or desire;
Desire, which never could be unfulfill'd;
@3Love@1 put it forth, and Heav'n was what it will'd;
And the desire had in itself the means,
From whence the love could raise the heav'nly scenes.

Hence an @3eternal nature@1, to proclaim
By outward, visible, majestic frame,
The @3hidden Deity@1, the pow'r Divine,
By which th' innumerable beauties shine;
That by succession, without end, recal
A GOD of LOVE, a present ALL in ALL.

From Love, thus manifested in the @3birth@1
Of @3nature@1 and the pow'rs of Heav'n and earth,
The various @3births@1 of @3creatures@1, at the voice
Of @3God@1, came forth to see, and to rejoice;
To live within his kingdom, and partake
Of ev'ry bliss, adapted to their make.

For as, @3before@1 a creature came to see,
No other @3life@1 but that of God could be;
No other place but Heav'n, no other state;
So, when it pleas'd th' Almighty to create,
From @3Him@1 must come the creature's life @3within@1;
Its @3outward@1 state from @3nature@1 must begin.

Oh! what angelic orders! what divine,
And heav'nly creatures answer'd the design
Of God's communicative goodness, shewn
By giving rise to @3offsprings@1 of his own!
With @3godlike@1 spirits how was nature fill'd,
And @3beauteous@1 forms, as its Great Author will'd!

Thus in its full perfection then it stood,
Seeking, receiving, manifesting good,
By virtue of that @3union@1 which it had
With Him, who made no creature to be bad;
But highly blest; and with a potent will
So to continue, and to know no ill.

Nature's @3united@1 properties had none—
@3Whence@1 then the change that it has undergone,
But from the creatures striving to aspire
Above the @3light@1, which their own @3dark@1 desire
Quench'd in themselves, and rais'd up all the storms
Of nature's wrathful, separated forms?

So Lucifer and his proud legions fell,
And turn'd their @3heav'nly@1 mansion to a @3hell@1;
To that dark, formless @3void@1, wherein the light
Ent'ring again with nature to unite,
The @3new@1 creation of a world began,
And, God's @3own image@1 lord of it, @3a man.@1

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