The Lord at First Had Adam Made

The Lord at first had Ad­am made

Out of the dust and clay

And in his nos­trils breath­èd life

E’en as the Scrip­tures say.

And then in Ed­en’s para­dise

He plac­èd him to dwell

That he with­in it should re­main

To dress and keep it well.

Now let good Christ­ians all be­gin

A ho­li­er life to live

And to re­joice and mer­ry be

For this is Christ­mas Eve.

And thus with­in the gar­den he

Was set

there­in to stay;

And in com­mand­ment un­to him

These words the Lord did say:

The fruit which in the gar­den grows

To thee shall be for meat

Except the tree in midst there­of

Of which thou shalt not eat.

For in the day thou shalt it touch

Or dost to it come nigh

If so thou do but eat there­of

Then thou shalt sure­ly die.

But Ad­am he did take no heed

Unto that on­ly thing

But did tran­sgress God’s ho­ly Law

And so was wrapt in sin.

Now mark the good­ness of the Lord

Which He to man­kind bore;

His mer­cy soon He did ex­tend

Lost man for to re­store;

And there­fore to re­deem our souls

From death and hell and thrall

He said His own dear Son should be

The Sav­ior of us all.

Which pro­mise now is brought to pass:

Christians

be­lieve it well:

And by the death of God’s dear Son

We are re­deemed from hell.

So if we tru­ly do be­lieve

And do the thing that’s right

Then by His mer­its we at last

Shall live in Heav­en bright.

And now the tide is nigh at hand

In which our Sav­ior came;

Let us re­joice and mer­ry be

In keep­ing of the same;

Let’s feed the poor and hung­ry souls

And such as do it crave;

And when we die

in Heav­en we

Our sure re­ward shall have.