Deceived by subtle snares of hell,

Adam, our head, our father, fell;

When Satan, in the serpent hid,

Proposed the fruit that God forbid.

Death was the threat'ning: death began

To take possession of the man

His unborn race received the wound,

And heavy curses smote the ground.

But Satan found a worse reward;

Thus saith the vengeance of the Lord

"Let everlasting hatred be

Betwixt the woman's seed and thee.

"The woman's seed shall be my Son;

He shall destroy what thou hast done;

Shall break thy head, and only feel

Thy malice raging at his heel."

He spake; and bid four thousand years

Roll on; at length his Son appears;

Angels with joy descend to earth,

And sing the young Redeemer's birth.

Lo, by the sons of hell he dies;

But as he hung 'twixt earth and skies,

He gave their prince a fatal blow,

And triumphed o'er the powers below.]