The Introduction.
BEfore that Light or Darkness did Appear,
When th' Earth lay void, and all things now in't were
As nothing, then Iehovah, fashioned all;
By th' Word Created hee both great and small;
The Sun, Moon, Stars, and all i'th' Heavens be,
The Day, the Night, the Dry Land, and the Sea;
The Lord Iehovah, hath all these things made,
Yea, they were formed by the Word, He said.
But when made God, the Heavens, Earth, and Light,
'Twas i'th' beginning, as doth Moses write.
By th' Word Beginning, we must understand,
Not from Eternity, God made the Land,
Or ought therein, but first of all, before
Fishes did swim or Fowls i'th' Air soare,
That is, before God did create the Whale,
Which is the first of all things Animale,
'Twan't from Eternity the World was made,
But then when time, its first beginning had.
And why did Moses write, and thus declare
To us, that these things i'th' beginning were?
First, to confute, or that we might not be
Deceiv'd by those maintain its Eternitie;
For if that People seriously do mind
To know the Truth, i'th' Scriptures they may find,
That from Eternity, Eternal none
Is, but Iehovah, who's the Holy Oue,