created man holy, innocent,
perfect. I filled him with light and intelligence. I communicated to him
my
glory and my wonders. The eye of man saw then the majesty of God. He was
not
then in the darkness which blinds him, nor subject to mortality and the
woes
which afflict him. But he has not been able to sustain so great glory
without falling into pride. He wanted to make himself his own centre and
independent of my help. He withdrew himself from my rule; and, on his
making
himself equal to me by the desire of finding his happiness in himself, I
abandoned him to himself. And setting in revolt the creatures that were
subject to him, I made them his enemies; so that man is now become like
the
brutes and so estranged from me that there scarce remains to him a dim
vision of his Author. So far has all his knowledge been extinguished or
disturbed! The senses, independent of reason, and often the masters of
reason, have led him into pursuit of pleasure. All creatures either
torment
or tempt him, and domineer over him, either subduing him by their
strength,
or fascinating him by their charms, a tyranny more awful and more
imperious.
"Such is the state in which men now are. There remains to them some feeble
instinct of the happiness of their former state; and they are plunged in
the
evils of their blindness and their lust, which have become their second
nature. "Fr
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