that, and you have been unable to do it. They
neither know what is your true good, nor what is your true state. How could
they have given remedies for your ills, when they did not even know them?
Your chief maladies are pride, which takes you away from God, and lust,
which binds you to earth; and they have done nothing else but cherish one or
other of these diseases. If they gave you God as an end, it was only to
administer to your pride; they made you think that you are by nature like
Him and conformed to Him. And those who saw the absurdity of this claim put
you on another precipice, by making you understand that your nature was like
that of the brutes, and led you to seek your good in the lusts which are
shared by the animals. This is not the way to cure you of your
unrighteousness, which these wise men never knew. I alone can make you
understand who you are...."

Adam, Jesus Christ.

If you are united to God, it is by grace, not by nature. If you are humbled,
it is by penitence, not by nature.

Thus this double capacity...

You are not in the state of your creation.

As these two states are open, it is impossible for you not to recognise
them. Follow your own feelings, observe yourselves, and see if you do not
find the lively characteristics of these two natures. Could so many
contradictions be found in a simple subject?

Incomprehensible. Not all that is incomprehensible ceases to exist. Infinite
number. An infinite space equal to a finite.

Incredible that God should unite Himself to us. This consideration is drawn
only from the sight of our vileness. But if you are quite sincere over it,
follow it as far as I have done and recognise that we are indeed so vile
that we are incapable in ourselves of knowing if His mercy cannot make us
capable of Him. For I would know how this animal, who knows himself to be so
weak, has t

that, and you have been unable to do it. They
neither know what is your true good, nor what is your true state. How could
they have given remedies for your ills, when they did not even know them?
Your chief maladies are pride, which takes you away from God, and lust,
which binds you to earth; and they have done nothing else but cherish one or
other of these diseases. If they gave you God as an end, it was only to
administer to your pride; they made you think that you are by nature like
Him and conformed to Him. And those who saw the absurdity of this claim put
you on another precipice, by making you understand that your nature was like
that of the brutes, and led you to seek your good in the lusts which are
shared by the animals. This is not the way to cure you of your
unrighteousness, which these wise men never knew. I alone can make you
understand who you are...."

Adam, Jesus Christ.

If you are united to God, it is by grace, not by nature. If you are humbled,
it is by penitence, not by nature.

Thus this double capacity...

You are not in the state of your creation.

As these two states are open, it is impossible for you not to recognise
them. Follow your own feelings, observe yourselves, and see if you do not
find the lively characteristics of these two natures. Could so many
contradictions be found in a simple subject?

Incomprehensible. Not all that is incomprehensible ceases to exist. Infinite
number. An infinite space equal to a finite.

Incredible that God should unite Himself to us. This consideration is drawn
only from the sight of our vileness. But if you are quite sincere over it,
follow it as far as I have done and recognise that we are indeed so vile
that we are incapable in ourselves of knowing if His mercy cannot make us
capable of Him. For I would know how this animal, who knows himself to be so
weak, has t

him as eternity; and thus it is not natural that there should be men
indifferent to the loss of their existence, and to the perils of everlasting
suffering. They are quite different with regard to all other things. They
are afraid of mere trifles; they foresee them; they feel them. And this same
man who spends so many days and nights in rage and despair for the loss of
office, or for some imaginary insult to his honour, is the very one who
knows without anxiety and without emotion that he will lose all by death. It
is a monstrous thing to see in the same heart and at the same time this
sensibility to trifles and this strange insensibility to the greatest
objects. It is an incomprehensible enchantment, and a supernatural slumber,
which indicates as its cause an all-powerful force.

There must be a strange confusion in the nature of man, that he should boast
of being in that state in which it seems incredible that a single individual
should be. However, experience has shown me so great a number of such
persons that the fact would be surprising, if we did not know that the
greater part of those who trouble themselves about the matter are
disingenuous and not, in fact, what they say. They are people who have heard
it said that it is the fashion to be thus daring. It is what they call
"shaking off the yoke," and they try t

him as eternity; and thus it is not natural that there should be men
indifferent to the loss of their existence, and to the perils of everlasting
suffering. They are quite different with regard to all other things. They
are afraid of mere trifles; they foresee them; they feel them. And this same
man who spends so many days and nights in rage and despair for the loss of
office, or for some imaginary insult to his honour, is the very one who
knows without anxiety and without emotion that he will lose all by death. It
is a monstrous thing to see in the same heart and at the same time this
sensibility to trifles and this strange insensibility to the greatest
objects. It is an incomprehensible enchantment, and a supernatural slumber,
which indicates as its cause an all-powerful force.

There must be a strange confusion in the nature of man, that he should boast
of being in that state in which it seems incredible that a single individual
should be. However, experience has shown me so great a number of such
persons that the fact would be surprising, if we did not know that the
greater part of those who trouble themselves about the matter are
disingenuous and not, in fact, what they say. They are people who have heard
it said that it is the fashion to be thus daring. It is what they call
"shaking off the yoke," and they try t

him as eternity; and thus it is not natural that there should be men
indifferent to the loss of their existence, and to the perils of everlasting
suffering. They are quite different with regard to all other things. They
are afraid of mere trifles; they foresee them; they feel them. And this same
man who spends so many days and nights in rage and despair for the loss of
office, or for some imaginary insult to his honour, is the very one who
knows without anxiety and without emotion that he will lose all by death. It
is a monstrous thing to see in the same heart and at the same time this
sensibility to trifles and this strange insensibility to the greatest
objects. It is an incomprehensible enchantment, and a supernatural slumber,
which indicates as its cause an all-powerful force.

There must be a strange confusion in the nature of man, that he should boast
of being in that state in which it seems incredible that a single individual
should be. However, experience has shown me so great a number of such
persons that the fact would be surprising, if we did not know that the
greater part of those who trouble themselves about the matter are
disingenuous and not, in fact, what they say. They are people who have heard
it said that it is the fashion to be thus daring. It is what they call
"shaking off the yoke," and they try t