The strange effects of faith. Fourth part

-fied clay, the bone of man, while he stood in perfection, to complete his happiness. The tree of knowledge was the knowledge of God and the knowledge of the devil; both the good and evil fruit hung on the tree. Then, as man was divided into two parts, if the same hand that brought him the knowledge of the evil fruit does not also bring him the knowledge of the good fruit, he might forever blame his Maker for forming the woman as the source of all his misery; and man might charge his God foolishly. For everything stands as though I ordained it to bring about man's destruction; but now let it be known to you, O man, that I ordained and placed everything for man’s preservation, well knowing the depth of Satan—that he would begin on earth as he did in heaven, and tempt man as he did the angels, until he had drawn him into the same destruction. Then how could I protect the man? For what would Satan say?

"If the path is straight for everyone alike,
Then everyone must come the same way;
I ask you, on the judgment day,
How I could protect the man?
Now I’ll begin to explain,
And make the mystery clear;
Out of the dust I first made
My perfect image there;
I breathed into him, and then was seen
My Spirit, bright and fair;
And as a lord below, you all shall know,
I made him in my likeness;
I placed him in a paradise
To make his bliss complete:
The trees around, you know, were found,
From which I bade him taste;
Only the tree of knowledge I forbade,
For well I knew his situation.
Had humanity increased from dust in paradise,
Satan would have found a way,
Just as he first began in heaven,
To betray the angels.

"For now the time has come for man
To judge the world below,