VII. The State of Man after the Fall.
THE fall of man is generally understood to have taken place at the time when Eve first, and then Adam, ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; till which unhappy moment they are both supposed to have been in their highest state of integrity and perfection. It is likewise the common opinion, that by this one single act of indulgence, in eating of a tree, which not only appeared delightful to the eye, but was thought capable of imparting a degree of wisdom still superior to that which they then possessed, they both precipitated themselves into the lowest abyss of moral depravity, and at once brought upon themselves, and upon their yet unborn posterity, a complete and total ruin. But from an attentive perusal of the Sacred History it may be seen, that the declension of the Most Ancient Church, called Adam or Man, was gradual, commencing with an almost imperceptible propensity or inclination, in the members of that church, to be led by themselves, rather than by the Lord; then proceeding to a more evident state of self-love, until at length by sensual reasonings, by direct acts of disobedience, and by long-continued habits of vice, wickedness prevailed universally, and the whole earth was filled with violence.
The first direct notification of evil, in it's incipient state, is given in the 18th verse of the second chapter of Genesis, where Jehovah God says, "It is not good that man should be alone." All before had been either good, or very good. But from this period evil took it's rise, and gradually accumulated through a series of successive churches, with occasional intermissions of partial restoration, until it arrived at it's full consummation, which is thus described in the 5th
