"Put on the new man...

"Put on the new man, who according to God, is created in justice and holiness of truth." (7) The benefit they received it sanctified them, made them truly holy before God, it subjected all their senses, appetites, and passions to reason; it rendered their reason and their whole soul subject to the will of God.This original righteousness was a free gift of God.

"For God created us for incorruption and made us in the image of his own eternity." (8) Being free from all state of sin, and adorned with the original justice, they were on that account free from all sufferings, and enjoyed a perfect happiness both in soul and body, suitable to their nature, and the state they were in.

They were endowed with great knowledge of everything relating to their state and the reset of the creatures; they were created free from all passions and irregular desires and appetites, which so violently torment our souls. They enjoyed a perpetual peace and serenity of mind. Their hearts were inclined to all good, and their will united to God by holy love. Their bodies were free of sickness and pain, and enjoyed a perpetual health, and they were not subject to death.

o God has appointed rewards for good and virtuous acts and punishment for vice acts. "The believers will then pass over like the twinkling of an eye, like lightning, like wind, like a bird, like the finest horses and camels. Some will escape and be kept safe, some will be lacerated." (9) Man, however, persuaded by the Fiend, has abused his freedom since the dawn of the ages, rising up against God and trying to attain his own purpose without God.

While knowing God, he did not glorify Him as God, but rather, his heart dimmed, and he served the creature instead of the Creator. Refusing to acknowledge God as his beginning, he broke the rightful order with respect to his ultimate purpose, and with it the entire hierarchy in relation to himself, to other men and to all created things. Thus is man divided in his interior.

Due to this division in man - whether individual or collective - a dramatic struggle between good and evil, between light and darkness, appears in the world. "but through the devils envy death entered the world, and those who belong to his company experience it." (10) At the same time, man finds himself helpless and destitute in his struggle against the attacks of the Fiend; he feels chained to evil.