_Let those who can believe this!_ Let those also who can, call the
unfallen Adam and Eve satisfactory patterns and types of our complete
humanity. Imagine a world of Adams and Eves, living in a garden, on
spontaneous fruits, ignorant of the distinction between good and evil,
and without any capacity of moral change or improvement! Can any amount
of credulity enable an enlightened and candid mind of the present day to
think this world originally made to be occupied by such a race; that
unfallen Adams and Eves could ever have developed its resources, or
their own powers, and capacities of moral and spiritual happiness? Can
any subtlety perceive a true distinction between their condition and
that of the innocent but feeble islanders of some few spots in the
Pacific?[251] Can any degree of superstition regard a state of unfallen
holiness, which allowed our first parents to succumb in the midst of
perfect bliss, and under God's own direct care and instructions, before
the first temptation, as superior to our present moral condition? If
Adam fell, the race rose by his fall; he fell up, and nothing happier
for our final fortunes ever occurred than when the innocents of the
garden learned their shame, and fled into the hardships and experiences
of a disciplinary and growing humanity.
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