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and the slave of sin and of Satan. And the man whose conscience and reason
are thus vanquished by his passions ultimately reaches such an evil state that
sin becomes pleasant to him, and the light of his conscience and reason will
ultimately grow so dark that sin and wickedness will no longer seem evil to him.
And whoever has in this way quenched his inner light and has stopped up with the
day of error the window of his own heart against the entrance of the light of
the word of Godhowever perfect he may become in this world's wisdom and
knowledgeis yet devoid of the knowledge of God and heavenly wisdom. Falling
into darkness, day by day he will sink deeper and deeper in the sea of error and
sin. It is in this manner that very many people, not knowing the true God, have
fallen into error to such an extent that they have made idols of wood and stone
and have worshipped them, as idolaters in many lands do to the present day.
And when sin gains strength and victory in the heart, then it manifests
itself outwardly too. That is to say, those evil thoughts and desires which have
rendered a man's inmost parts restless and have corrupted them, when they
manifest themselves in action, openly occasion among men restlessness, enmity,
fighting, quarrelling, and produce corruption. For, in whatever heart the love
of God does not exist, but on the contrary it is filled with selfishness and
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pride, it is impossible that with such an impure heart any one should desire
his neighbour's good and should make an effort for his sake. On the contrary,
such a man will desire to satisfy his own tastes and desires, and to gain honour
for himself. Therefore he will not willingly obey any one, but will be
continually thinking how to give effect to his own thoughts and wishes and how
to rule others and render them subject to himself. All the sin and oppression
which is found among men arises from this state of mind, for they are the fruits
of man's carnal condition, as is written in the holy Scriptures: 'The1
works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths,
factions, divisions, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like:
of the which I forwarn you, even as I did forwarn you, that they which practise
such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.' And these results of sin are
also among the punishments of sin. For, when men fell in love with sin, then God
left them to their sin, as it is written: 'Knowing2 God, they
glorified him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their
reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be
wise they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the
likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and fourfooted
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