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 did God  condemn  whole  legions  of  His  beloved angels to  an  eternity  of  excruciating  torments. Oh, was not  their  punishment  excessive — greater  than their crime? Did not  God  act  rashly  and  in  anger? No, for  our  God  is  a  just  God. He punished  them less than  they  deserved,  for  our  God  is  a  merciful God. He hath  done  and  He  will  never  repent,  for our God  is  a  wise  God. Had they  cried  back  to  Him as they  fell:  "Father,  give  us  but  one  moment  for repentance,  and  we  will  serve  Thee  with  an  eternity of  love  and  do  penance  with  an  eternity  of  sorrow," He would  have  answered  them:  "  No,  it  is  too  late. You  have  sinned,  you  must  undergo  the  penalty,  for I  am  the  Lord  and  I  have  sworn  and  I  will  never repent." Oh, Sin! what a  monster  thou  art! to dare to enter  into  even  God's  own  heaven;  to  blight  the fairest work  of  His  hands;  to  rob  Him  of  His  beloved angels; to  populate  with  them  the  miserable  hell you and  you  alone  have  created.

Brethren, turn  you  now  to  God's  second  creation. Baffled in  His  first  merciful  design  to  make  creatures happy in  the  enjoyment  of  Himself,  He  determines on another  trial,  and  so  He  creates  the  earth  and man. To His  own  image  and  likeness  He  makes him; a  little  less  than  the  angels  He  created  him. He places  him  in  an  earthly  paradise,  and  He  gives him absolute  dominion  over  his  own  animal  nature and over  the  entire  animal  kingdom. There man would have  lived  a  long  life  in  the  peaceful  enjoyment of  all  imaginable  blessings — no  troubles  from within, no  care  from  without;  no  labor,  no  war,  no