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through Him, everything for Him. The true religion,
then, must teach us to worship Him only, and to love Him only. But as we
find ourselves unable to worship what we know not, and to love any other
object but ourselves, the religion which instructs us in these duties must
instruct us also of this inability, and teach us also the remedies for it.
It teaches us that by one man all was lost, and the bond broken between God
and us, and that by one man the bond is renewed.
We are born so averse to this love of God, and it is so necessary, that we
must be born guilty, or God would be unjust.
490. Men, not being accustomed to form merit, but only to recompense it
where they find it formed, judge of God by themselves.
491. The true religion must have as a characteristic the obligation to love
God. This is very just, and yet no other religion has commanded this; ours
has done so. It must also be aware of human lust and weakness; ours is so.
It must have adduced remedies for this; one is prayer. No other religion has
asked of God to love and follow Him.
492. He who hates not in himself his self-love, and that instinct which
leads him to make himself God, is indeed blinded. Who does not see that
there is nothing so opposed to justice and truth? For it is false that we
deserve this, and it is unfair and impossible to attain it, si
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