incestuous sinner. Church penitence was then a remedy almost unknown;
and scarcely was there found among these true Israelites one single
leper whom they were obliged to drive from the holy altar, and
separate from communion with his brethren. But since that time the
number of the upright diminishes in proportion, as that of believers
increases. It would appear that the world, pretending now to have
become almost generally Christian, has; brought with it into the
Church its corruptions and its maxims.

Alas! we all go astray, almost from the breast of our mothers! The
first use which we make of our heart is a crime; our first desires.
are passions; and our reason only expands and increases on the wrecks
of our innocence. The earth, says a prophet, is infected by the
corruption of those who inhabit it: all have violated the laws,
changed the ordinances, and broken the alliance which should have
endured forever: all commit sin, and scarcely is there one to be found
who does the work of the Lord. Injustice, calumny, lying, treachery,
adultery, and the blackest crimes have deluged the earth. The brother
lays snares for his brother; the father is divided from his children;
the husband from his wife: there is no tie which a vile interest does
not sever. Good faith and probity are no longer virtues except among
the simple people. Animosities are endless; reconciliations are
feints, and never is a former enemy regarded as a brother: they tear,
they devour each other. Assemblies are no longer but for the purpose
of public and general censure. The purest virtue is no longer a
protection from the malignity of tongues. Gaming is become either
a trade, a fraud, or a fury. Repasts--those innocent ties of
society--degenerate into excesses of which we dare not speak. Our age
witnesses horrors with which our forefathers were unacquainted.