they had remained faithful.

Does it not seem strange that we should suffer for the sin of our first
parents, when we had nothing to do with it? No. It happens every day
that children suffer for the faults of their parents and we do not
wonder at it. Let us suppose a man's father leaves him a large
fortune--houses, land, and money--and that he and his children are happy
in the enjoyment of their inheritance. The children are sent to the best
schools, have everything they desire now, and bright hopes of happiness
and prosperity in the future. But alas! their hopes are vain. The father
begins to drink or gamble, and soon the great fortune is squandered.
House after house is sold and dollar after dollar spent, till absolute
poverty comes upon the children, and the sad condition of their home
tells of their distress. Do they not suffer for the sins of their
father, though they had nothing to do with them? Indeed, many families
in the world suffer thus through the faults of others, and most
frequently of some of their members. Could you blame the grandfather for
leaving the estate? Certainly not; for it was goodness on his part that
made him give. Let us apply this example. What God gave Adam was to be
ours also, and he squandered and misused it because he had free will,
which God could not take from him without changing his nature; for it is
our free will and intelligence that make us men, distinct from and
superior to all other animals. They can live, grow, feel, hear, see,
etc., as we can, but the want of intelligence and free will leaves them
mere brutes. Therefore, if God took away Adam's intelligence and free
will, He would have made him a mere animal--though the most perfect.

When a man becomes insane or loses the use of his intelligence and free
will, we place him in an asylum and take care of him as we would a tame
animal, seldom allowing him to go about without being watched and