The State of Innocence The State of Innocence The State of Innocence was intended to be performed as an opera, with the libretto written in 1674, (first published in 1677) by John Dryden. It is basically a musical stage adaptation of John Milton's epic poem "Paradise Lost", a tribute to Milton rather than a satire of the poem. That Dryden was an admirer of Milton's is surprising as the two men were politically opposed. Milton was against the restoration of the British monarchy, while the royalist Dryden was created England’s first Poet Laureate by the restored Charles II. So great an admirer of Milton
Theodicy and the Bible by coercion as with literal slaves. The Fall (sometimes lowercase) in its theological use refers to "the lapse of human beings into a state of natural or innate sinfulness through the sin of Adam and Eve." The story of the Fall is narrated in Genesis 3:1–7. "Nelson's Student Bible Dictionary" describes "the fall" as "the disobedience and sin of Adam and Eve that caused them to lose the state of innocence in which they had been created. This event plunged them and all mankind into a state of sin and corruption." "A Concise Dictionary of Theology" provides a similar description