Yea, I thought it impossible that ever I should attain to so much goodness of heart, as to thank God that he had made me a man. Man indeed is the most noble, by creation, of all the creatures in the visible world: but by sin he has made himself the most ignoble. The beasts, birds, fishes, etc., I blessed their condition, for they had not a sinful nature, they were not obnoxious in the sight of God; they were not to go to hell fire after death; I could therefore [have] rejoiced had my condition been as any of theirs.
John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners pg. 25
