OCR Text |
Show Orthodox Doctrine of Original Sin Difficulties in the Unitarian Mind as to the Effect of Adam's Disobedience on His Posterity-Deny that Humanity Became Depraved Through Adam. (Written for the Intermountaln Catholic.) i " The denial of the great mysteries of the Christian . religion, which are its fundamental principles, arises not so much, from the fact that they are above reason not -against reason as from the fact that their cause is unknown un-known or denied. Why did Jesus become be-come incarnate? That is, why did the second person of the Blessed Trinity descend from heaven, assume human nature and become truly man? It was to complete the . order of creation ordained or-dained by the Godhead when he made man. Adam, the father of the human race, contained in himself, in embryo, all mankind who, by generation, have succeeded him. For the human race to reach its destiny and attain its final end, spiritual regeneiation was necessary. neces-sary. Hence the incarnation wab a part of the divine plan and coeval with creation itself in the divine mind from all eternity. . j The Unitarians credit Jesus with being be-ing superior to any man of whom history his-tory retains any record. But they say, '.'.though Jesus rises above the level of common ; humanity, he is not to be looked upon as distinct from the masses beneath him," thereby denying his su- 1 pernatural character. They deny the doctrine of original sin, also the necessity neces-sity of. a Mediator. To these two denials de-nials may be traced their denials of the Incarnation, Trinity and divinity of Christ. They form the first links in their , chain of denials which give no positive creed, therefore no creed. They deny that human nature became depraved de-praved through Adam, or that it needed need-ed redemption through Jesus Christ. This, too, in opposition to the faith of the human race back to its very source, universal -tradition, and the teachings of . thie scriptures Which, for their own convenience, they take in a figurative -Ben.se." .. The Unitarian objects to the doctrine of "original sin" on the ground that it is opposed to the justice of God to impute im-pute sin to the innocent-babe, who is incapable of sinning. It would be both unreasonable and unjust on the part of God to impute the guilt of Adam's disobedience to- all his posterity, and punish them as if they, were actually guilty of itt This objection, when confined con-fined to the sense -in which it is made, namely, that God' could not hold one guilty of a sin which he never committed; com-mitted; as to do so would be unreasonable unreason-able and unjust. This is very true. But the Unitarian confounds, original sin with actual sin. The former is the sin of origin, of which no individual is actually ac-tually guilty in the sense that Adam wras, or in the sense in which individuals individ-uals are guilty when they knowingly and .willingly transgress the law of God. - .... . The orthodox teaching is that as the human race traces its origin to Adam, who was its progenetor, his sin, which was actual with him, tainted the race, he being- the source from which the race sprang. Hence, the innocent babe entering the world is born of a fallen race inheriting the tainted nature of its head or source. To deny this would be to deny the universal tradition of mankind. It was taught by the synagogue syna-gogue and believed by the children of Israel. St. Paul certainly teaches .it. He tells "that all men died in Adam, and that through Adam sin entered into the world, and by sin corruption of human nature. St. John, too, when pointing to Jesus, said: "Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world," which means the original depraved nature inherited from the. progenitor' of the human family. The difficulties in the Unitarian mind as' to the effects of Adam's disobedience disobedi-ence on his posterity arise more from the rigid and exaggerated views of Calvin, who taught that man was wholly depraved, could not think what was good or perform a good act, than from the real- orthodox teaching. St. Augustine, a profound scholar, and qual, if not superior, to Aristotle and Plato' as a philosopher, teaches that whilst the unregenerate can do nothing noth-ing that will merit eternal life, or that is efficacious toward man's supernatural supernat-ural destiny, -yet-it does not follow-that follow-that all man's thoughts and acts are sinful, or that the unregenerate do not perform numberless "good works in the natural order. Take the human race as we find it, and experience teaches that criminals are controlled by their weaknesses weak-nesses and passions more than by any inherent wicked designs. There may be exceptions, but these only prove the rule." Whilst then human nature is not so totally depraved as to be incapable of doing any good." it is equally evident evi-dent that there is in the nature of all a tendency to do "what is wrong. St. Paul admitted' this tendency in himself; him-self; "I do not the things which I will, but. what I will not." . We see in children,, chil-dren,, with all their innocence, a tendency ten-dency to be mischievous, and great precocfousnes6 in hiding their faults. Assuming that Adam lost his original orig-inal justice, and that effect of his fall on his posterity was a "darkness of th ; understanding, weakness of the will al an inclination t evil." also th.; unity of the human race with Adam as its progenitor, it follows that what affects af-fects one member affects the whole body. Life, subjectively considered, is each individual, but 'objectively considered consid-ered the lives of all are traceable by generation back to Adam, who itained his own soul by disobedience: but ht? being the object of all lives, transmitted transmit-ted that stain to all his children. Eliminating the exaggerated view of Calvanism, namely, total depravity, or that all thoughts, words and acts of ' the unregenerate are bad; also the erroneous er-roneous view of the Unitarian in con- . founding original sin with actual, it 1 will be found that the orthodox teach- j ing rests on philosophical principles which reason sanctions. Then human nature, polluted by sin. in the order of natural generation, must be redeemed by spiritual regeneration regen-eration in the supernatural order. Then follows the doctrine of the In- f carnation. But the Unitarian objects? that it would be unjust on the part of God to exact or accept satisfac- tion, from one who was innocent, for f the sins of others. His mercy being f infinite, could he not freely pardon the i sinner who repent3? Would it not be more in conformity with infinite mercy f to forgive the sinner directly, who re- pented. without demanding satisfac- I tion, than it would be to send his Son to make satisfaction, thereby indirectly pardoning the sinner? God could, according to Catholic teaching, have so pardoned the sin- ner, if he so willed. St. Thomas, the highest authority on Catholic faith , ! and- doctrine, wrote: "If God had ' t willed to liberate men from sin, with- out satisfaction, he would have done fc nothing contrary to justice. The judge . who is charged to punish a crime com- mitted against another, as another 1 man, the commonwealth, or a superior prince, cannot, indeed, save justice, I and dismiss the guilty without pun- I ishment. But God has no superior, I and is himself the supreme and com- I mon good of the whole universe. There- fore, if he forgives sin, which derives I its guilt from the fact that it is com- mitted against himself, he does no one I any injury. Thus the man who for- gives an offense against himself acts I mercifully, not unjustly. Hence David. ; I seeking mercy of God, says: "Against thee only have I sinned." I On the question of what God could do, the Catholic and Unitarian agree. ' ; But it does not follow because God j could free man from the guilt of sin j without satisfaction that he . did so. I To conclude, because a thing is pos- i sible, that it is really so, is not a logi- cal conclusion. A creditor can, if he I wills, forgive the debt due him, and whilst it would be a most zracious j act to do so, there is no obligation j in doing so. If those who secured the debt willingly pay the amount due, justice is done and the creditor is sat- f isfied. Why may not Jesus, the sec- ond person of the Blessed Trinity, of- I fer himself, when he does so willingly, .1 to pay the debt of humanity re- deem the human race by rendering ample satisfaction to the infinite jus- tice of his Eternal Father. Again, if t God exacted and accepted satisfaction in the manner explained, may it not be in order to display still greater j mercy and love for man by elevating him to a, higher plane than that in which he was originally placed. Any i disposition on the part of God to miti- gate justice does not argue against his j infinite mercy when we view the In- f carnation and Redemption in their true ? light, that is, as a means of display- J ing God's infinite love and wisdom, and of contributing to man's greater I glory and exaltation. This would explain, too, the significance and truth of the church's prayer on Good Fri- j day. when she cries out: "O, happy j fault, which merited to have such and , so great a Redeemer." What man lost . in Adam he more than regained in ; Jesus Christ, who became incarnate f for love of man that he might redeem I and save him. ; This view of the mission of Christ explains the universal belief and tra- dition of the human race regarding Adam's sin, how human nature was . affected by the fall and regenerated by the second person of the Blessed Trin- ity, who was in the form of God, and without robbery could judge himself , equal to God, take upon himself the"' form of a servant, humble air' 7.ni- f hilate himself, live a life of .-poverty and destitution, go about doing good, yet had not whereon to law his head, rejected by his own. scoffed by the J world, betrayed by his apostle, ar- raigned as -a criminal, scourged and finally crucified between two thieves, and all this for love of man. The : writer in presenting Jesus in the orthodox or-thodox sense had in view the enlightenment enlight-enment of Catholics more than any desire to provoke controversy. If he has succeeded, he feels amply repaid. ' As the subjects . touched especially on the denials made by Unitarians, he was compelled to mention their creed. He did so with sense of justice by read- . ing their own works. Full of charity i for all, and . with no object in view , but love of truth, he dismisses the subjject, and will to the best of his abiliay answer any reasonable objections objec-tions that may be raised against the ; truths presented. -(Concluded.) |