5. The Hypostatic Union and Atonement

I. By the fall of Adam the supernatural career of mankind was abruptly terminated, and grievous offence was offered to God in lieu of service. There was needed a source of restitution for man and of atonement to God. Without this, the end of God’s mighty works would be failure most miserable and the triumph of evil over good. If God simply cancelled and ignored the sin, it would still be a triumph of evil; for it would mean that the universe was not sufficiently equipped to work out its purposes; it would mean that the ordinary law was deficient and had to be supplemented by a quasi afterthought; it would be an extinction of energy without allowing it to work itself out, the intervention of an extrinsic force to remedy the inherent incurable defects in God’s own work. The perfection of God’s work demands that there should be in the human race itself the means of triumphing over evil, of justifying its own existence and the Providence of God. The goodness of God requires that, whatever happens, good should predominate over evil. God’s dignity requires that His great work should not end in a fiasco. Regular order requires that every force should be allowed to work itself out. Equity requires that the offender should suffer the consequences of his offence and should himself make atonement. The only appropriate form of restitution is one in which human energies should neutralize the evil done by men. How helpless you are in the face of such requirements! How hopeless is the case of unaided sinful humanity! 

II. The atonement required is infinite, for it had to be adequate to the evil inflicted; and the restitution of man was to the possession of the Infinite. Sin, though the consequence of a finite act, has a certain infinity of effect, for it is the contradiction of all that is positive in God, and firstly of Being, which is the essential perfection in God; “I am who am” (Ex. iii. 14). In its tendency it is destructive of God (v. p. 50). An equal energy is required to counteract it; viz., one that in tendency shall be, as it were, creative of God, or, actually, productive of God’s presence. No act of ours, however good, has this supreme efficacy. An infinite vital action is required; and that can proceed only from an infinite person. The human race can never supply this. All our action apart from God is worthless and destructive. Without religion all human talent and good intentions are positively noxious. 

III. The Hypostatic Union combines the two necessary conditions; its action is at once human and infinite. As God alone, Jesus Christ could not make atonement; it would be a new violation and not a satisfaction of justice for one to sin and another to bear the burden. But, as man, the Divine Person is one of the offending race. He is not an isolated individual; for human society is not an agglomeration of atoms, but a corporate body with common life and action. As every particle on this earth affects every particle in the whole universe, so each man’s action, good or bad, affects the whole race. The acts of Jesus Christ are the actions of the Son of Humanity; we share in the effects of His, He shares in the effects of ours. The same law which causes us to suffer by the sins of Adam, of our fathers, of our countrymen, causes Jesus to suffer by our sins, and us to profit by His virtues. He, as being the first-born and the greatest portion of humanity, contributes proportionally more (i.e., infinitely more) to the sum of good, and suffers a greater share of the effects of sin. As He, then, is predestined eternally to be Son of Man, the human race contains in itself a vast predominance of good over evil, and the means of atoning for its sins without any violent destruction of natural forces or the intervention of extraneous ones. Thus the Atonement is not only a marvel of mercy but of well-ordered harmony and regular law. Every act of yours has its full effect for good or evil on the whole world.

4. The Hypostatic Union

I. Consider the terms, or the elements of the union which took place in the Incarnation. One was the Divinity, the Second adorable Person of the Trinity; the other was the Humanity, composed of real soul and body, with all its powers, senses, and members. The soul is the first of the two sub-elements which compose the human element. The Divinity entered primarily into union with the soul, as being that which completes human nature, and in which the dominant faculties reside. The soul was the chief seat of Adam’s sin, and of the taint of sin in his descendants, and of the consequences or punishment of sin. But God did not abhor even the body; it is the companion of the soul, the instrument of its action, a sufferer by the sin, and it is destined to enter into glory. Therefore the Word is said, not to be made a soul, nor even made man, but to have been made flesh. “Because the children are partakers in flesh and blood, He also Himself in like manner hath been partaker of the same” (Heb. ii. 14). We have here a reflection of the Trinity; with this difference, that in the Godhead there is Unity of Substance with Trinity of Persons, and in Christ there is Unity of Person with a trinity of substances, viz., the Divinity, the spiritual soul, the material body. How complete and thorough is all that Jesus does for you! Let your service of Him be real and complete in every respect.

II. The two natures are so wonderfully combined in Christ that He is God-Man and Man-God. Each nature remains complete; the Godhead remains the Godhead, perfect and unchanged; and yet we can say that, in Christ, God is Man and the Man is God. This hypostatic union is an example of that combination of unity and multiplicity which marks God’s works. In material nature we find a unity of law, of harmony, of order, amongst the enormous multitude of creatures. Higher still there is the union of the material and the spiritual in man; which, however, is dissolved by death. Then comes the union of our souls with God by grace, which, during this life, is liable to be terminated by sin. More perfect than this is the Hypostatic Union of Divinity and Humanity in Christ; even death did not dissolve this, for when it broke the union of His soul and body, the Divinity still remained united to each of the separated elements. Above all, there is the transcendent Unity of God, which does not combine together separate substances, but by its internal action constitutes a triple personality. Rejoice in the great glory and honour and happiness possessed by the Sacred Humanity of Our Lord. Union with Him will be your highest glory, and honour, and happiness, on earth and in heaven.

III. Consider certain singularities of the hypostatic union. Only the single Person of God the Son was united with human nature. Again, the Divinity assumed into this union, not all mankind, nor even the angels; “for nowhere doth He take hold of the angels, but of the seed of Abraham He taketh hold” (Heb. ii. 16); the single created nature that was born of Mary was elevated to this union. Further, Christ had only one parent on earth, His Blessed Mother. He was the only Son of the Eternal Father, and, both as God and as Man, God was His only Father. God will not give His glory to another. Jesus Christ has a glory of His own which is given to no other. The Blessed Virgin Mary has a singular glory too in the Incarnation, which is beyond all that has been granted to human beings. There are certain singularities of God’s Providence in regard to you. You have some special gifts and graces, and in return there are some special services which you have to render to God.

3. The Fact of The Incarnation

 

I. This most wonderful mystery, were it not a fact and revealed to us, might well be deemed an impossibility. How can it be that the Infinite is united with the finite, the Eternal with a temporal, mortal nature, perfect sanctity with a nature derived from a tainted source? How could the Godhead so descend? How could a portion of this universe be so elevated? How could such contradictory terms be brought together in one person? The imagination of man, in its wildest flights, could not devise such a thing; and the more we know of God and of man, the more remote would such a possibility seem. We might well ask, “How shall this be done?” And the only answer is the angel’s, “No word shall be impossible with God” (Luke i. 34, 37). The Almighty is not limited in His works to such things as we can understand. His action does not need to be seen and approved by us in advance. His wisdom is infinite to devise such a thing, His power is infinite to accomplish it, His goodness and love are infinite to decree it for our advantage. He would allow no obstacle to stand in the way of pardoning and glorifying us. God does more still. He will unite Himself with you. Wisdom, strength, and love are needed for the purpose, not only in God, but in you. Let no seeming impossibility deter you from this consummation.
II. It might further appear to be a degradation unworthy of the Divine Majesty that God should become man. Even the inspired writer describes it as a humbling, an emptying of Himself, an annihilation (Phil. ii. 7-8). Yet there are beautiful harmonies of fitness in it that make it fully worthy of God. The greater the indignity of it, the more does it manifest the infinity of divine love and mercy; as an exhibition of the ingenuities of God’s wisdom and power, it is more overwhelming than all the grandeurs of the universe. Moreover, it is by this that God closes up the whole chain of being, and brings back to Himself in the man Christ Jesus, the long series that was commenced when the first forces of matter were created. God “hath predestinated us unto the adoption of children through Jesus Christ unto Himself . . . in the dispensation of the fulness of times, to re-establish all things in Christ that are in heaven and on earth, in Him” (Eph. i. 5, 10). The greatest perfection and beauty of a thing is in the fulfilment of its purpose. It depends on each of us whether the Incarnation shall be a success or a failure in our regard. Do your share to make its effects worthy of God, by glorifying Him for it, and bringing forth its fruits in your sanctification.

III. God therefore wrought this wonderful thing, “and the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us” (John i. 14). It was the greatest condescension; but it was no degradation, for the Eternal Son did not come into contact with sin, nor into personal union with a sinner. He took a human body, descended from Adam, and going back for its remote origin to the slime of the earth. It had gone through a process of preparation for many ages, and its elements were at last isolated from the universal current of original sin in the Immaculate Virgin-Mother. He had prepared a tabernacle for Himself in her and sanctified it in advance, so that she might communicate to Him a body and blood absolutely free from contamination, and fitted to be the material of the sacrifice which was to neutralize the effects of sin. Thank God for this great work. Admire His power and goodness. Confess and adore the Divinity of Jesus Christ, and say, “Only in Thee is God, and there is no God besides Thee. Verily Thou art a hidden God, the God of Israel, the Saviour” (Isa. xlv. 14, 15).

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2. Images of The Incarnation

I. There is no exact parallel in nature to the Incarnation of the Seconxxd Divine Person, but there are some comparisons which partially represent it; and these may be used cautiously, if we remember that they are not adequate images of it. The Incarnation is likened to three persons who invest one among themselves with a new and special robe. The three Divine Persons all operate in investing the Second Person, God the Son, with the additional garment of human nature. Holy Scripture speaks of the Divine Humanity as a garment. “Who is this that cometh up from Edom, with dyed garments from Bosra, this beautiful One in His robe, walking in the greatness of His strength? I that speak justice and am a defender to save. Why then is Thy apparel red, and Thy garments like theirs that tread in the wine-press?” (Isa. lxiii. 1, 2). St. John also speaks of the Word of God as having “on His garment and on His thigh written, King of kings and Lord of lords” (Apoc. xix. 16). God the Son, on entering this world, assumed human nature as a garment that made Him visible to us while cloaking the glory of His Divinity. It wxas something exterior and different from His divine nature; and when it was rent in the Passion, the personality of the Word still remained undefiled and impassible. Thank Our Lord for thus divesting Himself of the royal garment of His glory, and putting on the lowly apparel that you wear. When you approach Him, divest yourself of your pride and supposed grandeur and merits, and clothe yourself in humility so as to be like to Him.

II. The union of the two natures in the one person of Jesus Christ may also be compared to the union of spirit and matter, of soul and body, in our one nature and person. There is this difference, that in man the two elements form one complex nature, while in Our Lord the two natures remain distinct, and are brought together in the unity of the one Divine Personality. We have in our nature two things of diverse character and origin; the body is of the earth, produced from matter, the soul is breathed into it from without by the direct action of God. The soul is more noble, as having spiritual being, and intelligence, and freedom, than the body with its senses. The body is the instrument of the soul’s action; the brain and organs are the medium by which the soul receives impressions from the outer world and exercises action upon it. The soul elevates the body, and gives it new powers and special position in the universe. Similarly the divine nature of the Second Person elevates the Sacred Humanity. The humanity is the dwelling-place of the Word of God, and is the instrument of its action in teaching us, manifesting the Godhead to us, redeeming us. Give glory to God the Son for so elevating human nature in His own person first, and thereby in all mankind and in you. Endeavour to keep yourself upon the same high level, and make yourself worthy of that honour.

III. The human nature in Our Lord is further compared to those sensible qualities which we attribute to any substance, such as its resistance, extension, form, colour, warmth. The object is vested with these qualities; these are what we perceive, but they have no individuality or separate existence apart from the material substance. So the human nature of Christ has not a separate existence as a person apart from His personality as Word of God. Jesus Christ then is God; He is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity endued with a human nature of body and soul, and not united with a different human person capable of existing apart from the Divine Person. Recognize the awful dignity of Jesus when you read of Him or enter His presence, and adore Him accordingly.

1. The Knowledge of The Incarnation

I. The union of the Divinity with humanity is called by St. Paul “the mystery which hath been hidden from ages and generations, but now is made manifest to His saints” (Col. i. 26). Even in our own sphere we cannot detect the point of union between our body and soul, or the manner of it. Still farther beyond us is this most marvellous operation of the Omnipotent Trinity. It is beyond all our experience, and imagination, and desire. It is indeed “a new thing upon the earth” (Jer. xxxi. 22). The angels even cannot comprehend this novelty beyond all other novelties and without example. In order to grasp it with our intelligence and fathom its profundities of ingenuity (so to speak) and beauty, we should need a full comprehension of the mystery of the Three Persons in Unity. In order to accept it, we need the infused power of faith from God, spiritual vision, and the light of God’s countenance shining upon us. Reason cannot discover it or explain it, but only approve its reasonableness. How many there are from whom even now this mystery is hidden, who apprehend it most imperfectly, or to whom it is anything but a living reality! Be grateful to God for revealing it to you, and ask Him to enlighten your mind in meditating on it.

II. Nothing can profit us more than reflection on the different aspects of the Incarnation. “To know Thee is perfect justice; and to know Thy justice and Thy power is the root of immortality” (Wisd. xv. 3). Jesus Christ is the supreme revelation of God to man. This is the best book for us to study, the compendium of our perfection in the natural, the intellectual and the spiritual life. It raises us at once out of this feverish, sordid, deceptive sphere into a purer, brighter atmosphere It gives us true and satisfying views about all things, and co-ordinates all the facts of the universe. We find in it the noblest model of human action, strength to endure adversity with courage, the example of the virtues of every state of life. We may learn from it the true nature of sin, its destructive effects, the method of resisting it and doing penance for it; we are assured of redemption from our sins, and are brought into union with supreme goodness. The knowledge of Jesus Christ is the fulfilment of the divine promise to draw us with the cords of Adam (Osee xi. 4). Mankind have always craved to possess God visibly and tangibly; this great doctrine satisfies that desire. Devote yourself to a serious study of Jesus Christ, and this not intellectually only, but practically and devotionally.

III. The knowledge of the Incarnation is necessary for salvation. “This is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent” (John xvii. 3). None can accomplish their necessary development unless they grasp the truth that God became man and died for us; rejecting this, they cannot properly know and serve and love God. Jesus Christ alone is the way, the truth, and the life (John xiv. 6). Without Him we cannot find the right path, we walk in ignorance of the principal science of all, we tend towards social and spiritual death. But our knowledge must be accompanied by love and complete obedience; otherwise it is a mere theoretical and ineffective knowledge, and will lead Him to say to us one day, “Amen I say to you, I know you not” (Matt. xxv. 12). This doctrine is the corner-stone of Christianity, and on it has been built up all our civilization, progress and happiness. All the evils of life are the result of ignoring Jesus Christ, His law, and His Church. Let it not be said of you that you have been interested in all except the saving knowledge: “the ox knoweth his owner and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel hath not known Me, and My people hath not understood” (Isa. i. 3).

27. Principles of The Divine Governance

I. Although God has supreme power and direct authority over all creatures, yet He makes use of secondary causes or subordinate authorities to work out His natural and His spiritual decrees. A being is more admirable when its goodness is diffusive than when its goodness is in itself and for itself only. God completes the likeness to Himself which is in creatures, by making them channels and agents of the bounty which proceeds in the first instance from Himself. Thus the sun is the means of communicating heat, energy, motion, to this earth. Parents are the intermediaries by whom God gives life to new beings, and furnishes them with their daily bread. In like manner, Jesus Christ, as man, has all things committed to Him by the Father, and is the first agent and supreme mediator. But all creatures have functions of utility towards others. The angels are the ministers of God. Men are apostles, teachers, intercessors, mediums of divine grace. The Blessed Virgin has, beyond all others, the office of intercessor for all mankind, and channel of grace from her Divine Son. Parents and civil authorities rule in the name of God, and declare His will in the natural, political or domestic sphere. They should remember that they are His agents and act accordingly. You too have to act on God’s behalf for the natural or spiritual welfare of others, as His agent, mediator, or temporal providence. Endeavour to make yourself an adequate representative of Him, and act in His spirit and for His ends.

II. Another principle of God’s governing action is the harmony of mercy and justice, and the predominance of mercy over all His works. God’s dealings with the angelic world are all full of mercy and love, in creating them in endowing them with grace and glory and happiness, and with virtue and strength to persevere if so they wished. So too it is with man. God anticipates him with the abundance of His mercies. He placed Adam in Paradise, gave him the means of working out his salvation without difficulty in the midst of delights, without having even to pass through the gates of death. Mercy being rejected by man, justice and severity appeared. But how merciful was this severity! The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity took on Himself to make atonement and bear the punishment, that we might escape almost free from our own deeds. It is only after the obstinate rejection individually of this crowning mercy that God abandons men to the consequence of their sins. How happy you are to be under the rule of such a Lord!

III. Although the will of God is all-powerful, and although events happen according to His decrees, yet His will harmonizes with the nature given to creatures by the same divine will. His agents and secondary causes influence others in accordance with the law of their nature. So God rules all things, but not in an arbitrary or irregular manner. Some beings are so governed that they act constantly and uniformly as if by necessity; others, free beings, are so ruled by grace and by prayer, by angels or men, that they retain full freedom of action. The results depend fully on themselves as well as fully on God. Remember ever to depend on God and to depend on yourself. You cannot succeed without Him; and at the same time, you must not leave all to Him as if He acted alone without you. There is a certain work of God to be done in the world which requires your virtue and energy for its success; and without you it will not be done. Do not say: God is omnipotent, my efforts are of no avail, He can do it without me. He is indeed the source of all good, but you are the natural agent by whom it is to be accomplished, and you are responsible for it. 

Source: Pages 220 & 221

 

26. The Government of The World

I. “Thy providence, O Father, governeth it” (Wisd. xiv. 3). God is not only Creator, He is also Guide and Ruler. The action of governing and directing all things is complementary to the action of creating them. It is necessitated manifestly by God’s perfection, by His love for all that He has made, and His continual interest in it. The arrangement and order of the universe show clear evidence of God’s continual guidance. Every creature, every molecule and atom, has its use and function; it serves God, and tends towards Him according to its nature and capacity; every creature moves forward towards the end and purpose of its being, and that, in the last analysis, is God. Material things do not, like intellectual beings, approach to the possession and enjoyment of God; but they represent His perfections, make Him known to those who can understand Him, and bring them nearer to Him. God has knowledge of every one of the innumerable particles in the universe, and manages and rules it for the general good. This is the greatest happiness and consolation to the faithful soul. You are not abandoned to yourself, nor left to be the sport of accident and chance; “for in His hands are all the ends of the earth” (Ps. xciv. 4). Never forget this, or think that you are forgotten. Say always: “The Lord ruleth me. I shall want for nothing” (Ps. xxii. 1).

II. Associated with government is the preservation of all things according to their kind. This requires a continual influx of the same energy which originally brought things out of nothingness; without it they would cease to exist, and would return whence they came. God’s influence is as necessary for existence as the sun is necessary for the maintenance of heat and motion on this earth. In a civil State, as it is better ordered and more firmly established, so does the machinery for coercion obtrude itself the less upon our notice. So the evidence of God’s continual action is not to be found in terrifying exhibitions of enormous power, but in the quiet order which preserves the great mechanism of the universe in its countless details. Consider how elaborate and multifold is the machinery of earth, air and water, of seasons and temperature, of chemical and mechanical forces. Consider how delicate is our bodily adjustment in blood, and brain, and nerves, and lungs, and digestion; how little it would take to derange all this—a few degrees of temperature, a particle of injurious matter, an instantaneous suspension of some minute operation within us. What a perfect and wonderful balance is maintained! And all this is as nothing compared to the care for the preservation and guidance of your supernatural life. Thank God for all this.

III. God’s governance of all things culminates in His eternal glorification by the souls of men. Our existence has a double object and term; the one nearest to ourselves is our own happiness in salvation, the final and chief one is the external glorification of God by us. The whole of this world and all the work of creation circles round this object and gravitates towards it. This is the explanation of the mystery of the universe. The success of our personal part in this great work depends on ourselves, aided by God’s grace; we may fail by our own fault to accomplish our destiny. But in any case, our life and our fate render glory to God. Either in heaven or in hell we shall eternally witness to God’s love, justice, holiness, and wisdom, to the advantages of serving Him, the excellence of His law, the easiness of salvation, the absolute necessity of God to our perfection and happiness. You cannot escape from the all-powerful hand of God. Willingly or unwillingly you must conduce to His glory; all you can do is to choose whether you will serve Him to your own infinite advantage or to your eternal detriment. 

Source: Pages 218 & 219

25. Restitution by Jesus Christ

 

I. “Where sin abounded grace hath abounded more” (Rom. v. 20). The weakness of humanity is its strength: its disabilities become the source of its privileges. God in His mercy pities our weakness, extending as it does even into wickedness; and, like tender mothers, He bestows greater love and care on the most afflicted and troublesome of His children. God knows that our tendency to sin dates from before our birth, that the perversion of our character is an inheritance from our ancestors, that our offences are due in some measure to our surroundings, and not entirely to our deliberate malice. The smallest injustice or harshness towards us is utterly alien from His infinite goodness. He makes the broadest and kindest allowance for our deficiencies, and bestows on us still greater favours and aids towards salvation. As far as the dominance of our free will allows, God compels us to come in; and it is only by extraordinary blindness, perversity and obstinacy, that we can be lost. God has adapted the order of His Providence to our needs. Our state of sinfulness becomes our strongest claim upon His mercy, and may even become the occasion of higher glory for us. In the present order, God exhibits His holiness and power, not by rejecting us for our sins, but by sanctifying us in spite of them and through them. Confess yourself an unworthy sinner, admit that you have no claims, and at once you are endowed by the Son of God with His own claims to eternal glory.

II. The measure of our restitution is as the measure of our fall. We fell in another, we are restored in another. If there is hardship in our suffering through another’s sin, it is counterbalanced by the profit we gain from another’s sacrifice. We sinned in Adam, we have made atonement in the second Adam. Mankind form one corporate body, participating in one another’s actions, good and bad. Jesus Christ is as fully a member of that body as is Adam. In accordance with His greatness, He has borne a proportionate share of the consequences of sin; and His infinite merits become the common property of His race, the human race. Jesus Christ has taken up the supernatural portion of Adam’s task, neglected by him; through Christ we are born again to the higher life by water and the Holy Ghost; and even our bodies, now mortal and corruptible by sin, will recover their lost immortality. Be faithful to the new Father of your race. Maintain inviolate the new life He has given you, and avoid the second death of personal sin and eternal loss.

III. St. Paul seems to indicate that our gains surpass our losses, and that we are better off under the Restitution than under original justice. “But not as the offence so also is the gift; for if by the offence of one many have died, much more the grace of God . . . hath abounded unto many” (Rom. v. 15). Sin has not destroyed God’s plans, but enabled Him to carry them out more wonderfully. Our happiness will be greater in that we have been snatched from the jaws of hell. Joy over the repentant sinner is greater than for those who need not penance. It may be that more will now be saved than if Adam had not sinned. All would have had to be tried, even in that case; some would have failed, and that failure might have been irrevocable, like the angels’, because more deliberate, and without our present excuses. Now, the worst may be saved. David became the man after God’s own heart; St. Peter became the Prince of the Apostles; St. Mary Magdalene one of the highest in the love of Jesus. Do not complain of the present facts of life; they all turn to the benefit of men. Do your duty and you will have no reason to regret the fall of Adam. Thank God for changing that fatal transgression into a “felix culpa,” a “blessed sin.” Take courage even from the sight of your sins; with due repentance they will help you to rise to better things. Source. 

Source:  Pages 216 & 217

24.The Transmission of The Sin

I. The enormous change produced by Adam’s sin in him could not be without effect on his descendants. A man of great energies may, with his blood, transmit his features and his character for generations; his family may grow into a tribe and even into a nation impressed with his likeness. A prepotent influence must belong to him who was created to be the father of all mankind. He inaugurated the line of human life, and its general direction was naturally permanent, whether divergent from the line ordained by God, or accordant with it. God had bestowed on our first father an additional supernatural life as a gratuitous gift. Adam held it at first on trial; he was called upon, as head of the race, to ratify this donation by his acceptance of it. He cast it away in his solemn probation, and chose the merely natural state. This he transmitted to us: and necessarily so, for it has never been claimed for heredity that it is able to perpetuate qualities that have not yet been acquired. The inorganic cannot generate the organic, nor the natural life beget supernatural life. We have inherited what our ancestor had to bequeath, all that belonged to the essence of human nature, nothing of that which was to have been superadded as a special reward for fidelity under trial. This state of privation of original justice is the state of sin. God has not allowed us to abide in this condition. In another way He restores what we had lost. Thank Him for His infinite goodness.

II. Original sin in us is not a personal guiltiness demanding punishment and requiring to be expiated by contrition and penance. It is not that we are made responsible for an offence committed by another person, or that his sin is imputed to us. It is not the loss of any grace that is rightfully ours as part of the necessary equipment of our nature. We have only lost that which we never had, which was not confirmed even to our first ancestor, which is not in any way due to us. We have failed to come into possession of a certain benefit which is quite beyond our natural requirements, desires and conceptions; that is, of the supernatural indwelling of God in us, with the habit of certain virtues, and certain mental and corporal privileges, such as fuller knowledge and immunity from death and disease. But as we are adapted for the reception of this grace, and were intended by God to have it, and require it for our full possible perfection, the loss constitutes a privation and a stain, which is called the state, although not the act, of sin. However, what you have lost without your fault you have also recovered without your merits, through Our Blessed Lord, substantially now, although not fully till hereafter.

III. But further, through original sin we suffer from blindness, ignorance, and error: also from weakness and vacillation in the will; and further from malice, or a propensity towards evil, and alienation from holiness and God. The dominion of grace is weakened over our reason, and the dominion of reason over our material nature; so that we are drawn strongly to those pleasures which are the chief incentives to action in the brute beasts. Hence the multitude of our sins, and the miseries which are consequent on them. However, we still retain our freedom, and God gives to those who ask, the strength and grace to resist all impulses to mortal sin. Men are still masters of their lives, and they make them what they are. We may trace all our evils to Adam, in a sense; but much more justly may we attribute them to ourselves. If we only had to endure the unavoidable consequences of Adam’s sin, the world would indeed be a Paradise. Faith and obedience can cure or at least mitigate most of our evils. But our individual perversity is the real source of all trouble, and the curse of this world.

Source: Pages 214 & 215

23. The Inward Consequences of The Sin

 

 

I. In Paradise, Adam, united to God by charity, possessed three great goods, viz., pleasure and contentment in seeing God, knowledge and possession of all things, dignity as the supreme ruler of creation. When union with God was destroyed, these great prerogatives were lost, and there remained three great voids in human nature. Man tries to fill these voids with created things; he seeks delight in sensual gratifications, in the knowledge and possession of material goods, in exalting himself in his own esteem above others. Nothing can fill the space once occupied by God; man’s desires, therefore, are for ever growing; he may acquire far more than he can use, but he is never satisfied; and his efforts to gain more become continually more ferocious. These desires are what the Apostle speaks of: “ All that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh, the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life”, (1 John ii. 16). These could not exist in the state of original justice, but they broke out in human nature at the time of the fall, and have been the torment and the peril of man ever since. These are not only the source of individual sins, but of all the miseries, without exception, which affect human society. There is no other remedy for those evils, but to satisfy the illimitable desires of the soul with the one gratification that is infinite, viz., God. All other remedies are futile. Seek no other in your troubles.

II. In the supernatural state, the soul of unfallen man was endowed with sanctifying grace, and with the infused virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance. There was an attraction towards good and an aptitude for virtue, so that the soul needed only to know what was good and accordant with the divine will, and was at once borne towards it. Now, however, it is different with us. Not only are we attacked by the three fierce concupiscences, but the will is weak and infirm, and incapable of carrying out what the intelligence has concluded to be best. Knowledge is no longer sufficient. We are not the less inclined to do wrong for knowing what is right. As the heathen poet said, “I know the better and approve, I do the worse.” We require, not only a grace of illumination for the mind, but a grace of excitation and fortitude for the will. We need much stronger graces than sufficed in the state of original justice, to supply the deficiencies in our present infused virtues, and fortify us against the assaults of the concupiscences. This additional medicinal grace is given to Adam and all his descendants, on their taking due means to acquire it; and thus the extra danger to our salvation is counterweighed by God’s more abundant mercy. Thank God for this excess of His goodness. Let Him carry out His will in you, and He will deliver you.

III. In the state of innocence, man, being immortal, was free from the fear of death. No terrors would have accompanied his translation from this life to the fuller life of heaven. Now, since God pronounced the sentence, the terror of death is on us all. And especially is the remembrance of death bitter to a man who has peace in his possessions (Eccli. xli. 1). In the olden times, even the just looked forward with dread to their sojourn in the place of darkness and expectation, before Christ had opened heaven by His death. We too, however just, know not if we be worthy of love or hate (Eccles. ix. 1). We dare not presume on our salvation; and at the best we have to look forward to a period of terrible purgation for our forgiven sins. But our Lord in His goodness has robbed death of most of its terrors. It is not only a punishment but the gate of heaven; it is a blessing as well as a curse. You may regard it then both with hope and fear. Look to it as an expiation and as a victory. You may long for deliverance, but be ready to wait in patience till God calls you. You may shun it, but receive it with resignation as a penance. 

Source:  Pages 212 & 213

22. Outward Consequences of The Sin

 

I. The supernatural state had sanctified and elevated every faculty and action of human nature. Adam had been subject to God alone; all creatures were subject to him, and he was dependent on none of them. In his supernatural and natural endowments he possessed all that he required. The progress and development of man in the unfallen state would have been very different from what it is at present; it would have been more rapid, more complete, more extensive, and would have proceeded in marvellous ways that we cannot picture to ourselves. As we are now, our progress has been very slow, laborious, accompanied by many checks, mistakes, failures. It has been dependent for the most part on the compulsion of our wants, on our material surroundings, on climate, food, and the natural features of our place of abode. Except under such pressure, there has been little progress among men. The loss of the supernatural has changed all the conditions of human life, and among them the character of our material progress. The first step in the new order of material civilization is indicated by the clothing of our first parents in the skins of beasts. The influences of climate had become hostile to them. They needed protection from heat, and cold, and moisture. God Himself inaugurated this first step in the work of civilization for fallen man. We still need His aid, even for our natural and material works; we can carry out what is merely material without God; but we cannot ensure that its action on human beings will be beneficial.

II. The local habitation of unfallen man was closely associated with his supernatural condition of soul. It was adapted to the support and development of a kind of life superior to ours at present. It contained the mysterious tree of life, and it was characterized by that tree. Adam had chosen the tree that represented not simply the natural state, but an impaired natural state. In that fallen condition his eyes were opened; he saw all things as if by a different light. He saw himself to be out of harmony with the environment in paradise, and although it remained as yet unchanged, it was no longer the same place to him. His sin had destroyed it as a paradise of delight, even before he was expelled from it. Expulsion was but the accentuation of the fatal change in his own condition. The whole earth henceforth for him was a place of labour and suffering. The character of this world and this life varies for men, not so much in proportion to the variety of their external conditions, but according to their mental and spiritual frame. With God, we may generally be happy, always contented. Without Him, the possession of every material advantage will not prevent life from being wearisome, burdensome, tormenting, unendurable.

III. Human life after the fall necessarily bears a different character; thenceforth it was a penance and an expiation as well as a state of trial and of progress. The place of delight is not to be looked for here but hereafter. Now we are under God’s malediction and punishment; but by His mercy these are actually the means of our progress, and of our rehabilitation in the supernatural state, and are the price of our eternal life. Thereby, as is generally held, Adam and Eve recovered supernatural grace, and at last worked out their salvation. It is written that divine wisdom “preserved him that was first formed by God . . . and she brought him out of his sin, and gave him power to govern all things” (Wisd. x. 1, 2). It is most important for your happiness and for your understanding of life that you should take the proper view of it. Regarding it as an occasion for pleasure to be made the most of, you will find it to be an enigma and a bitter disappointment. Regarding yourself as a sinner, and life as a time for expiation by labour and suffering, you will find contentment here and happiness hereafter.

21. The Triple Sentence

 

 

I. In the divine order called Nature the effect follows rigidly on the cause, and is proportioned to it; for the sequence amounts to a transmutation of energy from one form to another. It is the same in the higher divine order, the supernatural. Sin is a negative energy, a destructive force: its effect, that is, its punishment, is proportioned to the amount of supernatural energy which sin has neutralized. The three maledictions pronounced by God are prophetic indications of the course of events necessarily consequent on the sin of Adam and Eve. First, God addresses Satan and describes the future in metaphors appropriate to the form which he had, either literally or figuratively, appeared in. He shall be accursed for ever, a cause of death and an object of horror like his reptile type. He shall crawl in snake-like fashion, and shall “eat dirt” (in oriental language), shall grovel in moral baseness and the uncleanness of his temptings of man to sensuality. A second Eve shall arise, who will avenge the fall of her mother by crushing the head of her tempter, in the fact of bearing a divine Son in her virginity. Pay homage to the most blessed Virgin. Great must be her dignity and her power over Satan, since she is mentioned by God on this portentous occasion. Her victory makes her the glory of the human race.




II. God proclaims to Eve the consequence of her act in choosing the natural plane of life instead of the supernatural, and sacrificing the fruit of the tree of life for the fruit of the tree of evil knowledge. “I will multiply thy sorrows and thy conceptions”; that is, as some think, a greater number must come into existence to make up the number of the predestinate, in consequence of so many being lost; or, perhaps, the number will be greater because dependent on mere natural law instead of on supernatural considerations. “In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children.” The great glory and happiness of maternity is to be associated ever with anguish. “He shall have dominion over thee.” The subjection of woman, the too frequent ignoring of the true relations of the sexes, with all the tyranny, degradation, and horrors that still accompany it, is the immediate effect of the substitution of natural, animal, and sensual principles of life for those which are supernatural. Even the completion of human life on earth, the family state, which combines unity with multiplicity and offers such idyllic prospects to all, often becomes disorganized under the influence of naturalistic principles till it is an earthly hell. How far-reaching and various are the consequences of rejecting the supernatural!




III. To Adam God foretells that his rejection of the divine supremacy involves the loss of his own over the earth. The soil will revolt against him and bring forth thorns and briars; the forces of nature will need the coercion of heavy labour before they will yield to man his subsistence. Life is to be a long and bitter struggle against obstacles. Lastly, the body, deserted by the preternatural influx which would have prevented it from retrograding towards common matter, must now go through the ordinary cycle of molecular transformations till the end of the world. The supernatural is necessary for the smooth and ordered working of the wheels of human life, alike in the individual, and the domestic, and the political spheres. It brings a blessing and success most definite, yet one that cannot be catalogued and weighed and defined. The loss of it causes an increase of friction, irregularity of action, disturbance of the accurate adjustment and harmony of parts. Natural remedies can be but partial and uncertain. God’s grace is able to modify to us even the material effects of Adam’s sin. Act always on supernatural principles, rely always on God’s aid, and a blessing will always accompany you.

20. After the Fall

 

 

I. “And the eyes of both of them were opened” (Gen. iii. 7). This was what Satan had promised and Adam and Eve had desired, but it was different from what they expected. Their eyes were opened in disillusion. They found themselves deceived, fooled, robbed of their most precious possession. Peace, tranquillity, enjoyment were gone; anxiety and bitter remorse had succeeded. They had not taken their place in the sinless sphere of lower creatures; that sphere was adequate for the animal world, but not for rational beings that had once been supernatural. Their natural faculties, sufficient for life in the lower sphere had they never been raised above it, were insufficient under the blighting influence of sin. There was little satisfaction in their new independence, for they now felt how necessary to their life was the dominion of God. First of all they were conscious of shame; their fearlessness and confidence were gone; they felt unfit to be seen by God or by one another. There was turmoil in their souls, an insurgence of the inferior and the animal against the higher and rational element. They had fallen under the degrading dominion of sense which had been their slave; for their mastery had been ensured by their subjection to God. So it always is. Sin promises much, but it is never really profitable. Its boasted revelations amount only to disillusion, disappointment, failure, and shame.

II. A second new feeling was a dread of God and desire to escape from His presence. When He appeared, Adam and Eve fled to the depths of the thicket. The unchangeable God was still their Father and loved them, but they could not feel themselves to be His children. Previously on terms of familiarity with the Infinite and delighting in His revelations, now they were ill at ease before Him. Their sense of guilt changed Him in their eyes to a Judge and Master, a God of wrath and terrors, far removed above them. This sense was transmitted to their progeny, and dominated them till God the Son came in the flesh and restored the old relations of man towards his Maker. This is the usual effect of sin. It turns men against religion, virtue, and truth. It does not so much alienate God as alienate the sinner from Him. His beauty becomes a terror, His holiness an irritation, His goodness hateful. This is the cause of the eternal separation in the next world. The society of the devils is less uncongenial and less tormenting to the sinner than the society of the blessed and the sight of the divine glory. Flee from sin as from a basilisk.

III. The answers of Adam and Eve to God are evidence of their rapid and complete moral deterioration. There is no honest contrition, no spontaneous sorrow for their offence against their Benefactor, such as might be expected to arise if their sin had been one of surprise and weakness, and if they had suddenly realized its enormity. On the contrary, there is sullen and futile excuse, as of those who are hardened and will not admit their guilt, and who seek to deceive God. They explain their flight from God as being shame at their nakedness, ignoring the evil deed which was the cause of their shame. Then Adam tries to shift the blame from himself, and cast it on the weaker one, and even on God Himself. “The woman whom Thou gavest me” tempted him, he says. Eve too has no sorrow; it is not she who is to blame, she says, but the tempter. All this shows depravity of character, consciousness of deliberate hostility to God, and a hardening of their hearts. Such parents could no more generate a spiritually perfect race, than consumptives, lepers, or idiots, a vigorous, healthy offspring. Our first parents accordingly transmitted to us an inability for the higher life they had rejected; or, in other words, the state of sin. All deliberate sins, especially the first ones, lower the moral level of a man, degrade him, and make him incapable, more or less, of taking high views and fulfilling the nobler duties of life.

19. The Temptation and Fall

  

 

I. The temptation of our first parents was connected with the two mysterious trees of Paradise. The enemy hastened to induce the first of men to reject the supernatural and choose the natural order, as the first of angels had done; he tempted them to eat of the tree of knowledge so that they might be unfit to eat of the tree of life. He approached the woman as being the weaker, hoping to use her influence to overcome the caution and strength of the man. The first word of temptation was, “Why has God given this prohibition?” It was the suggestion of doubt. To question authority is more than half-way towards setting it aside. Eve should have recognized that God’s commands are not to be questioned, His reasons not to be demanded. If He commands or reveals to us, His word is enough; we should trust Him sufficiently to accept it without explanation. Eve listened and argued. This prepared the way; she was not shocked or indignant when Satan blasphemed against the veracity of God and declared “You shall not die.” He imputes base motives to the All-Holy, the desire to deprive His creatures of their rights, and keep them in undue subjection. He promises great power and happiness as the reward of sin: “You shall be as gods.” These are the ordinary stages of temptation, the ordinary motives placed before men to make temptation seem plausible. Many are deceived. They take one false step, and this originates a long series of evils.

II. Eve listened, parleyed with the tempter, and trusted the bold assertions of this unknown being, instead of the word of God, whom she knew, and whose goodness she had experienced. Gradually faith, trust, love of God, and the power of grace were weakened within her. She doubted God’s goodness, suspected Him of jealousy lest Adam and she should rise to equality with Him. She coveted more than God had given her, desiring forbidden knowledge, a dangerous independence, an impossible dignity. She entertained the suggestions of base ingratitude against her benefactor, of breaking away from His authority and making herself His equal, His rival, His enemy. There was also the sensual desire of the forbidden fruit: “the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold; and she took of the fruit thereof and did eat” (Gen. iii. 6). Thus does sin begin unperceived, develop with rapidity, and culminate in some fatal enormity. Be watchful of its commencements; if you yield a little, you are led on till return becomes almost impossible.

III. Satan did not tempt Adam. A direct assault would probably have failed on account of the greater strength, knowledge and responsibility of Adam. A human instrument was more efficient for evil than the prince of darkness himself. It was enough to have planted the germ of evil in the heart of Eve; its own malefic energy did the rest. The woman approached her husband, and induced him to violate the solemn compact, and revolt against God, by participating in the act which involved the rejection of supernatural life and the choice of the natural alone. Adam may possibly have allowed himself to be entrapped into believing the words of the tempter, or he may have been gained by persuasion, or it may be that, out of fatal affection, he resolved to bear the burthen of sin equally with his spouse. Whatever his motive, the sin was deliberate, it was inexcusable; he had full power to resist; and he accepted the full consequences. Adam’s sin was the Original Sin, and not Eve’s, for he and not she was the source and head of the human race. He chose for his race the state of pure nature without God, but they fell below it. All the natural faculties were injured in the wrench that tore out the all-pervading supernatural life. How much harm may be done by one human agent of Satan! You are the instrument for good or evil of a much greater power than yourself.

18. The Tempter

  

I. All progress arises from the conflict of contraries. Our bodily life goes on by means of continual exhaustion and reparation, growth and decay. Death is as necessary as life for the continual advance of the universe. The free-will of creatures originated a force opposed to supreme goodness in God. These two forces, good and evil, are engaged in a continual struggle with one another. They are like the centrifugal and centripetal forces, and between them they produce equilibrium and progress. The human soul and the human race are the battlefield of the two forces, and our free-will decides which shall predominate. The eternal conflict begun in heaven continues on earth, and it necessarily found its place in the happy abode of our first parents. They also could not be crowned without striving lawfully (2 Tim. ii. 5); and their striving took the form of being tempted by the spirits of evil. The simple account given in Genesis is most true to nature, true to all our experiences, true to the facts of the history of mankind. The wisdom and goodness of God permitted it; and in spite of certain evil consequences, He is able to draw from it a greater good. Even evil becomes subordinate to good, and you may gain greater profit from the very fact of your losses.

II. The evil we have to contend with is not merely in our own nature and in the world. The Apostle tells us that “our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against … the spirits of wickedness in the high places” (Eph. vi. 12). The great forces of evil are concentrated in these angels who fell from their principality. Their perverted will hates goodness and loves evil. All their faculties are turned against God and His interests. Their only pleasure, so far as they can be said to have any pleasure, is found in thwarting the divine will, and causing sin and misery. Their hatred of God extends to men who are made in His likeness, and who are to possess the glory which they failed to secure. God does not stop them any more than the tides of the ocean; He allows free-will to have its full play in every being, and He does not interfere by violence or miracle to destroy the faculties that He has given. The fallen angels remain active in the universe; and, as every particle of matter acts upon every other particle, so spiritual intelligences are for ever able to act on one another. Satan then is our tempter, and he was the tempter of Adam. We have a source of temptation in our natural perversity, but Adam was free from this. His temptation could come from an external suggestion alone. Hence it was that “by the envy of the devil death came into the world” (Wisd. ii. 24). Pray God for strength to resist these terrible enemies of your salvation.

III. At the first mention of Satan in the Bible he is called the serpent. This name is not used again till the last book (Apoc. xx.). It is a most suitable figure; for the serpent is insidious; his movements are swift and hard to detect, he strikes suddenly, and his venom is fatal. So is the action of Satan in temptation. Some have supposed that he suggested the temptation invisibly to the mind of Eve, as he does to us; but it is more usually believed that he appeared in some visible form, as he did when the time came for the second Adam in turn to be tempted. God conversed with Adam in some visible shape; the angels, too, appeared in human form to men in early days; and it may well have been that this other spirit appeared visibly and spoke audibly. It may have been that he actually assumed the form of a serpent, so as to overthrow the rival to his throne under the guise of the lowest of creatures, in revenge for his own subjection to God under the lower form of a man. You are subject to the attacks of the “old serpent,” but Our Lord covers you with His protection. In His name you will be able to cast out devils, to take up serpents, and to go unharmed by their poison (Mark xvi. 17).

17. The Forbidden Fruit

I. We never know the worth of a thing till it is tested. Gold must be tried by fire, the free agent by temptation or trial. For his own interest, for his glory and reward, man needs to go through the furnace. It would not be worthy of God or of man that God should glorify him without his own concurrence and merit. For friendship and love there must be reciprocity. How grand it is to be able to say, “Behold we have left all things and have followed Thee” (Matt. xix. 27); or again: “I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. iv. 7). As the angels had to be proved, so Adam. His functions were very high. Nobility of character, unswerving loyalty, blind trustfulness in his Father and Lord, strength, perseverance, were necessary for his position. It had to be seen whether he was worthy of holding in fee the estate of grace and the title of son of God, and capable of administering it for his descendants, and transmitting it to them as an inheritance. He had to make the choice between the supernatural and the natural plane of existence. You, too, have to be tested and to prove your worth. Rejoice in the severity of your trial; it is not to be regarded as a danger and a misery, but as an opportunity for heroism, and the price of an eternal reward.

II. In the centre of Eden were two mysterious symbols, the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam already knew all that was good; evil he did not know, for God had made nothing evil. Evil is privation; here it meant privation of supernatural life, or the fall to the state of natural life and endowments. In this was involved death; of soul first, then of body. “Of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it thou shalt surely die the death” (Gen. ii. 17). The trial was physical in form, the symbol of an intellectual and moral test in reality. The two trees were the outward sign of a sacred covenant between the Almighty and His creatures. The one represented the higher life that was offered to man; the other symbolized the natural domain that had been placed under man’s control; from a portion of this Adam had to refrain as a token of submission to God, of trust in His word, of faith without sight. There was a triple restraint; of the sense of dominion, of desire for knowledge, of sensible enjoyment; which corresponded to the triple concupiscence let loose by the sin. Obedience meant the choosing of supernatural life in dependence on God, instead of the full natural life with its consequences. To eat of this tree of full but guilty knowledge was incompatible with the higher life. To us also, separately or in nations, the choice is proposed between the supernatural and the natural, between good and evil.

III. The consequences of Adam’s trial were naturally most momentous. It was not a test of his personal fitness for grace, but of his fitness to act as head of the human race, to be the source of a stream of supernatural influence which would descend to the remotest generation. If he could not hold his principality for himself, still less could he transmit it. Not only his blood, but much of his character would pass to his children, and in particular his great supernatural privilege. Forfeiting that, he could bequeath neither the privilege itself, nor the fitness to hold it, nor the strength to maintain it. Neither he nor his children could eat of the tree of life; they were subject thenceforth to bodily death, and to that privation of grace which is the essential constituent of the stain of sin. To remedy this, the second Adam had to ascend the cross, the tree of His bodily death, and change it thereby into a tree of life for us; He restores it then to us, not by carnal generation and inheritance, but by the spiritual birth through water and the Holy Ghost in baptism. Thank Him for thus remedying the infidelity of your first father and your own.

16. The Garden of Eden

I. In forming this globe, God had prepared a suitable spot for the abode of Adam and the cradle of the human race. It was a garden of delights, abounding in all that was necessary for man’s simple wants, providing him with occupation for his faculties, and, we may be sure, more lovely than the loveliest spots that charm us now in this world of our trial and punishment. At this stage the earth was fully under the dominion of man, serving him without resistance to his efforts. “The Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure from the beginning, wherein He placed man whom He had formed … to dress it and keep it” (Gen. ii. 8, 15). Hence we learn that idleness is not the lot of man even in beatitude. There is a curse upon our labour, but labour itself is a necessity for our good estate of body and mind, for our advance and happiness. In this we may see a figure of Our Lord’s Incarnation in the “Garden enclosed” (Cant. iv. 12) where He placed His tabernacle. It was an Eden of grace and delight, and it endured but a short time. Jesus had to go forth in consequence of sin to labour in the sweat of His brow and struggle with the thorns and thistles of human perversity. In His Church God has provided a garden of Eden for you, full of all necessaries and delights, with the tree of life in the midst thereof. Outside there prevail doctrinal difficulty, moral failure, deficiency of grace, frustration of well-meant effort.

II. Next we find Adam led by God to contemplate the wonders of creation, to show his supremacy over it, and to exercise his intelligence by naming things in accordance with their characters. “The Lord God having formed the beasts and fowls brought them to Adam to see what he would call them; for whatsoever Adam called any living creature the same is its name” (Gen. ii. 19). Like the earth, all animals were then peacefully subject to the dominion of man, in virtue of the supremacy of his soul and its subjection to God’s authority. So now with us: absolute conformity to the divine law is the key to our complete mastery over ourselves and over the accidents of life. “To serve Him is to reign.” We may also remember that the whole human race passed before the eyes of Our Lord, especially in the agony of Gethsemani, to see what name He would call them. He saw our lives and deeds. He recognized some as His sheep and lambs, doves of innocence, or eagles who rise to the heights of divine contemplation; also wolves who rend the flock, and foul birds of night that delight in carrion and in deeds of darkness. See where you will place yourself; according to that, He names you.

III. Adam, as being the crown of God’s work, was necessarily complete and perfect in himself. Yet there was more required. He observed that amongst all creatures “there was not found a helper like himself” (Gen. ii. 20). He was alone; and the law of intelligent beings is society and not solitude. As in the Trinity, so there needed to be multiplicity as well as unity in the human image of God. In some wonderful way, therefore, God effected the separation of the sexes. He produced a second person from the first, and from these a third term, the completion and the bond of the primary human society. So is the family bound together in the unity of Matrimony, and the whole human race in unity of origin. Here is an emblem of the Church, the spouse of Christ, proceeding from the wounded side of the second Adam when He slept the sleep of death upon the cross; and from this union of Christ and His Church proceeds the spiritual life of mankind, who are born again in baptism. That holy spouse is separated from the world to be inseparably united with Christ, never to fall away or be supplanted by another. Only her children are recognized by Him as His. You are a child of that union. You help to form one term of that trinity, whereof Jesus Christ is the first, and the Church the second term. It is a mystical but most real relationship.

15. The Endowments of Adam

 
I. The works of God are perfect for their purposes, and so too must have been the crowning work for the sake of which all else had been made. Man is wonderful compared with the rest of beings; especially wonderful are the great heroes of humanity. We see man now under the influence of the great calamity, and of thousands of years of accumulated corruption. Unfallen man would be vastly superior to the best as known to us. Further, God fits everything for its providential duties. The first of men held a unique position as founder of the race, as first legislator and prophet, who had to mould his progeny and equip them with truth and principles of conduct, who was to set his mark upon them to last for ever. He required more brilliant endowments than any other great men who have influenced their race, like Abraham, Moses, the Apostles, great conquerors and philosophers and artists. In his first state he must have been a man of power and grandeur unequalled, inferior only to Him who carried out the frustrated task as the “Second Adam,” and to His ever blessed and immaculate Mother. Therefore “God clothed him with strength according to Himself. … He created in them the science of the spirit, He filled their hearts with wisdom” (Eccli. xvii. 2, 6). God has assigned great spiritual duties of some kind to you, and has equipped you accordingly. See that you do not fall from that grace, and prove unfaithful to your vocation.

II. As to his bodily endowments Adam must have been perfect and complete. As the object of God’s special care, and the work of His hand more directly than the rest of creatures, as the likeness and manifestation of God to the world and to the angels, as the king and ruler over God’s earthly kingdom, we must expect him to have been perfect in beauty, in strength, in health, in all bodily capacities, as he proceeded from the hand of the Creator. Besides his natural gifts he possessed an additional bodily gift beyond what he was entitled to. As being material and compounded, his body was transient, subject to decay, and mortal, like all other creatures. But this body, in order that it might be in harmony with the soul divinely breathed into it and raised to the supernatural life, was endowed with the gift of immortality, and immunity from disease and suffering. This was communicated through the soul, and depended on the maintenance of its supernatural efficiency. With us, too, the restored supernatural life of the soul has a strange, strong influence on our bodies, and on the whole course of our life as individuals and as a society.

III. In his mind, too, Adam must have been magnificently endowed. As yet he was not clouded, blinded, corrupted by sin; there was no antagonism to truth in him, no prejudice. Whatever was wanting to him in the way of observation and accumulation of knowledge, was supplied by his continual converse with God, face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Over all, there was the perfection which comes from sanctifying grace and the presence of God in the soul. Adam was in the state of innocence and of original justice, and had the infused habits of faith, hope, charity and all other virtues. His faculties and powers were so balanced that they did not conflict with one another, but worked together in harmony. No antagonism of impulses arose from the association of the material flesh with the reasonable soul. Grace guided reason, reason ruled the senses and appetites, and the whole being was subject to the divine will. Here were all the conditions of peace, progress, virtue and happiness. If you subordinate yourself to God, if you subdue the body and regulate the mind, you will escape from many of the consequences of original sin and enjoy an anticipated beatitude.

14. The Liberty of the Soul

I. The autonomy of man, the freedom of his will, is a most valuable and noble prerogative. “God made man from the beginning and left him in the hand of his own counsel” (Eccli. xv. 14). Intelligence and freedom go together. Each involves the other. Intelligence without liberty to carry out its conclusions is an incompleteness, a violence, a state of slavery. To speak of freedom without the power of understanding and balancing the alternatives of choice is a contradiction in terms. Man therefore possesses absolute control within himself; none can interfere with this, even though a man may be prevented by his weakness or by external force from carrying his will into effect. This dignity is valued beyond all others; and there are very few who are not ready to sacrifice almost every other advantage in order to retain the fulness of their freedom. The possession of this is enough to raise man high above the level of the material universe, and to make him, insignificant as he may be in bulk and strength, a nobler being than the most brilliant of the fixed stars. This does not mean that you are irresponsible, but that you have so much a stricter account to render. It gives you the power to do as you like, but not the right as against God. It does not mean that you may act without restraint, but that the restraint must come from yourself. Use your freedom accordingly.
II. As the possession of freedom raises man so high among creatures, making him like to God in a most important respect; so it gives an immense value and an immense power to human actions. As the rational soul is a nobler being than the great orb of the sun, so all the energies of the celestial bodies throughout space are not equal in value to one act of human worship and love. The service of our souls is then the highest in kind that creation can return to its Maker. On the other hand, the disobedience of a rational and free being possesses a corresponding enormity of malice. There is nothing so evil as to turn these great powers against Him from whom they are derived. One venial sin is a greater blot in the universe than the collapse and destruction of a solar system. Actions of such enormous import must have tremendous consequences for good or evil. Do not think that a transient deed of virtue or vice is not proportioned to these great results. That deed is the expression of the supreme determination of the autocratic human will in favour of Supreme Goodness or in revolt against it. Sin is then the supreme evil, and it must have corresponding consequences. All the miseries of the world are the result of revolt against religion and moral law.

III. The exercise of liberty in serving God implies a choice between two alternatives. There must be power to disobey as well as to obey. To keep the law when there is no power to transgress, is but a mechanical act and not an act of virtue. We must have the option between good and evil; and the choice of evil involves the consequences of evil—misery and hell. If God were to make these impossible, it could only be by making us unable to sin, i.e. it would be at the expense of our liberty. And what would this involve? Absolute freedom of will is the basis of merit and reward. There is no dignity in a reward that is not earned, or that is given for unintelligent indeliberate service; on the contrary the higher such a reward is, the more unmeaning it becomes, and the more discreditable to giver and receiver. Without full liberty men of good-will would lose all opportunities of sacrifice, generosity, heroism and victory. Those of evil-will would esteem it no favour for God to limit their freedom for the sake of forcing on them a benefit that they do not want. They would be the first to denounce such beneficence as tyranny. Your liberty is a terrible gift. Its advantages are infinite, and, unless you use it well, its disadvantages may be infinite too.

13.Unity and Variety in the Soul.

I. The soul is like to God in its unity. As God is one in the Trinity of Persons, as Our Lord Jesus Christ possesses a supreme unity in His two natures, the divine and the human, so the soul of man has a supreme unity. The soul is one, as being a spirit, a simple, uncompounded, indivisible substance. It is not composed of different chemical elements or of different atoms like the body; so its unity cannot be broken by decomposition and death. The soul is conscious of the different and contradictory impulses which proceed from the flesh and the reason, from nature and grace, but these do not constitute two souls or two personalities. It is one and the same spirit that exercises the different classes of vital functions, thinking, determining, remembering. It is ultimately one and the same principle which receives impressions through different senses, and puts the different members of the body into action. The soul, although different in its character and origin from the body, yet coalesces into an extraordinary unity with it, forming one person with one activity and one responsibility. Remember that your soul is one and your only one. Its life here is its one and only probation while it is in union with the body. Your unending future depends on your one present life, and the result can never afterwards be changed. Pray earnestly: “Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword, my only one from the hand of the dog” (Ps. xxi. 21).

II. In resemblance to the Divine Trinity, the one soul of man manifests itself in different ways and has a number of attributes. It is the centre, first, of a threefold life—the vegetative, the animal, the rational. The vegetative or simple organic life is that which accomplishes the functions of the lowest class of living beings, the plants. This is the life of things which grow by the assimilation of substances taken into the system, and not, as rocks or earth, by external accretion of other substance on their surface. They multiply their own substance and reproduce their life in other individuals. The sentient or animal life is that by which man receives impressions through the senses and nerves from the objects that surround him, becomes conscious of them, and sends back an impulse from the brain to the members in response. By the rational life, man, in addition to feeling these impressions, can reflect on them, revive them, balance them, and make his selection of the action which is to follow them. Under each one of these classes of operation are included a number of subsidiary powers and senses. God has made you in a wonderful manner. Thank Him for this, and consider all these faculties as so many ways of glorifying Him and working out your salvation.

III. The powers of the rational soul are again triple—the understanding, the memory, and the will. The understanding has a universal scope; it is content with nothing less than all knowledge, and aspires even to the knowledge of the Infinite. It has a marvellous acuteness for investigating, conjecturing, discovering the most recondite truths. The functions of memory store up past sensations and knowledge in immense number and variety, ready to be brought forth into use at desire. The will has an absolute mastery, and God Himself does not dispute its supremacy. It has the power of determining between the different impulses, and assigning the predominance to one impression over another, and of adhering to one object rather than another. These great faculties must be carefully exercised and controlled, and must not be indulged but trained. God has appointed certain limits to their use, and wishes them to be employed not for our gratification, but for His service. In the next world they will attain their fullest activity and satisfaction.

12. The Immortality of Man.

 

I. “God created man incorruptible” (Wisd. ii. 23). It is a great wonder and a great privilege that one of the creatures of this material transient universe should be raised to immortality. This is the crown of the highest creature. Nothing more could be given than immortality of supernatural life with God. As man is raised to this, he is evidently the last term of creation; nothing higher remains to be evolved. The soul is bestowed directly by God on man; He “breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul” (Gen. ii. 7). This alone can account for the rational soul; for everything must have an adequate cause; life can proceed only from life, as science tells us; so intelligence can proceed only from intelligence. Matter can no more generate mind than the inorganic can generate organic life. As one modification always produces others (by the law of correlation of parts), so the special mode of communication of the soul involves the further likeness to God of the soul being separable from this body and immortal. The immortality of man brings the whole of being into relation in one great chain. Without this the universe would be a mere by-product, with no sufficient raison d’être, ending in nothing as it began in nothing. The obvious gap in the series of existence, the obvious need of an immortal class of creatures, proves that such a class must exist. Thank God for raising you to such dignity.

II. Man’s aptitude for immortality and craving for it prove that he possesses it; for it is a law of biology that no healthy appetite exists without there being provision for its satisfaction. Nothing less than immortality can satisfy the demands of human nature. None are fully satisfied with this life; all are disappointed; none have had their fill, few have had their fair share. Our capacities are beyond all that is given to them here. If this life were all, our desires, by all analogy, would be amply satisfied with what it contains. So it is with the animals; they aspire to no more, they are fit for no more, and they get no more than this world affords. But man! However much he has, he always looks for more; for more of knowledge, of truth, of love, of friendship, of justice, of goodness, of enjoyment, of activity; and among the more highly developed of mankind there is the craving for the Infinite God Himself. Without immortality to complete us, the most successful life on earth would be no more than a miserable failure—a mocking cruelty, an insoluble enigma. The Christian hope alone explains all things and satisfies us.

III. In nature, though all decays, no single atom or energy ever perishes; they are conserved, transmuted, and transmitted for millions of years without loss. Man dies: i.e. his body ceases to act, and is separated into its components, which enter into new combinations. But there is in him a force, a source of force, even a creative force, higher in kind than all the cosmic forces. An energy so noble must be more than the sun’s rays, which fell upon this earth millions of years ago, and which remain locked up in the coal-beds till brought forth by us to start on a new course of active energy. The soul must endure in a better way than the particles of its subject body, which continue with all their chemical and molecular energies for ever. It cannot be that the noblest element in the universe is the only one to perish at once and utterly. All nature returns to God in man. The forces of this earth are concentrated on the support and development of man, sustaining the body while the soul works out its destiny. Physical energies subserve intellectual energies, and they in turn are the material of the spiritual energy which rises to its completion in God. The results of all creation will abide for ever in that transmuted form. All here passes, but not unprofitably. It will never be as if the world had never been.  

11. The Image of God in Man

 

I. Everything that is exhibits the impress of its maker or its origin. A building, a picture, a poem, a piece of mechanism, speaks of the epoch and nationality of the author, his intelligence, the object he had in view, his moral character perhaps; for his ideas are enshrined in it. The nature and qualities of God are necessarily reflected to a considerable extent in the multiform universe that He has made. It possesses good order, beauty, utility, grandeur, etc., and it reveals the existence of its Author, His immensity, eternity, omnipotence, goodness, wisdom. Much more is this the case with man. God says, “Let Us make man,” and not, “Let man be,” as He said of light; as if man were the special work of His hand; and He adds, “in Our own image and likeness.” Elsewhere we see the vestiges of God in creation; in man we see His living portrait. What dignity and splendour there must be in man when, in addition to the natural resemblance, he has acquired by virtue and grace the likeness to God’s most exalted perfections! But the higher and nobler a creature is, so much the more degrading and noxious is any serious deficiency. The absence of reason makes the baboon so loathsome because he stands so close to man. So it is with the image of God when the moral and spiritual likeness has been obliterated. The sinner is an unclean caricature of the Most Holy, a living blasphemy, the most noxious irregularity in creation.

II. Man is like to God as possessing in an eminent way all kinds of life that are found in creation: he has the vegetative life, which is perfected by sensation into the animal life, and this is ennobled by the addition of the rational life. Thus there is in man a triple life that represents the Blessed Trinity. Man resembles God also in the supremacy which he exercises over the material world. He is made lord of all things in order to guide them beneficently as God does, and to establish a divine kingdom among them. All creatures look to man as their master; and, not knowing God, they serve Him in that representation of Him which they see. Further, man is spiritual; he possesses a soul which can live apart from the body. The soul thinks, it can originate new ideas from itself, and so has a sort of creative force; it possesses will, and by its decree gives outward form and expression to the ideas. Thus man is doubly creative. By exercising these great powers as God directs, man may become vicegerent of God, an incarnation of the providence, the power, the wisdom, the beneficence of God; and effective ruler of the world. Disobeying God, man loses the resemblance to Him, and with it he loses in great measure his natural mastery over things temporal.

III. There are further kinds of resemblance to God which depend on our own efforts, with His grace. There is the moral likeness, by which we imitate the perfection of virtues in God. This is most admirable and beautiful, even when carried out in a merely natural way, imperfect as it then necessarily is. Far and away beyond this is the life of supernatural virtue, whereby God dwells in us, and infuses a facility for more splendid virtues than our natural faculties can attain. By this “the life of Jesus is made manifest in our mortal flesh” (2 Cor. iv. 11); and through its various degrees we may rise to the full perfection of the divine likeness that is possible on earth. But there is a more perfect resemblance still, which will be accomplished only in heaven. “We all, beholding the glory of the Lord with open face, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Cor. iii. 18). This is the true line of human evolution, perfecting the likeness of God from the natural order through the moral and supernatural, until we arrive at the life of heaven. If the mere vestiges of God in creation are so splendid, and so full of absorbing interest, if the natural man is so far superior to the material world, how magnificent must our souls be when in the state of grace, and when they are made perfect in glory!