MAN'S PRIMITIVE STATE 123 



unable rightly to understand and interpret the inade- 

 quacies of Old Testament spiritual teaching. The 

 context and the text — I mean the human narratives 

 and the divine teaching — may not be separated. All 

 is inspired; but these two elements, and their respec- 

 tive relations to the purpose of inspiration, must be 

 distinguished, if we would understand either the Holy 

 Scripture itself or the real bearing of modern scientific 

 criticism upon the limits of its authority. 



II 



We have come to the subject which will consume 

 our attention during the remainder of this course of 

 lectures — the bearing of the evolutionary hypothesis on 

 the catholic doctrine of man's primitive state and fall. 

 The rest of this lecture will be devoted to a descrip- 

 tion of the contents and evidence of its two main 

 particulars — {a) the primitive state^_and ih) the faU. 



In ascertaining cathoUc doctrine the rule of faith 

 has to be observed.^ Stated briefly, this rule is that 

 we ought to believe what is taught and defined by the 

 Church, and confirmed and illustrated by the Scrip- 

 tures. Such a rule requires us to assume, and many 

 centuries of spiritual investigation confirm the assump- 

 tion, that the inspired teachings of Holy Scripture and 

 the ecumenical doctrines of the Spirit-guided Catholic 

 Church are in accord. But this harmony does not 

 always appear on the immediate surface. The details 



1 On the rule of faith see the author's Authority, Eccles. and Bib- 

 lical, ch. viii. 



