130 THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS 



death, was supernatural. Our first parents were en- 

 dowed with gifts of the Holy Spirit, in lack of which 

 their unique privileges, and their ability to escape sin 

 and death, would have been non-existent. 



That these propositions contain the cathoHc doc- 

 trine of man's primitive state, I am con^dnced. This 

 doctrine contains an element which has been repudiated 

 by protestants; viz., the assertion that man's primitive 

 state was one of grace, and supernatural. On the 

 other hand, it does not contain certain very precise 

 views which have been popularly confused with ecu- 

 menical doctrine. For instance, it is not a catholic 

 doctrine that Adam was possessed of such forms of 

 virtue and sanctity as are acquired by experience with, 

 and successful resistance of, manifold temptations. 

 How long he remained sinless we are not told, but all 

 indications show that inupcence is the correct term to 



I describe his condition. / He was potentially perfect, 

 but actualized perfection had yet to be acquitq^J 

 Again, it is not a catholic doctrine that Adam possessed 

 a wide range of physical and spiritual knowledge, was, 

 in short, highly civilized.^ He seems rather to have 

 been an undeveloped child, possessed of capacity to 

 advance, but with much to learn. Finally, catholic 

 doctrine leaves the boundary line between fact and 

 symbol in the narrative of Genesis undetermined. It 

 does not require us to decide whether the Garden of 



1 Bishop South's terse sentence, "An Aristotle was but the rubbish 

 of an Adam, and Athens but the rudiments of Paradise," has been 

 quoted as if representing cathoHc consent, which it certainly does not. 



