THE FALL OF MAN 139 



difficulties of faith. The Church does not pretend 

 to solve such problems. She teaches what she has 

 been taught by the Spirit of truth, and her teaching 

 on the subject of man's fall cannot be shown to include 

 more than the following particulars: i. Our first 

 parents by sin lost the supernatural state in which 

 they had been di\dnely established, and its advan- 

 tages; 2. As a result, their animal propensities gained 

 the upper hand, sinful inclinations ruled, divine favour 

 was forfeited, and by way of punishment they were 

 made to revert to their natural liability to physical 

 death; 3. The supernatural advantages which they 

 had lost could not be transmitted to their offspring. 

 We have therefore inherited from them the natural 

 tendencies which are described by the terms con- 

 cupiscence and lust, and cannot, except by the saving 

 grace of Christ, subject the flesh to the spirit so as to 

 fulfil the supernatural end for which our race was 

 created. Such in substance is the catholic doctrine 

 of the fall — the doctrine on that subject with which 

 these lectures are properly concerned. 



This doctrine has often been based by theological 

 writers upon separate proof-texts; and these texts have 

 had more meaning read into them, and more independ- 

 ent proving value attributed to them, than exact and 

 critical exegesis warrants. The impression has natu- 

 rally gained ground, even among intelligent writers, 

 that the doctrines in question cannot be verified by 

 the Scriptures. I believe that the difficulty is due to 

 the exclusive attention paid to the proof-text method. 



