192 ORIGINAL SIN 



transmission of Adam's carnal tendencies. You may 

 remember that in my fourth lecture I mentioned cer- 

 tain speculative opinions connected with the problem 

 of sin, which have come to be mixed up in many minds 

 with catholic doctrine, and which ought not to be per- 

 mitted to embarrass our consideration of that doctrine. 

 Before proceeding further, I wish again to call your 

 attention to them, and to explain more fully than was 

 practicable at that stage of my argument their pre- 

 carious nature, and the importance of dissociating them 

 from the really catholic doctrine of the fall and of 

 original sin. 



I. First of all allow me to insist that a catholic be- 

 liever may safely refuse to be committed to a defence of 

 any particular theory of predestination. I say theory, 

 for it is impossible for a believer in Holy Scripture to 

 deny that divine predestination constitutes a factor in 

 human history, and in the mystery of sin. The re- 

 ality of this factor is clearly asserted by St. Paul,^ is 

 maintained by catholic writers of all schools, and is 

 borne out by certain deductions from the doctrine of 

 divine power and sovereign providence. But revelation 

 nowhere affords us sufficient knowledge of the nature 

 and method of this predestination to justify dogmatism 

 in regard to the definitions on the subject which have 

 gained currency, whether Augustinian, Calvin istic, 

 Arminian, or Jansenist; and such definitions may not 

 be permitted either to prejudice the counter truths con- 

 nected with human freedom and responsibihty, or to 



1 Especially in Rom. viii. 28-30. 



