Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/41

 he may  be,  for  only  sin  excludes  from  happiness,  and Christ has  said:  "Unless  a  man  be  born  again  of water  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  he  can  never  enter  the kingdom  of  heaven." The Church  attests  this  fundamental dogma  by  celebrating  the  feasts  of  the  saints, not on  the  day  when  in  sin  they  came  into  this  world, but on  the  day  of  their  death,  when,  sinless,  they passed to  glory. St. Jerome  discourages  inquiry  as  to how  original  sin  is  transmitted,  saying:  "  It  is  as though  one  fallen  overboard  were  asked  '  How  came you  there? '  and  should  reply,  '  Ask  not  how  I  came here,  but  seek  rather  how  you  may  get  me  out.'  " Anyhow, our  natures  were  corrupted  in  Adam  and Eve as  waters  in  their  source,  with  this  difference,  that human nature  is  not  purified  in  transmission. As the different members  of  my  body  may  become  guilty  of crime,  though  not  acting  by  their  own  volition  but under the  influence  of  my  perverse  will,  so  we,  as  we are  of  the  great  body  of  humanity,  contract  the  guilt of a  sin  of  which  the  head  alone  was  guilty. Adam and Eve  were  a  representative  committee  of  two, chosen from  the  myriads  of  human  possibilities. Theirs was  a  test  case;  their  fate  our  fate;  so  that we all  share  in  their  sin  and  punishment  as  we  should have shared  in  their  happiness  had  they  remained faithful to  God. One single  exception  is  recorded — the Virgin  Mary. Of her  alone  we  can  say  with  the Canticle: "All  beautiful  art  thou  and  there  is  no stain  in  thee." In St.  John's  vision  of  her,  the  moon under her  feet  denotes  the  absence  in  her  of  all  stain or change— denotes  her  to  be  as  Longfellow  styles