Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/77

 death; and  so  sin  and  death  passed  upon  all  men  from Adam unto  Moses,  even  upon  those  who  had  not sinned." From  Adam  to  Moses,  and  from  Moses  to Christ  human  nature  bore  irremediably  its  hereditary taint  of  original  sin,  and  its  consequent  proneness  to actual  transgressions.  So  mortally  offended  had  God been,  that  not  even  all  the  efforts  of  all  men  and angels  for  all  time  could  make  sufficient  reparation. Man  is  more  potent  for  evil  than  for  good.  He  can offend  God  infinitely,  but  make  amends  as  best  he may,  they  are  but  finite — limited.  Yet  man  had  sinned and  man,  not  angels,  must  atone,  and  could  not;  nor could  God's  mercy  freely  pardon  all  until  His  justice had  been  satisfied.  In  this  dilemma  it  was  that  God the  Son,  humbly  obedient  to  His  Father's  will, exclaimed:  "  Behold,  I  come. I come  to  take  upon Me man's  nature  and  man's  sins. As man,  I  will make atonement  such  as  man  should  make;  as  God, the value  of  My  reparation  will  be  infinite. I will merit such  a  boundless  treasury  of  grace  for man, that  all  men,  past,  present,  and  to  come, may draw  therefrom  by  acts  of  faith  and  hope, love and  contrition,  and  through  the  sacraments of  holy  Church,  sufficient  of  that  heavenly coin to  pay  the  entrance  fee  into  the  kingdom  of  My Father."  "  Thus,"  concludes  St.  Paul,  "  as  by  the disobedience of  one  man,  many  were  made  sinners, so also  by  the  obedience  of  one  many  were  made  just, that as  sin  hath  reigned  to  death,  so  also  grace  might reign by  justice  unto  life  everlasting  through  Christ Jesus our  Lord."