THE PENITENTIAL LIFE WHICH FOLLOWED THE FALL.

raised Adam immediately upon his creation to the supernatural state, or whether He suffered him to remain for a time destitute of the grace which He afterwards gave to him. It is sufficient to know that Adam had no claim of justice to receive the gift of sanctifying grace, and that when Adam and Eve fell into their sin, they were at the time in possession of the gift, and that among other evil results of their sin, they lost it.

A very different life now followed from that of Paradise; Adam had to work for his bread in the sweat of his brow; and Eve, though penitent like St. Mary Magdalene, had sorrow with her children. Her first son, Cain, proved the murderer of his brother, and was banished by God Himself from their family; but the real calamity, the loss of the supernatural state, and the inward disorder and propensity to evil existing in the heart, required time to manifest itself fully in the world.

We are not now studying a history, otherwise it would be in place to cite examples from history, to show the terrible effects that have followed from the sin of Adam, in the way of consequence to his children. One point, however, I think, merits reflection. To those who will take the pains to consider the subject, it can scarcely fail to convey a really striking and obvious proof of the present fallen condition of our nature.

VISIBLE PROOFS OF THE REALITY OF THE FALL.

The prophet Osee, when he is threatening judgments upon the kingdom of Israel, and is warning the people that for the multitude of their sins, God will turn their glory into shame, adds, as a special note of the disgrace which God will bring down upon them, that the state of things should be such that the very Levites themselves should eat up the sins of His people. It was thus made the ignominy and shame of Israel, by way of special punishment, that their Levites, instead of being the instructors of the people in holiness and virtue, should live by their sins. In the natural state of society, as it exists apart from grace and the Catholic Church, a similar ignominy and shame is its perpetual standing condition. Its three learned professions, commonly called LAW, PHYSIC, and DIVINITY, literally exist as professions, and derive their standing daily subsistence, from and in consequence of the sins of the people. Lawyers live from day to day upon the interminable quarrels, litigations, and disputes of the people. Physicians live from day to day, upon finding remedies for diseases brought on, either directly or indirectly, from the sins of the people. And ministers of religion, in the same manner, are sought after, principally if not exclusively, by sufferers from sin in one form or another, who want to obtain relief of mind from the misery and

EXTREMES OF WEALTH AND POVERTY.

distress of a disturbed conscience. Natural society thus

clearest proof of the The utmost that it can trying to staunch its

exhibits on its very face, the ignominy and shame of its fall. do for itself is to be perpetually continually running wounds and sores. And the professions which it creates for this purpose have most to do, when there is the most stirring among the people in the way of sin.

This however is far from the full measure of its misery and ignominy. Property is continually being accumulated by those who are clever and avaricious, and continually being squandered by others who are reckless and spendthrift. Hence ensue numerous cases of hopeless poverty on one side, with all the attendant vices and miseries of poverty, and on the other, overgrown wealth with all its attendant pride, pomp, and oppression. Cities are formed, in which the whole of the labour of their crowded and sickly inhabitants, goes to swell the overgrown wealth of the few, who as master manufacturers and merchants, command the channels of commerce; and thus in the midst of its supposed civilization, natural society exhibits the few living as princes, while the multitudes of the people groan away their lives, in no better condition than that of the Israelites in the brick-making pits of Egypt.