ment. It is as manifestly the character given of Adam, our first father, in Paradise.

And as manifestly it is the ideal image of perfection, after which each man is led by his nature to aspire. It is manifest, that in this aspiration we desire not an animal nature which is not good or evil, but indifferent; nor a mere innocent nature, whose quality is doing good unconsciously, but one that does good consciously, and that consciously abstains from evil. It is also manifest that this desire of our moral nature is no desire purely imaginary, no image of perfection that never was realized, but one that of itself has had two actual and real exemplars in our LORD JESUS CHRIST, and in Adam in Paradise, the father of the human race.

To examine, therefore, these exemplars of perfection in reference to that which is the Highest Good of man is to bring the definition we have given of Good, and of the Highest Good, to the actual test of historical experience, and both to confirm it, and also to hold out the very highest model, not as imaginary, but as realized. And we beg the reader to pay a close attention to this part of our discussion, inasmuch as the examination of these models not only will illustrate the nature of Moral Good, but also the nature of man, both as fallen and as in Paradise.

Now, with regard to our LORD-HE was a man; this is fully and plainly manifest. Human Nature cannot, therefore, be morally indifferent in the same condition as the beasts are, or fiendish essentially, else God could not have taken it; but it must have been Good in its nature.

Again. He was Morally Perfect from birth to death. He did no sin in thought, word or deed: for thought is action, word is action, deed is action. Now seeing that manifestly, therefore, we must call him perfect, what is the idea of Moral Good presented to us by Him as the perfect man?

Manifestly it may be put in not sinning, that positively our blessed Lord, as a man, in everything did that which is according to the will of GoD, and negatively he abstained from doing that against his will.

This is the plain fact, both from his own words and the account we have of his life; for of all other men, whatsoever height of character they have attained, it is an historical fact, there are none who have not been faulted for sin, either positively or negatively, and that He alone was uncensured both by his friends and

cotcmporaries, and by all since then. That, therefore, by which he was perfect morally, must be the Highest Good, and that which he counted Good must have been Good, and his method of attaining to it the method. And no definition of Moral Good, or of the Highest Good, or of man's supreme rule in life, by whatsoever philosopher it be brought forward, is true but this, that "God is the Supreme Good, and the Supreme Law of man His Will, and the Supreme Happiness and Perfection of man a resemblance unto him."

It is manifest, that to our Lord, the exemplar and model of Perfect Humanity, the Supreme Good was God the Father. His perfection was in his being "the express image of God." And the highest and completest object of his existence to do the will of God. And we can see that he fulfilled the notion of a perfect Humanity, a Human Nature of itself Good, and consciously doing no evil, but all good.

But we see that he was aided towards this; the Human Nature was, as it were, upheld and enabled to effect this, and to be raised to its highest possible perfection, by the union of the Divine Nature with it.

But it will be said, "to Him this was the Highest Good, because being God the Word, the will of the FATHER was immediately known to him, but to us that can be no true standard."

To this we may at once say, "He is the express image of His person, the manifestation of His glory;" and "he that hath seen him, hath seen the Father also.”

But we go on to another consideration, which will be found to tell upon this part of the subject in a very important way; that is, to consider the moral condition of the other perfect man, Adam; and this we shall find to give us great light upon the

matter.

Now, when we look at the situation of Adam, we find enough tc lead us to consider that as our nature is good, even although it is injured by the Fall, so was the nature of Adam good, without that injury.

Next we find that Adam, as Christ, continuously thought, and spoke, and did no evil, and that not as a mere innocent, or as a righteous animal, barely without consciousness, but consciously and knowingly. This is expressed by the declaration that God made Adam in the image of God, in the image that is of God the

WORD, as St. Athanasius interprets it, which implies that his nature, as a moral nature, was complete and perfect.

And secondly, he possessed the endowment of a direct supernatural communication with the ALMIGHTY, whereby man's nature, "the image of God," should reflect God's attributes. So should man's Will directly be under the influence of the FATHER; man's Higher Reason, of the WORD; man's Conscience, of the SPIRIT.

So that thereby his being in the image, this consisted of these two parts: first, the Moral Nature, and secondly, the supernatural endowment corresponding to that nature. This the Supernatural Gift, consisting plainly of the Presence of God with Adam, not as God was present with our SAVIOUR, perpetually united with his Humanity, but as capable of being withdrawn. Which gift the Catholic Church has accounted to be the HOLY SPIRIT dwelling in a nature, 1st, unfallen, 2d, perfectly free, and 3d, untainted from the beginning with any speck of actual sin.*

This is the account of the First Man and his condition, which seems to have been drawn from the Scriptures by the Universal Reason of the Church. And we can see that it agrees most exactly with the various passages of the Scriptures that concern Adam, or speak of man in general, whether they be historical or doctrinal.

Now, this manifestly implies, with regard to Adam, the same we have shown to be the case with respect to CHRIST, our most Blessed Lord ever to be adored, that His Supreme Absolute Good was God; the measure and standard unto him of all moral good whatsoever. That of his own nature and actions, their good was a similarity in them to God, and that God's will was his law. And that Adam was not then good of himself, and of his own reason, with no connection with God except that of natural mind, understanding of its natural ability, that which is good, and then of that natural ability doing it. But Adam was good in a twofold way; first, of his nature, so made and constituted; and secondly, of the Supernatural Gift; the Spirit, thus bringing close to him that GOD WHO in HIMSELF IS THE ABSOLUte good.

This is the moral doctrine with regard to the position of our first father, which the thought of the Church has wrought out;

* Upon the State of Adam before the Fall, and especially upon the “Supernatural Gift," Bp. Bull's fifth discourse may be read.

and this we shall see, and this only will satisfy the descriptions given us of man's nature in Paradise, that is, of man perfect, and the demands of our Human Nature, that is, of man imperfect; and of the nature of GOD and of CHRIST.

There are, I would also remark, from these conclusions, with regard to Christ our Lord, and with regard to Adam, many inferences that concern our present life and future state of perfect being, which are of the most interesting, and to this age that has forgotten the Church, the fountain of all wisdom, of the mosÚ novel and startling kind, upon which I would gladly enlarge, but that my limits prevent it. It is, I hope, sufficient to suggest "that as He is, so shall we be also," to enable others to draw these inferences, and thus leaving this to Christian meditation, we may pass onward to our task.

It will, however, be said, "while we acknowledge with regard to Christ and with regard to Adam, what is here laid down, to us it cannot be so. We are not as our Lord, who was God the Word Incarnate, and to whom, therefore, 'God,' the Will of God,' the 'Nature of God' were laws."

We are not, it will again be said, as Adam, who was in the "Image of God," and with whom the Supernatural Gift of God's HOLY SPIRIT, the third person of the Trinity, over dwelt, and being of himself "Very God," revealed to Adam, the "Nature," the "Will," "the Law" of God, and thus made all these his standard of Moral Goodness and his Supreme Law of Action. "But we are alone," say they, "and therefore we must find out for ourselves some other standard."

I might have given a sufficient answer to this, first, by saying that it is a heathen objection, one that supposes not that "in Him we live, and move, and have our being," but that he has departed and left other powers to rule the world, that in themselves have no moral and spiritual energies, but blind force. Secondly, I pointed out that our nature being itself good, although fallen, the "Bible in the Church," the Affections as brought forth in the Family, and the Natural Sense of Justice and Equity, as brought forth in the Nation, all these are revelations of God, all these are such that of Him we have more evidence and clearer knowledge than we have of any one of the objects of the senses.

These answers were enough for objections; but as my object is

not to refute or answer, but to teach, perhaps it may be advantageous to go farther into the subject.

And this I will do, not merely as a proof of what I have now asserted, but as a most important advance in the science of Christian Ethics.

The reader will remember that the objections say, "True: God is the Highest Good; to be like Him is the Supreme Happiness; it was so to Christ and so to Adam. It cannot be so to us, because we are not as was Christ, we are not as was Adam."

We are not as our Lord; this is manifest. Whether that dissimilarity is of such a nature as to cause that Moral Good shall not be to us the same as to him, or that the Supreme Rule of Action to our Lord shall not be the Supreme Rule to us, are matters which, however easily settled, I shall not here meddle with. The objection that says, "We are not as Adam, and therefore the rule and law of Adam cannot apply to us,"—this I shall first take up. The objection says, "We are not as Adam." What, then, was Adam? That which we have above described.

And what are we? The answer is, we are "fallen;" this is the answer of all Christians. "We are fallen."

But how far fallen-to what degree? The answer with reference to degree is, "so far fallen as yet to be men," not so far as to cease to be men; but so far as, being still men, we could fall; fallen, but not so fallen as to be Devils, all evil in nature, or to be beasts, altogether indifferent to good. Man's nature is a fallen nature; "as far gone as it can be"*from Original Righteousness, but not farther; a nature still Human, not a fiendish nature, or a bestial one. In the first chapter I have shown this; I have shown that we must count that man's nature yet is good.

Wherein, then, is the difference, if man's nature before the Fall was good, after the Fall is also good? Is it not, then, not fallen? We answer that it is fallen, although good, and we proceed to explain how it is fallen.

In theological language, the state of man now differs from that in Paradise, in Sin, Original and Actual. We have not to discuss the nature of Original or Actual Sin, for this is out of our way at present, only to show how the two states differ as regards the

* The 9th Article of the Church, "Very far gone;" better translated as above, the Latin being "quam longissime."