The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-02-25
.EX-PREs|DENT ELIOT ANSWERED.
BIBLE TEACHING DEFENDED.
Catholic Doctrine on Original Sin Set
Forth by DR.. Pierse of St.
Paul Seminary.

Paul Seminary.
In his crusade for the teaching of
sex hygiene in the schools, DIR. Charles
w. Eliot, President Emeritus of Har-
ward, said on February 6: I'VE must
get rid of those monstrous things
brought down to us from the Book OF
LeViticus. We must get rid of this
idea taught us for thousands of years
that man is born in SIM We refuse
TO do SO even at the command of the
distinguished doctor of Harvard To
repudiate this. idea of Original Sin is to
repudiate not the Book of Leviticus,
but the New Testament, nay the Bible
itself. Why throw all the blame on
the ancient and little-known Book of
Leviticus? Why not include the New
Testament, in whose pages the doctrine
of original sin is clearly contained? ST.
Paul (Romans, v. 12) says: ''By one
man sin came into the world and by
sin death; and so death passed upon
all men, in whom all sinned" The
Apostle of the Gentiles teaches that all
men have sinned., This is not the ex-
travagant language of hyperbole; it
does not mean merely that most men
have committed personal sins. Ac-
cording to ST. Paul death is punish
ment for sin. And death has exerted
it's awful sway over them also who
have not sinned after the similitude of
the transgression of Adam" Those
who have not committed personal
sins, even little children, are subjected
Ito the punishment of death. All hui
man beings, including infants, would
not be punished with death by just
God unless all were born in sin. Such
is the argument of Paul, the inspired
doctor of the Gentiles, and why re-
ject it at the request of the uninspired
doctor of Harvard?
That man is. born in sin is a basic
truth of Christianity. Christ is the
Redeemer of the human race From
what did He redeem humanity y-not
this or that individual, not the aged
alone, but every child of Adam-ex-
cept sin? Christ is the Savior of the
world. From what did He save the
world, if it were not the iniquity which
weighed heavily upon all? Take away
the foundation of original sin, and the
whole superstructure of the redemp-
tion crumbles to the ground.
Baptism is an indispensable sacra-
ment of nearly all Christian sects, no
matter how much they may differ in
regard to other matters. Now bap-
tism is part and parcel of this idea
that man is born in sin-this idea of
which DR.. Eliot would rid us. Bap-
tizing, according to it's very deriva-
tion, means washing. Wherefore this
religious ablution except it is under
stood that even the soul of the new
born babe is stained with sin? The
waters of Baptism poured on the in
fant's head are visible figure of
the spiritual cleansing of it's soul
from the sin with which it came into
the world. To get rid of the doc
trine of original sin is to get rid of
the fundamental tenets of Christianity.
What a mockery to repudiate the idea
of birth in sin, and to call oneself a
follower of Him whose final command
was: Going, therefore, teach ye all
nations; baptizing them (that is,
washing them from SIM in the name
of the Father and the Son and the
Holy Ghost" Matt. xviii 19).
DR.. Eliot regards original sin as one
of those monstrous things brought
down to us from the Book of Levitt
GUS" The monster which he sees in
original sin is the melancholy product
of an excited Imagination Such a
/ conception betrays the frenzy of gen
ius without it's sublimity. All that
/ Catholic dogma requires us to believe
i is that men are born deprived of grace
as result of the sin of our first par
ents. Adam was made by his Creator
the representative of the human race
If he abided by certain condition
imposed by Almighty God, his children
would have been born in grace II
not, they were to be born without it
Adam sinned in not abiding by the
condition, and the Creator took away
His grace, or that special favor which
4 is superadded to nature and entirely
undue to man. Is that monstrous
i Let us suppose that President Taft
gave the Mayor of st. Paul certain
prerogatives which would be handed
down to future inhabitants of the city
If the Mayor fulfilled a reasonable con
dition. Let us suppose that the
Mayor did not stand by the condition
and that the President took away those
prerogatives from the citizens of st
Paul. Would that be monstrous?
According to the press report of hi:
lecture, DR.. Eliot said that the Bool
of Leviticus maligned motherhood il
it's assertion that children were born il
sin. We regret to be compelled to say
it-Dr. Eliot maligns the Book of lie
viticus. He totally misrepresents thi!
sacred book We shall give what i
!, really says, not what Dr. Eliot makes
! it say. 1t ordains that, "if woman
bear man-chi1d, sh,
|. shall be unclean seven days" {ch. XII
/ ~ rTST.