Page:Essays on Catholicism, Liberalism, and Socialism.djvu/284

bility. Thus it is said that we have all sinned in Adam, because we are all in a common bond of solidarity with him, and that we have all been redeemed by Jesus Christ, because his merits are reversible to us. The difference here, as may be seen, is only in name, and in nowise alters the identity of the thing signified. It is the same with the dogmas of imputation and substitution, which are only the two dogmas of solidarity and of reversibility considered in their applications. In virtue of the dogma of imputation, we all suffer the punishment inflicted upon Adam, and by that of substitution, our Saviour suffered for us all. But, as is here seen, we only consider a dogma as regards its substance. The principle in virtue of which we have all been saved in our Lord, is identical with that through which we have all been guilty and punished in Adam. This principle of solidarity which explains the two great mysteries of our redemption and of the transmission of sin, is in its turn explained by this very transmission, and by the redemption of mankind. Without solidarity we cannot even conceive of a corrupted and redeemed humanity; and, on the other hand, it is evident that if humanity could neither be redeemed by Jesus Christ nor corrupted in Adam, neither could it be conceived as one and possessing solidarity.

This dogma, united to that of the Adamic prevarication, reveals to us the true nature of man, and God has never permitted these dogmas to be entirely forgotten. This explains why all the nations of the world have confessed them, and why their testimony is engraved in luminous characters on the pages of history. The most civilized nations and the most savage tribes have alike believed these two things: that the sins of