The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology - Saint Mary ...

doctrine of the Romish Church. The doctrine of the immaculate
conception, to wit: that the Virgin Mary was conceived and born without
sin, had been for centuries maintained by the Franciscans, and denied by
the Dominicans, but was set forth authoritatively by Pius IX. in 1854, as a
doctrine of the Catholic Church. 251 The birth of Mary was a human birth,
and hence, hers was a nature with the taint of original sin.
In this thesis, moreover, is implied the freedom of our Lord from
original sin, for his birth was not in the course of nature. Ie was conceived
by the Holy Spirit (Apostles' Creed, Art. II.); He was incarnate by the
Holy Spirit, of the Virgin Mary (Nicene Creed, Art. III.); and his birth was
divine and supernatural.
And here, it is impossible not to be struck with the beautiful,
Scripture-like reticence of our Confession, for while it most clearly either
states or implies that original sin has been in the world since Adam's Fall;
that without that Fall it would not have been; that our natural descent from
him actually is accompanied, in every case, by the inheritance of the moral
nature, into which, so to speak, he fell, it does not define how;
THEORETICALLY, the sin of Adam is related to us; does not touch the
question of imputation at all. The Augsburg Confession sets forth the chief
Articles of Faith, the Faith of the Church universal, that is of the true
Catholic Church, but the doctrine of imputation, AS A THEORY, belongs
to scientific theology. The Augsburg Confession presents the whole
question, only in its great practical elements, as these in some form or other
are grasped by faith, and take part in the general belief of the Church.
We cannot recall a single passage, in any of our Confessions, in
which the imputation of Adam's sin is alluded to, even in passing, as an
Article of Faith. The Confessions say no more than that our fallen
condition was "through the disobedience of Adam," or "on account of it,"
and expressly reject the idea that "original sin is derived to us by
imputation only." 252 "We
251 See Preuss on the "Immaculate Conception," which has been translated into English, and Pusey's Irenicon.
252 Formula Concordiae, 575.