257 is no one free from stain, not even though his life be of one [267] day."333 As an infant one day old cannot commit an actual sin, the stain must come from the original offense of Adam. "Behold," says David, "I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins did my mother conceive me."334 The Scripture also tells us that Jeremiah and John the Baptist were sanctified before their birth, or purified from sin, and, of course, at that period of their existence they were incapable of actual sin. They were cleansed, therefore, from the original taint. These passages clearly show that we have all inherited the transgression of our first parents, and that we are born enemies of God. And it is equally plain that these texts apply to every member of the human family — to the infant of a day old as well as to the adult. Indeed, even without the light of Holy Scripture, we have only to look into ourselves to be convinced that our nature has undergone a rude shock. How else can we account for the miseries and infirmities of our bodies, the blindness of our understanding, the perversity of our will — inclined always to evil rather than to good — the violence of our passions, which are constantly waging war in our hearts? How well does the Catholic doctrine explain this abnormal state. Hence, Paschal truly says that man is a greater mystery to himself without original sin than is the mystery itself. The Church, however, declares that the Blessed Virgin Mary was exempted from the stain of original sin by the merits of our Savior Jesus Christ; and that, consequently, she was never for an instant subject to the dominion of Satan. [268] This is what is meant by the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. But God, in passing sentence of condemnation on Adam, consoled him by the promise of a Redeemer to come. "I will put