Chapter VII.
On the cure of original sin.
Finally, the manner of the cure of original sin is this: that the fault is so cured that temporal punishment remains, as is evident in baptized infants; it is so cured with respect to the guilt of eternal punishment that it remains with respect to the act and movement of concupiscence; it is so cured in the parent that nonetheless original sin is transmitted to the offspring by him who has been cured through baptism; the stain of original sin is so removed that the aftermath remains, against which one must fight as long as we live in this life, because concupiscence is utterly extinguished in no one through common grace—which I say on account of the most blessed Virgin, in whom it was extinguished at the conception of the Son of God through a singular grace.
Now the reason for understanding the aforesaid is this: because, just as the infection is derived in all from a created principle, from which the propagation of bodies comes about, and this from the lower part, namely the flesh, so the cure must come about from an uncreated principle, from which the infusion of souls comes about, and this from the higher part, namely the mind. Since therefore from the part of the mind there is distinction among human beings, such that according to it one is not propagated from another, but proceeds immediately from God, curative grace, infused by God into our mind, regards each one insofar as he holds the character of a singular and individual person, not insofar as he holds the character of a producer according to the power of nature. Because therefore original sin is a disease infecting the person equally and nature—the person in the will, nature in the flesh—therefore the original stain is so cured in the mind that the infection and aftermath remain in the flesh.
And because man generates not insofar as he is cured in mind, but insofar as he is corrupted in flesh, not insofar as he is spiritual, but insofar as he is carnal, hence it is that although he is baptized and thus cleansed from original sin in himself, he nonetheless transmits original sin to his offspring.
Again, because the guilt of eternal punishment regards the deformity of the mind and person, while the movement regards the inclination of the flesh and nature, therefore original sin passes away through baptism with respect to guilt and remains with respect to act.
Lastly, because temporal affliction regards the condition on the part of the flesh, since the flesh always remains subject to a certain infection, it must always remain subject to penality: and therefore, just as penality and corruption are not removed from the flesh through grace, so that consequence, namely concupiscence and the languor of the members, can coexist with curative grace. And therefore, although it is gradually diminished, yet because the root is not removed, it is never entirely taken away in the wayfarer except in the most blessed Virgin through a singular grace. For because the Virgin conceived him who was the expiation of all fault, therefore a singular grace was given to her, by which all concupiscence was extinguished in her at the root, so that she might conceive the Son of God without any stain and corruption of sin. "For it was fitting that that Virgin should shine with a purity than which no greater beneath God can be conceived, to whom God the Father so disposed to give his only Son—whom, begotten from his own heart and equal to himself, he loved as himself—that he would be by nature one and the same Son common to God the Father and the Virgin; and whom the Son himself chose to make substantially his mother; and from whom the Holy Spirit willed and was about to bring it about that he from whom he himself proceeded would be conceived and born."