io SIN 



but never cooperates in its production. This view cannot 

 be squared with the Tridentine decision quoted above, 

 which refers to His action in the production of evil as 

 " permissive operari" so 



c) Sin, being inspired by opposition to the will 

 of God, who is the Supreme Lawgiver and benevo- 

 lent Father of His creatures, is an act of dis- 

 obedience and ingratitude. 31 As an act of disobe- 

 dience it is called an offense (offensa Dei, offen- 

 sio). 



But if God is absolutely perfect and incapable 

 of suffering, how is it possible to offend Him and 

 provoke His anger, 32 especially since the sinner 

 commonly lacks the animus iniuriandi, i. e., the 

 deliberate intention of offending? That this is 

 so may be admitted; yet the (metaphorical) desig- 

 nation of sin as an offense against God corre- 

 sponds so well with its nature and with our limited 

 human conception of Him, that it must be ac- 

 cepted as substantially correct. 5 



33 



Being an act of disobedience to the will of God and a 

 denial of the moral order, sin is necessarily op- 

 posed to the sinner's own welfare, nay to his very nature. 

 Instead of the beatitude for which he was created, and 

 towards which his nature as well as the will of His Maker 

 compel him to tend, the sinner seeks his happiness in him- 



30 V. supra, p. 8, n. 27. Vom Zorn Gottes, Gottingen 1909. 



31 Deut. XXXII. 6; Is. I, 2-4; 33 Cfr. B. Dorholt, Die Lehre von 

 Jer. II, 32; V, 21-25. der Genugtuung Christi, Paderborn 



32 Cfr. Ps. V, 5 sqq.; X, 4; 1891, pp. 269 sqq. 

 LXXVII, 17.— Cfr. M. Pohlenz, 



