20 SIN 



As there is a state of spiritual death and moral 

 infirmity, so there are external and internal acts 

 that produce death and infirmity; and as there is 

 a moral order which can be either grievously or 

 slightly violated, so there are grievous and slight 

 offenses against that order. 1(X "Could anything 

 be more absurd or foolish," asks St. Augustine, 

 "than to consider one who has indulged in im- 

 moderate hilarity guilty of as great a sin as 

 the wretch who has brought ruin upon his na- 

 tive land?" 17 "If two acts are equal because 

 they are both offenses," he continues, "then mice 

 and elephants are equal because they are both 

 animals, and flies and eagles are equal because 

 they can fly through the air." 18 



"Not only Scripture, but mankind in general," says a 

 recent moralist, "recognize the fact that there are sins 

 which by their nature do not involve a real lapse from 

 morality, and which do not render the agent bad and 

 worthless, but are committed even by just and pious men. 



16 Cfr. Prov. VI, 30 sqq. — St. Je- tius incenderit, peccasse iudicentur 

 rome, Adv. lovitt., II, c. 30: "Sunt aequaliterf" 



Peccata levia, sunt gravia. Aliud 18 Ibid., n. 14: "Aut si prop- 



est decern millia talenta debere, terea sunt paria, quia utraque delicto 



aliud quadrantem. Et de otioso sunt, mures et elephanti pares erunt, 



quidem verbo et adulterio rei tene- quia utraque sunt animalia, muscae 



bimur, sed non est idem suffundi et et aquilae, quia utraque volatilia." 



torqueri, erubescere et longo tempore (Migne, P. L., XXXIII, 394). — Cfr. 



cruciari." (Migne, P. L., XXIII, Horace's Satires, I. 3, 96 sqq.: 



3 2 7)- "Quis paria esse fere placuit pec- 



17 St. Augustine, Epist., 104 (al. cata, laborant, 



2S4), c. 4, n. 13: "Quid absurdius, Quum ventum ad verum est: sensus 



quid insanius dici potest, quam ut moresque repugnant 



ille, qui aliquando immoderatius Atque ipsa utilitas, iusti prope mater 



riserit et ille, qui patriam truculen- et aequi." 



