NATURE OF SIN 7 



affections, ... to a reprobate sense/' etc. 21 In 

 another place he declares that the heathen, ' 'hav- 

 ing their understanding darkened, . . . have 

 given themselves up to lasciviousness." 22 The 

 seeming contradiction cannot be solved by putting 

 an arbitrary construction upon the sacred text. 

 Being the first, universal, and immediate cause of 

 all things and all operations, God works in every 

 creature and has a share in every creatural act. 

 Every ethical act performed by man has two 

 causes — God and free-will. Though these causes 

 cooperate closely, they are essentially distinct in 

 their nature as well as in the relation they respec- 

 tively bear to the act performed. Free-will is the 

 efficient cause (causa efRciens) of every ethical 

 act as such. But sin is never an act of God. St. 

 Paul speaks of God as cooperating, not in the 

 sinful acts of the gentiles, but in punishing 

 them. 23 



It would not be correct, even so, to describe the 

 divine cooperation in the evil deeds of men as a 

 mere permission or toleration. God works in all 

 His creatures at all times, and no secondary cause, 

 whether it be spiritual or material, can operate 

 without His concurrence. Hence He not merely 

 permits sin, but somehow positively cooperates in 

 its commission (concur sus divinus). "God is 



V, 48; XIX, 17; Jas. I, 13; 1 Pet. 22 Eph. IV, 19; cfr. Acts VII, 42. 



I, 16. 23 Sib, dtd TOVTOt Kal KaO&s 



21 Rom. I, 24, 26, 28. irapedwicev. 



