Page:Delineation of Roman Catholicism.djvu/356

 .348. vssro---STXSrcvow. [Boo[ II. Christian, pp. 258, 275: "What is mortal sin ? Ans. Mortal sin is a grievous transgression of the law. What are the effects of mortal sin ? Ans. It banishes the grace of God from our souls, renders us hateful and abominable in the sight of God, and worthy of eternal punishment." �.. "What is venial sin ? Ans. It is a smaller transgression of the law, a more pardonable offence, which, though it does not kill lhe soul, as mortal sin does, nor deserve eternal punishment, yet it obscures the beauty of the soul before God, and displeases him, and deserves a tern- ])oral chastisement. The malignity of mortal sin is such, that it ba- nishes the grace of God entirely from the soul, and makes it positively ugly and loathsome in his sight; whereas venial sin does not banish the grace of God away from the soul, but it obscures its lustre, dimi- nishes its splendour, and stains its brightness. It does not make the soul positively hateful to God, but it makes her less pure, less holy, less beautiful, and consequently less agreeable in his sight."... "Ve- nial sins in general are divided into two kinds: (1.) Such as arise from human frailty-, surprise, or inadvertency, and from objects to which the person has no inordinate attachment. (2.) Such as a person commits willingly or deliberately, or out of an ill custom, which he is at no pains to amend, or with affection to a inful object." Our author con- siders petty/the a venial sin, p. 281. (1.) Now though no sin be so venial or trivial, as the Romanists teach, so as neither to offend God nor deserve damnation in its own nature, and so only subject them to temporal punishment; yet all sober Protestants disallow a stoical parity or equality of sins, and hold that some sins are greater, other sins are less, though the least sin is offen- sive to God and deserves damnation. That sins differ in magnitude is clear from Scripture. Our Lord declared the sin of Judas to be greater than that of Pilate. The same appears in the case of the servant who knew the will of his master and did it not. The difference appears in the several condemnations of the degrees and expressions of anger in the instances of calling men Raca, vain, or pwpe, .feel. The distinction appears in our Lord's comparing some sins o gnats and others to camsls; in his mentioning the many stripes; and in the greater condemnation spoken of by James.' Thus, to rob a church is a greater sin than to rob a thief; to strike a father is a higher impiety than to resist a tutor. As every lie is a sin against truth, so every sin is a disobedience and departure from the rule. But some lies are more against charity, or justice, or religion, than others are, and so are greater; but against truth they are all equally opposed, and so are all lies contrary to the commandment. (2.) In opposition to the Roman Catholic view of venial sins, we maintain that, instead of being of such a trivial nature, all sins are punishable as God pleases, even with everlasting perdition, as will appear from the following considerations. 1. Every sin is directly against God's law, and therefore is deadly and damnable in the account of divine justice. For though sins may be divided into greater and less, yet their proportion to punishment s not varied by temporal and eternal, but by greater and les punish- ments. 2. Tho law of God never threatens, nor does the justiceof C:,od inflict punishment, on any except transgressors of God's laws: but tits 1

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