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 truth of  St.  Paul's  words  where  he  says  that:  "by one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world  and  by  sin death,"  for  the  wages  of  sin,  be  it  original  or  actual, is death.

Brethren, let  us  try  for  a  moment  to  realize  the malice of  one  mortal  sin. " Who  can  measure  the height  of  heaven,"  says  Ecclesiasticus,  "  or  who  can measure  the  depth  of  the  abyss?" And if  the  distance from  earth  to  heaven  or  to  hell  be  so  inconceivable, who,  I  ask,  can  hope  to  measure  the  double space from  the  lowest  circle  of  Gehenna  to  the  top of heaven's  dome? Yet, Brethren,  that  infinite  distance is  the  measure  by  which  we  will  have  to  compute the  malice  of  one  mortal  sin. It can  be  said without exaggeration  that  the  malice  of  such  a  sin is infinite. For the  grievousness  of  an  insult  is measured  by  the  difference  in  dignity  between  the offender and  the  one  offended. An affront  offered by one  man  to  another  socially  his  equal  may  be  a matter  of  little  moment,  but  an  outrage  perpetrated by a  vagrant  against  the  person  of  his  king  calls  for the heaviest  penalties. Now what  King  so  high  as God,  the  King  of  kings,  and  the  Lord  of  lords? Or what  pauper  so  poor  and  miserable  before  his sovereign as  man  before  his  Creator? God is  a  being of infinite  dignity,  and  hence  mortal  sin  is  an  infinite offence calling  for  an  infinite  punishment. Sin, in fact,  is  the  direct  opposite  of  God — mortal  sin  is  the supreme evil,  just  as  God  is  the  supreme  Good. But not all  the  minds  of  angels  and  men  can  ever  comprehend the  infinite  goodness  of  God. Neither,