“AS an increase in virtue is the effect and reward of virtue, so likewise an increase in sin is the effect and punishment of sin. Indeed, it is one of the greatest chastisements that can be inflicted on us, when we are permitted, through blindness and passion, to rush headlong down the broad road of vice, adding sin to sin every day and hour of our lives. This is but just; for when man once mortally sins he loses all right to any help from God. It is owing solely to the divine mercy when he is converted. Look, therefore, over the world, and behold the greatness of its iniquity. Think of the millions who are living in infidelity and heresy. Think how many calling themselves Christians are daily betraying their name by their scandalous lives.
“Why is this sad condition permitted? Ah, it is owing to man’s crimes. God is disobeyed, insulted, and mocked by the majority of men, and His long-suffering justice, being wearied by their wickedness, permits them to go on in their mad career. St. Augustine is an illustrious example of this. ‘I was plunged,’ he says, ‘in iniquity, and Thy anger was aroused against me, but I knew it not. I was deaf to the noise which the chains of my sins made; But this ignorance, this deafness, were the punishments of my pride.’
“Reflect on this. Men act freely when they sin, for no man is forced to do Wrong. But when they have fallen they cannot rise without the divine assistance.”
— The Sinner’s Guide, Venerable Luis de Granada (1504-1588)
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