Bishop Challoner's Meditations - January 26th

ON THE EVIL OF MORTAL SIN

Consider first, the enormous malice of mortal sin, inasmuch as it is infinitely opposite to the infinite goodness of God, and thou wilt find it to be a bottomless pit, which no created understanding can fathom. As none but God himself can fully comprehend his own infinite goodness, so none but God himself can perfectly comprehend the infinity enormity that is found in this opposite evil. And as God essentially loves his own goodness with an infinite love, and cannot cease to love it, no more than he can cease to be God - so he essentially hates mortal sin with an infinite hatred, and cannot cease to hate it, wherever he sees it. And didst thou think, my soul, that thou wast committing so wicked, so dreadful, so abominable an evil, when first thou rebelled against thy God by mortal sin? O how couldst thou dare so often to repeat this enormous treason? or how couldst thou endure to carry about with thee, for so long a time, so odious, so hideous a monster? O how much art thou indebted to the boundless mercies of thy God, and to the precious blood of his Son, that he has tolerated thee so long, and not cast thee long ago into hell!!

Consider 2ndly, that there is not upon earth, no nor in hell itself, a greater evil than mortal sin: 'tis without any comparison, the greatest of all evils; it is the parent both of the devil and of hell, for hell was only made for mortal sin, and the devil was an angel, till he was transformed into a devil by mortal sin. So that in truth, mortal sin is a monster more hideous than hell; more filthy and abominable than the devil himself. This dreadful evil, which the damned see and feel for all eternity in the midst of their souls, torments them more than all the devils; 'tis this that oppresses them with its everlasting weight; 'tis this that feeds the ever-gnawing worm of their guilty conscience; this is the fuel of that fire that never is extinguished; 'tis this that eternally possesses their souls, and both keeps God eternally from them, and them eternally from God. O that sinners had but a just notion of this dreadful evil here! It would effectually keep them from feeling its enormous weight hereafter. If they did but sufficiently apprehend what they are going to do when they offer to commit a mortal sin, they would choose a thousand deaths before so great an evil. 

Consider 3rdly, that what makes sin the greatest of all evils, is because it strikes at God himself. It is a rebellion, 'tis high treason against him. Satan, the first sinner, proudly sought to place himself on the throne of God; and all who unhappily follow the example of that arch-rebel, by consenting to mortal sin, are in some measure guilty of the like perversity, inasmuch as they turn away form God, as he did, affecting in the like manner, an independence of God, and impiously prefer their own will, and the gratifying their own inclinations and passions, before his holy will and his divine ordinances. Thus they renounce their allegiance to him, and disclaim his authority and sovereignty over them, and refuse to be subject to his laws; they condemn his wisdom, they slight his justice, they refuse his mercy and goodness, and instead of seeking in the first place (as upon all accounts they are bound to do) the glory of their Maker's name, the propagation of his kingdom, and the fulfilling of his will, they set up that idol self in place of the living God! They seek their own worldly honour, interest, and pleasure, more than his; and to this unhappy idol of their own self-love, they sacrifice their soul and conscience, their God and all. And can there be any other evil comparable to this?

Conclude utterly to renounce, detest, and abhor, for the time to come, all mortal sin, and to fly it more than hell itself. And as to all thy past guilt in this kind, bewail it from thy heart as the greatest of all evils, and do penance for it all thy lifetime.