Second Tuesday in Lent.
ON SIN.
The Nature of Sin.
1. We come now to the consideration of Sin. Sin is either:—
(a) The revolt of the created will against the Divine Will; or
(b) A voluntary violation of a commandment of God.
2. God is the Supreme Lord of all creation, and Author of our being. His Will should be the absolute law of all created beings. But as He made men and angels in the plenitude of freedom, He gave them wills, wills wholly free, and He set before them His law as the way of happiness, revealing to angels and men that so long as they conformed their wills to His Will they would be happy. Men and angels, though created free, were for all that dependent on God; but certain angels, with Satan at their head, revolted—they set their wills in opposition to the Will of God, from dependence they aimed at independence.