ready used
to it. For wine overcomes more easily those who are either exhausted
by much work or burdened with age. Persons of mature age, on the other
hand, and such of care-free mind, can drink considerable quantities of
wine without greatly impairing their reason.

141. But he who makes this excuse for the patriarch, wilfully casts
aside that consolation which the Holy Spirit considered needful for
the Church, that even the greatest saints sometimes fall into sin.

142. Transgression like this may seem to be slight, yet it causes
great offense. Not only is Ham offended, but also the other brother,
possibly also their wives. And we must not imagine that Ham was a boy
of seven years. Having been born when Noah was five hundred years old,
he had reached an age of at least one hundred years and had one or two
children of his own.

143. Hence, it was not boyish thoughtlessness which caused Ham to
laugh at his father, as boys will do when surrounding a drunken rustic
in the street and making sport of him. He was truly offended by his
father's sin and thought himself to be more righteous, holy and
religious than his father. Noah's deed was an offense not only in
appearance, but in very truth, since Ham was so far tempted by the
knowledge of it that he passed judgment upon Noah, and found in such
sin an occasion for mirth.

144. If we wish to judge Ham's sin aright, we must take into account
original sin, that is, the wickedness of the heart. This son would
never have derided his father for being overcome by wine had he not
first dismissed from his soul that reverence and esteem which God's
commandment requires children to cherish toward their parents.

145. Noah had been considered a fool before the flood, by the majority
of mankind, and had been condemned as a false teacher and despised as
a man of wild ideas. Now he is laughed at by his son as a fool, and
condemned as a sinner. Noah was sole governor of the Church and State,
and ruled his own household with tireless care and labor. He had
doubtless therein offended the proud and haughty spirit of his son in
many ways. But the depravity of his heart which now, that the father's
sin had become manifest, leaped to the surface, had so far been
successfully concealed.

146. When we consider the source of Ham's sin, its hideousness first
appears in its true light. One never becomes an adulterer or commits
murder until he has first cast out of his heart the fear of God. A