r malevolence and
consequently of our guilt.

CHAPTER VII.
HOW TO COUNT SINS.

THE number of sins a person may commit is well-nigh incalculable, which
is only one way of saying that the malice of man has invented
innumerable means of offending the Almighty--a compliment to our
ingenuity and the refinement of our natural perversity. It is not
always pleasant to know, and few people try very hard to learn, of what
kind and how many are their daily offenses. This knowledge reveals too
nakedly our wickedness which we prefer to ignore. Catholics, however,
who believe in the necessity of confession of sins, take a different
view of the matter. The requirements of a good confession are such as
can be met only by those who know in what things they have sinned and
how often.

There are many different kinds of sin. It is possible by a single act
to commit more than one sin. And a given sin may be repeated any number
of times.

To get the exact number of our misdeeds we must begin by counting as
many sins at least as there are kinds of sin. We might say there is an
offense for every time a commandment or precept is violated, for sin is
a transgression of the law. But this would be insufficient inasmuch as
the law may command or forbid more than one thing.

Let the first commandment serve as an example. It is broken by sins
against faith, or unbelief, against hope, or despair, against charity,
against religion, etc. All these offenses are specifically different,
that is, are different kinds of sin; yet but one precept is
transgressed. Since therefore each commandment prescribes the practice
of certain virtues, the first rule is that there is a sin for every
virtue violated.

But this is far from exhausting our capacity for evil. Our virtue may
impose different obligations, so that against it alone we may offend in
many different ways. Among the virtues prescribed by the first
commandment is that of religion, which concerns the exterior homage due
to God. I may worship false gods, thus offending against the virtue of
religion, and commit a sin of idolatry. If I offer false homage to the
true God, I also violate the virtue of religion, but commit a sin
specifically different, a sin of superstition. Thus these different
offenses are against but one of several virtues enjoined by one
commandment. The virtue of charity is also prolific of obligations; the
virtue of chastity even more so. One act against the latter may conta