Morals of the Church
Library › Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology › Volume I › Book I. On the General Principles of the Christian Life › Treatise II. On Motion in Order to the Final End, or on the Human Act, Considered according to Moral Being › Dissertation II. On Human Acts Considered according to Moral Being › Part II. On Morality in Particular › Section III. On the Evil Act, or on Sin › Chapter II. On Some Classes of Sins in Particular

Article — Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology

Article III. On Internal Sins

¶1.

(St. Thomas, I-II, q. 74, a. 8; St. Alphonsus, Theologia Moralis, bk. V, 12-28; Homo Apostolicus, tract. 3, nn. 47-54.)

Three internal sins are distinguished: morose delectation, desire, and joy, insofar as the will is borne toward an act as such - abstraction having been made from its present, past, or future execution - toward an act to be perpetrated, or toward an act perpetrated. Therefore joy regards the past, desire regards the future, while morose delectation abstracts from both, indeed even from the present, because delectation concerning a present act coincides with the act itself. We shall speak first of morose delectation, then of desire and joy; and indeed of the latter in one treatment, because they are governed by almost the same rules. We pass over delectation concerning a present work, because, as we have said, it coincides with the work itself.

Sins of Thought

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