The Lax Conscience

209. Division. Conscience is divided in many ways:

1. By reason of the acts to which it is referred, into antecedent and consequent, according as the acts are either soon to be placed or already placed; the former judges what is good or evil, what is to be done or omitted, but the latter approves or accuses the past, or even, if this can be done, excuses it.

Antecedent conscience is given to us by God as guide and moderator of our moral life, which we are bound to follow in order that we may arrive at the end of eternal life; consequent conscience acts as judge of our actions, praising and approving if they are good, admonishing, reproving, censuring, terrifying, and chastising if they are evil. The approving judgment is called the testimony of a good conscience; the accusing and reproving judgment, remorse or the worm of conscience. The testimony of a good conscience brings consolation and reward, the gift of internal peace; the remorse of conscience brings anguish and punishment: There is no peace for the impious.¹ Hence conscience greatly helps man to attain his end.

Note. Antecedent conscience is the proximate rule of morals, concerning which alone we speak here, and to which therefore the divisions that follow pertain.

2. By reason of the obligation which it manifests, into prescribing, prohibiting, and permitting conscience.

3. By reason of assent, into certain and doubtful conscience. Certain conscience is that by which the mind firmly judges, without fear of erring, that an action is good and licit or evil and illicit; doubtful conscience is that by which the mind suspends judgment concerning the honesty of an action, or indeed forms it, but with fear of erring.

4. By reason of conformity with the object, into true and erroneous conscience.

a. True (right) conscience is that which dictates the matter as it is in itself; erroneous conscience is that which dictates otherwise than the matter is in itself.

Properly speaking, a distinction intervenes between true and right conscience. Ordinarily, indeed, right conscience will also be true. For that is called true which is consonant with the objective order of things, and therefore says good of that which in reality is good, and evil of that which in reality is evil. But the dictate of conscience is, as it were, the conclusion of a syllogism, whose major proposition is a moral principle, and whose minor proposition is a human action to which that principle is applied, so that from this it can be concluded that the action is licit or illicit. Further, conscience is called right when it has been duly deduced according to logical laws from a moral principle. Now it can happen that the reasoning proceeds from a false moral principle; whence it can happen that the conclusion or conscience is indeed right, but false.

b. Erroneous conscience is either invincible and inculpable, whose error cannot morally be overcome; or vincible and culpable, whose error can be laid aside by employing moral diligence, but through carelessness is not laid aside.

Erroneous conscience can be invincible in two ways: either because not even a suspicion or doubt concerning the error comes into the mind of the agent, or because a doubt concerning the error has indeed arisen, but not even by employing moral diligence can the error be laid aside and the truth found. Thus he also errs invincibly who, doubting whether on such a day there is abstinence, after employing moral diligence is ignorant that abstinence is in reality prescribed. Nevertheless, the principle which follows is valid only concerning the former mode of invincibly erroneous conscience; concerning the other mode there will be discussion below.

5. Erroneous conscience is divided into lax and narrow conscience.

a. Lax conscience is called that which for a slighter cause either denies or diminishes the character of sin. To lax conscience is also reduced cauterized conscience (das abgestumpfte Gewissen), which, arising from a long-standing habit of sinning, makes light even of grave sins, and pharisaical conscience, which makes little of great precepts, but much of small and external observances.

b. Narrow conscience is called that which for a slighter cause affirms or increases the character of sin. To narrow conscience is reduced scrupulous conscience, which increases the character of sin too much, and perplexed conscience, which apprehends sin on both sides.

¹ Is. 57, 21. Printed as "Is. 22, 57"; corrected as a clear printer's error.

211. On lax conscience. Lax conscience sometimes denotes a habit, namely that disposition of soul which tends to extending moral liberty more than is right; if it signifies an act, it is a judgment which from a slighter motive judges that to be licit which is illicit, or that to be a light sin which is grave. And consequent lax conscience is a judgment which from a slight motive judges that there was not grave sin where in reality grave sin was committed.

Principles. a. Ordinarily those who, knowing that they have a lax conscience, transgress a precept in a grave matter, sin gravely: for either they have a confused knowledge of grave sin, or if they do not have this, those who in a grave matter knowingly follow a lax conscience knowingly expose themselves to the danger of violating a grave precept. Nor does the error by which they judge that there is no sin excuse them, because the error is voluntary in its cause.

Those who do not know that they are of lax conscience and do not notice the malice of the action even confusedly are excused from sin because of ignorance. Indeed even he who knows that he is of lax conscience can be immune from mortal sin, namely where he notices neither the malice of the action nor the obligation of investigating its malice more accurately, not even confusedly.

b. In doubt concerning full consent to sin, it must be presumed that they fully consented, just as those who are of timorous conscience, in doubt, are presumed not to have consented: for from things ordinarily occurring a conclusion is rightly made with moral certitude to a particular fact.

c. He who labors under lax conscience is bound under grave obligation to lay it aside, because he is bound to lay aside the habitual danger in which he is situated of sinning gravely.

Conscience is said to be certain, dubious, or probable, as the motive on which it is grounded is morally certain, doubtful, or only probable.

A right conscience is in accordance with the eternal law of morality; an erroneous conscience gives a false instead of a true judgement. If the mistake could and ought to have been avoided by the agent who has a false conscience, the conclusion is vincibly erroneous; otherwise it is invincibly erroneous.

A strict conscience is one which is apt to decide that there is an obligation when none exists, or a greater obligation than there really is; a lax conscience, on the contrary, is apt to deny an existing obligation or to make it less than it is in fact; a scrupulous conscience without sufficient reason apprehends sin where there is none.

A dictate of conscience which precedes the action, judging it to be right or wrong, is said to be antecedent; that which follows an action, approving it as rightly done, or condemning it as wrong and disturbing the inward peace of the soul, is consequent,

II. He has a lax conscience who habitually, from a slighter reason, judges as licit what is illicit, or as venial sin what is mortal.

1. One who advertently acts according to the dictate of a lax conscience sins, because he rashly exposes himself to the danger of transgressing the law. Practically, however, not rarely it will be difficult to determine how far sufficient advertence, especially for sinning gravely, was present.

2. The principal causes of a lax conscience are: 1. bad education and association; 2. a soft and luxurious life; 3. the habit of sinning; 4. the reading of authors who are more benign than is just and easily depart from the stricter opinions of the masters of Moral Theology, especially St. Thomas and St. Alphonsus.

3. The principal remedies are: 1. removal of the causes set forth; 2. frequent confession made to a prudent confessor; 3. frequent and diligent examination of conscience; 4. assiduous prayer; 5. if there is question of clerics, reading of authors who press on in the footsteps of St. Thomas and St. Alphonsus. Concerning St. Alphonsus, the Decree by which the title of Doctor was granted testifies that "among the tangled opinions of theologians, whether laxer or stricter, he laid down a safe way" (n. 215).

The Lax Conscience.—According to the more or less control it has over one, the lax conscience may be divided into the incipient and the habitual. (a) It is incipient when one is becoming familiar with careless decisions and less responsive to remorse about evil done. In this state the conscience is said to be sleeping. (b) It is habitual when through long-continued habit one has become enamored of a worldly, frivolous conception of life, and is rarely visited by compunction. In its worst state, when there is little hope of cure, a lax conscience is said to be seared or cauterized (I Tim., iv. 2).

According to the greater or less responsibility of the one in error, a lax conscience is either malicious or not malicious. (a) It is malicious when it results from one’s own disregard for religious truth, as in the case of the pagans who did not care to know God, and were thus led into perverse conceptions of morality. St. Paul calls such a conscience a reprobate sense (Rom., i. 28). (b) It is not malicious when it results from some less blamable reason, as in the case of the Christians at Corinth who thought that the eating of idol meats was sinful, but that it was to be practised on account of the example of others. St. Paul calls this a weak conscience (I Cor., viii. 10).

Laxity of conscience is either partial or entire. (a) A conscience entirely lax takes an easy and indulgent view in all things. It is careless both in little and great matters, both in directing self and in directing others. (b) A conscience partially lax is too liberal in some things, but not in others. Examples: Titus is very exacting with his girls, and wishes to have them models of virtue; but he is too easy with himself and his boys. Balbus is very loyal to friends, but has no sense of justice as regards those who do not agree with him. Sempronius tries to serve both God and mammon, being very faithful to church duties, but at the same time dishonest in business matters.

A conscience partially lax may even combine scrupulosity and laxism (see 610), becoming like a mirror that reflects large objects as small and vice versa; or like a color-blind eye: “Woe to you that call evil good and good evil, that put darkness for light and light for darkness” (Is., V. 20). This kind of conscience is called pharisaical.

(a) One may be lax and scrupulous about the same kind of things. Examples: Caius regards great disobedience in himself as a mote which he doesn’t need to worry about, but small disobedience in his children as a beam in the eye which he is seriously bound to extract (Matt, vii. 3-5). Titus is lax about almsgiving to those from whom he can expect nothing, but scrupulous about almsgiving to those from whom he expects a return later on.

(b) One may be scrupulous and lax about different things, straining at gnats and swallowing camels. Example: The Pharisees were scrupulous about external observances and minor things of the law, such as tithes; but they were lax about inward justice and the weightier things of the law, judgment, mercy and faith (Matt, xxiii. 13-31).

Causes of a Lax Conscience.—(a) If the laxity is inculpable but habitual, it is caused generally by lack of Christian training in childhood and the influence of evil principles and practices that are widespread. In particular cases a lax decision of conscience may be due to want of sufficient consideration or to a sudden storm of passion that obscures the reason, when one has no time for deliberation; and thus it is inculpable.

(b) If the laxity is culpable, its usual causes are an easy-going view of God’s law and its obligation (Is, xliii. 24); or a self-love that sees in one’s vices nothing but virtue or amiable weakness; or a long-continued indulgence of sin that has destroyed all refinement of conscience.

Special Dangers of a Lax Conscience.—(a) If the laxity is inculpable, it is an occasion of demoralization to others and a preparation for formal sin in him who has the conscience;

(b) if the laxity is culpable, it is the cause of formal sin; and if it is not corrected, it naturally leads to moral blindness, hardness of heart and impenitence: “There is a way that seemeth to man right, and the ends thereof lead to death” (Proverbs, xvi. 25).

Since a lax conscience is a species of erroneous conscience, the rules given above as to the kind of sins committed in consequence of an erroneous conscience, apply also to the lax conscience (see above, 588 Sqq.).

(a) When the laxity is concerned with the existence of sin, the conscience taking what is sinful for something lawful, he who follows such a conscience is guilty or not guilty according as his ignorance is culpable or inculpable (i.e., as he acts from a bad or a good conscience). Examples: The man who practises dishonesty, because he has cheated his conscience by sophistry into deciding that dishonesty is lawful; the child who uses profane language without realization of sin, because he hears his elders use it. But if the lax conscience takes what is sinful for a duty, he who disobeys it is guilty of sin. Example: The person who refuses to tell a lie when he thinks he ought to lie on account of a promise made.

(b) When the laxity is concerned with the gravity of sin, the conscience taking what is mortal for venial sin, he who disobeys such a conscience is guilty of mortal or venial sin, according as his ignorance is culpable or inculpable (i.e., as he acts from a bad or a good conscience). Examples: A child who thinks that calumny or missing Mass is only a venial sin, because he sees grown up persons treat these things lightly; a person that, to solace his conscience, advises with lax associates who always approve of what he wishes to do or has done.

He who knows, or who has good reason to think, that his conscience is lax, should guide himself by the following rules: (a) with reference to the past, if there is a doubt whether or not sin was consented to or was grave, the presumption is against him, for laxity willingly contracted makes one responsible for what ensues; (b) with reference to the future, a person must make use of the means prescribed for one who is in danger of sin (see above, 258 sqq.), for a lax conscience places one in danger of sin.

Remedies Recommended for a Lax Conscience.—(a) The defect of will or character should be corrected. Example: The presumptuous should reflect on the justice of God, and recall that the broad way leads to perdition. Those in whom the wish is father to the lax judgment should make war on the passion that leads them astray. Those who have become lax through bad habits, should set about acquiring good habits, like that of going to the Sacraments frequently. (b) The error of the intellect should be corrected. Example: If a person’s religious training has been neglected, he should do what he can to get correct information and advice as to his duties. If one has been influenced by lax ideas or conduct, one should change one’s reading or associations.

Is a lax person held responsible, if he does not know that he is lax? (a) If his conscience is invincibly erroneous, he cannot know that it is lax, and hence he is not responsible; (b) if his conscience is vincibly erroneous, he ought to know that he is lax, and hence he is responsible. Examples: The boy Caius keeps whatever he finds, because he thinks he has a right to do this. The man Titus does not like cheating, but he cheats habitually, because he thinks he has as much right to do so as others. Both the boy and the man are lax, but neither considers himself lax; the difference is that Titus can and ought to know that he is lax.

49. • Lax conscience is said to be that which from a lighter reason judges that what is illicit is licit; or finds only venial sin where there is mortal: namely it is that which, without sufficient reason, bends judgment in favor of liberty either to avoiding the law, or to diminishing the gravity of fault.

How dangerous such a conscience is, as is readily clear to those who attend, since it casts souls into the broad way which leads to perdition.

It can be distinguished threefold, namely 1. lax conscience simply, which extends liberty more than is right; 2. cauterized conscience, which from a long habit of sinning weighs grave sins, indeed even most grave ones, as nothing ¹; 3. pharisaic conscience, which makes great things small, and conversely small things great. It takes its name from the Pharisees, who, while they swallowed camels, by eating with unwashed hands and by passing over empty traditions, judged themselves guilty of great sin.

¹ This happens also from that reprobate sense into which men of this kind, having a blinded heart, come.

50. • The things which generally pertain to lax conscience are comprised in these few words.

I. He sins gravely who, knowingly obeying a lax conscience, transgresses some law in a grave matter. And indeed ignorance of this kind, as voluntary, can easily be overcome; therefore it can in no way be excused from mortal sin on the pretext of ignorance.

II. Indeed he can sin more gravely even in a light matter, if his rashness impels him to acting with every dictate disregarded and contemned. Compare what we said above about doubtful conscience. Question 1, no. 43.

YOU WILL ASK. What are the causes, effects, and remedies of a lax conscience?

I answer to the first. The causes are omission of prayer, tepidity of soul, excessive solicitude for temporal things, and the habit of sinning, which takes away horror of sin; familiarity with vicious men; a soft life, which enervates the heart and turns it away from spiritual things.

I answer to the second. The effects are blindness of mind, hardness of heart, which is scarcely accustomed to be moved by any means, obduration in evil which induces the greatest danger of salvation, according to that saying of the Apostle, Rom. 2. 5: According to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest up to thyself wrath in the day of wrath.

I answer to the third. The following remedies among others can be proposed: humble and assiduous prayer; sacred exercises; pious meditation on the last things according to that saying, Eccli. 7. 40: Remember thy last things, and thou shalt not sin forever; frequent reading of pious books; daily examination of conscience; frequent recourse to the sacrament of Penance; flight from the evil, and conversation with the good.

353. State of the question. Conscience is divided from a manifold head.

(a) By reason of the obligation which it manifests, conscience, like the law itself, is called commanding, forbidding, permitting, according as it commands, prohibits, or permits certain acts (above, n. 208).

(b) By reason of the mode in which it enunciates the judgment, it is certain, when, without prudent fear of erring, it judges that some act is good or evil, and therefore to be done or avoided; doubtful when it hangs suspended concerning the liceity of an action,¹ or at least pronounces not without prudent fear. We shall speak below concerning each.

¹ That suspension of soul is not properly a judgment, but it implicitly supposes the prior conscience that one must abstain from pronouncing concerning the liceity of the action.

(c) By reason of conformity with the objective rule of morals, conscience is true,¹ if it agrees with truth, that is, with divine goodness and reason, or law; erroneous, if it differs from the same. But erroneous conscience is lax or scrupulous: lax, when someone, from a lighter cause, judges something to be licit which truly is not licit, or something light which is grave; scrupulous, if someone, from a futile cause, judges something to be illicit which in fact is licit, or something grave which is light.

¹ Often true conscience is called right; yet there is some distinction between each: right conscience is that which is formed according to the rules of prudence; but sometimes conscience is true, although imprudently formed. But for the most part these two words are taken interchangeably.

From this it is clear that certain conscience differs from true conscience: the former regards the subjective judgment which is borne concerning the morality of an action; the latter the objective conformity of this interior judgment with truth. Wherefore conscience can be certain without being true, such as invincibly erroneous conscience; likewise true conscience can remain doubtful, namely when truly probable arguments are present for the liceity and against the liceity of some action.

Whether and in what sense erroneous conscience is a rule of acting, we shall explain below; but a few things must be pre-noted concerning lax and scrupulous conscience, so that it may be better understood how a right conscience is formed.

354. 1. Notion. Here we treat of lax conscience, especially insofar as it denotes a habit, or a disposition of soul which inclines reason to diminishing or denying moral obligations, and therefore to extending liberty too much. By force of this habit, in a particular case, conscience judges, without sufficient reason, that something which is truly prohibited is licit, or that what is grave is a light sin. - Sometimes, from a long-standing habit of sinning, the moral sense is so clouded that conscience thinks little or nothing of even very grave sins, calling evil good, and drinking iniquity like water:¹ then it is called seared.²

² Bourdaloue excellently explains its causes and dangers, Sermon pour le 3e Dim. de l'Avent, sur la fausse conscience; cf. Vieux Moraliste, apud Ami du Clergé, t. XXIV, 1902, p. 737-743.

¹ Isa., V, 20; Job, XV, 16.

² 1 Tim., IV, 2.

355. 2. Causes. Among the causes which form a lax conscience, these can be numbered: (a) depraved education: for those who from infancy have been instructed not in the law of the Lord, but in worldly corruptions and false opinions, and have had before their eyes examples of all vices, easily are ignorant of not a few precepts of the natural law, and judge as indifferent certain acts shameful and dishonorable in themselves; (b) defect of consideration and counsel: those who do not think before acting, and in more difficult matters do not seek the counsels of the wise, are often deceived, and hold as good or at least indifferent what is truly evil; (c) the impulse of desires: namely, when various passions urge, reason is not rarely clouded: what we vehemently desire appears licit; whatever we will is good, and whatever pleases is holy; movements of anger seem to be nothing other than pious indignation, - unbridled ambition nothing other than noble emulation, - avarice is held as legitimate foresight, - commercial frauds are judged an exhibition of industry, etc.; (d) the habit of doing evil: for, sins having been multiplied, the moral sense is dulled, fear of God and reverence for law gradually vanish; hence those things which at the beginning were judged very grave crimes are soon considered as light or no delicts; (e) presumptuous trust in God: God, they say, good and merciful, will forgive us; for He has known our frame and the infirmity of human flesh; wherefore He is much more inclined to benignity than theologians and preachers, nor does He so strictly reprove what moreover is done by most.

356. 3. Harms. Lax conscience, like the ignorance upon which it rests, can be vincibly or invincibly erroneous, according as it can be corrected by moral diligence having been applied or not, according to what was said above, n. 90-98: yet each is full of dangers.

(A) Even when conscience is invincibly erroneous, it induces many evils;¹ for it is the cause why many acts sinful in themselves and objectively are perpetrated. Now an objectively evil act: (a) is a disorder, since it is opposed to the law which is an ordination of reason, and therefore of itself, without the formal malice of the agent, gradually depresses the moral sense, and, when it is often repeated, generates habits evil of themselves and very harmful; thus he who, even from ignorance, often acts against truth or chastity, even if he does not formally sin, commits something shameful and dishonorable in itself, which gradually dulls his moral sense; (b) it gives scandal: for many, seeing evil acts often committed by others, from this take occasion of sinning, and easily persuade themselves that those acts are not very depraved, indeed perhaps even licit, since they are done daily by so many men; from this, gradually and imperceptibly, morals are corrupted, with great detriment to private persons and to the whole of society; (c) it induces the danger of sinning formally: for by acts against the law often repeated, even ignorantly, habits of themselves vicious are soon acquired; and, when afterward conscience awakens, and their malice clearly appears, they are not easily eradicated; thus one incurs the danger of formally consenting to acts which are now apprehended as evil.

¹ This is clearly explained by Vieux Moraliste, apud Ami du Clergé, t. XXI, 1899, p. 1169-1175.

357. (B) But often lax conscience is vincibly erroneous, and therefore culpable, because it was voluntarily formed, insofar as the agent, entangled in the snares of the passions and burning with pleasure, desired and suggested to himself, while conscience resisted, that this or that action was not prohibited, and afterward suffocated the remorse of conscience; or because, doubting or at least suspecting that the matter was evil, nevertheless he was unwilling to take counsel, lest perchance he discover the truth and no longer be able to enjoy the intended pleasure.² Then indeed he sinned formally, and indirectly or in the cause willed the depraved effects which he foresaw would follow therefrom (above, n. 97 and 171-174).

² If it is actually vincibly erroneous, by that very fact it is not certain, and therefore not to be followed, as is declared below.

Moreover if, at the very time at which he acts, someone doubts or suspects that the matter is evil, and moreover knows that his conscience is lax, he cannot follow it, because he is conscious that it is not a right rule of morals, but is held to reform it by the means soon to be set forth. Wherefore by following it he voluntarily exposes himself to the danger of sinning, and therefore actually sins.

By these grave sins often committed the way is prepared for blindness of mind and hardness of heart: for the intellect is clouded insofar as it has become accustomed to approving false things as true, evil things as good; and the will is hardened in evil, insofar as, by indulging pleasure, it acquires a vehement propensity toward depraved acts, so that it obeys conscience only with difficulty.

358. 4. Remedies. As soon as someone becomes conscious that he has entered the way of laxity, he ought seriously to strive, under the guidance of a prudent confessor, to reform his conscience.

(a) First of all he will have recourse to prayer, so that, helped by divine light, he may attain practical knowledge of the rule of morals, - and, relying on divine help, may be able not only to hear, but also to follow the voice of right conscience, notwithstanding human infirmity: "Give me understanding, and I will search your law, and I will keep it with my whole heart."¹ (b) Afterward there is required the agent's own consideration before acting, with a sincere will of knowing and doing what is honorable, and not what pleases; but to discover the truth more easily, let the counsels of skilled and honorable men be sought, and not those of men who are easily deceived by the fallacies of the age; (c) finally let the impediments be removed, namely disordered passions and vicious habits, by which conscience is frequently clouded.

¹ Ps. 118, 34.

But the confessor should receive with paternal affection those who seriously wish to be amended, even if for a long time they have walked in broad ways; and he should instruct them rather than rebuke them, - he should add courage to them, and persuade them that the reformation of conscience, although difficult, is in no way impossible, provided that prayer is joined to good will and assiduous efforts.

Continued disregard of the laws of God renders the conscience obtuse (cauteriata) and finally lax.⁶ a) A blunt or obtuse conscience fails to protest even against grievous sins. It is called sleeping, not dead, because conscience never dies, but always awakes again, even in the greatest criminals, either of itself or under the influence of grace, though often too late.⁷ Needless to say, every man is bound to keep his conscience from going to sleep. b) A lax conscience (conscientia laxa s. lata) is characterized by a tendency to deny or diminish obligations. It results from harboring wrong principles and leading a sinful life, and may be described as a frivolous conception of life and its duties.⁸ When a man's conscience has grown lax, his actions are morally equivalent to those performed in a state of vincible ignorance. A lax conscience is very hard to cure.⁹ There is really but one effective remedy for it, viz.: a thorough-going change of life. This is a drastic medicine, but unless it is applied promptly, the patient will succumb to delusions, grow impenitent, and incur eternal damnation.¹⁰

⁶ Cfr. 1 Tim. IV, 2.

⁷ Cfr. Mark IX, 43.

⁸ Cfr. Matth. XXIV, 38.

⁹ Cfr. Apoc. III, 15 sq.

¹⁰ Cfr. Ecclus. III, 29: "The sinner will add sin to sin."

— Notion. A conscience is called lax both when it cares for grave sins alone and, more properly, when, from a habitual disposition, it judges erroneously or on account of a lighter reason, either before an action, that this is permitted or at least is not prohibited under grave sin; or after an action, that this certainly lacked grave malice from the object, imperfect advertence, no consent or not full consent, when these were present in reality. Hence it is antecedent or consequent.

— Rules. He who, from the warning of a prudent confessor, knows that he labors under this vice of conscience:

a) Ought to strive against laxity, unless he wishes to commit grave guilt of ignorance and to have to render an account morally for errors, insofar as they were foreseen in confusion. To this end the study of reflection, or of greater consideration, pious exercises, prayer, and frequent approach to the sacraments are useful;

b) Once doubts have arisen, he ought to explore them more diligently than others before he despises them as empty; and he actually sins gravely as often as he acts with knowledge at least confused of the gravity of sin or of the grave obligation of inquiring more. Yet from his very precipitation, because of deficient deliberation, he can be excused from grave sin; which will more easily be admitted in him who has begun to employ effort toward correcting the vice;

c) The confessor will rather presume that the consent of this sort of penitent, concerning which he doubts, was full. Unless he had consented, "he would not even doubt" (Lehmkuhl, I, 139). At the same time he will warn him concerning the harms of his state, nor of itself will he permit that, in his doubts, he receive sacred communion without having confessed.

— I. A fully right conscience, which answers, persuades, and approves or blames according to truth, must be held in great esteem. Its perfection is tenderness. A conscience right in a diminished way, whose persuasions disagree with judgments, is precarious.

II. Scruple means morbid anxiety, which must be ascribed to the genus of phobia, and is explained more by defect or weakness of the will than by defect of the intellect. It differs greatly from a quiet propensity toward more severe things.

The scrupulous man can estimate himself as such from the judgment of a confessor. It is permitted to him, with anxiety remaining, to act. Although scruples for some time are not without usefulness, he has an objective obligation of eliminating scruples.

The treatment of the scrupulous man includes two stages: in the former, he is led by another's authority; in the latter, he is taught to recover his own governance of himself. Even with foresight of accidental error, he can accept and follow absolute rules of acting. The care of a tepid scrupulous man is more laborious than that of a fervent one.

III. One must act against an excessively lax conscience. It must be corrected by greater reflection and distrust of one's own judgment. From custom some precipitation will be able to be excused because of inadvertence. Against one excessively lax, doubts will rather have to be solved.

— These, as it were, the chief heads of the treatise on Conscience seem to have to be retained:

I. No human action can be withdrawn from every divine law, so that every question concerning probabilism turns upon the obligation of a particular law, the suppression of which permits the general norms to which human actions must be conformed to remain untouched.

II. The question concerning probabilism pertains to the treatise On Laws, insofar as, in handling that question, we use the principle concerning the necessity of promulgation so that a law may exist; it pertains to the treatise On Conscience, insofar as knowledge of the law, or certain intimation of conscience, alone imposes the law. Yet formally it finds its place in the treatise On Conscience, since it is asked immediately in what way a speculatively doubtful conscience becomes the proximate rule of human action.

III. The prudent use of probabilism today is permitted by morally unanimous suffrage, so that the principles can be weighed with a more serene mind.

IV. Doubts of fact are to be solved not by the principles of probabilism, at least directly, but by their own rules.

V. The rectitude of conscience must be held in the highest esteem, both for perfection and for our action. This must be obtained by us with every effort, as a splendid aid of virtue, internal peace and liberty, and all beatitude.

23. To vincibly erroneous conscience can be reduced: 1. lax conscience, which loosens obligations too much; 2. scrupulous conscience, which increases them too much; 3. perplexed conscience, which apprehends sin in both terms of a contradiction.

We shall treat of each only briefly here, because practical rules will be set forth at length below in the treatise on Penance.

24. Notion. A lax conscience is that which, from light and contemptible reasons, judges that what in reality is evil is not evil, or thinks that a grave evil is light, although either can easily be detected (H. Ap., tr. ult. 31). How great a danger threatens from this sort of conscience the Savior Himself declares, crying out: Broad is the way that leads to perdition (Matt. 7:13).

Lax conscience can be distinguished in three ways:

1. Simply lax conscience, which tends to extending liberty beyond what is fair, for example if it rests upon a slightly probable or improbable opinion.

2. Cauterized conscience, when, from a long-standing habit of sinning, it counts grave or even most grave sins as nothing, calling evil good and good evil (Isa. 5:20), and drinking iniquity as though water (Job 15:16).

3. Pharisaical conscience, when it makes great things small and conversely small things great; of which sort were the Pharisees straining out a gnat but swallowing a camel (Matt. 23:24).

25. The principles to be adapted to a lax conscience are these:

I. He gravely sins who, knowingly obeying a lax conscience, transgresses some law in a grave matter.² The reason is that he could easily overcome ignorance of this kind, as being voluntary, and therefore cannot, under the pretext of ignorance, be excused from lethal sin.

II. Indeed, he can gravely sin in a light matter, if his temerity drives him to acting after any dictate whatever has been passed over and contemned.

III. He who labors under a lax conscience ought, far more strictly than others, to apply effort to laying it aside, if a doubt about the honesty of an action arises.

26. The causes of lax conscience are: 1. a soft life, which enervates; 2. neglect of prayer, which wholly casts us down; 3. excessive solicitude for temporal things, which makes us earthly; 4. the custom of sinning, which removes the horror of sin; 5. familiarity with vicious men, to whom we become accustomed; 6. luxury, which prevents the Christian from inclining and tending toward spiritual things.

The effects are: 1. blind tranquillity of soul after sin; 2. insensibility to pious warnings; 3. mockery of pious exercises; 4. an impenitent heart treasuring up wrath for itself on the day of wrath (Rom. 2:5).

The remedies of such a conscience are: 1. spiritual retreat for several days; 2. frequent and humble prayer with meditation on the last things; 3. daily examination of conscience; 4. frequent reading of pious books; 5. diligent confession; 6. flight from the wicked and conversation with the good (Haine, Elem. Theol. mor., n. 44).

314. Notions. To vincibly erroneous conscience is reduced lax conscience, which judges from an insufficient reason that either no sin at all is present, or at least that so great a sin is not present in a particular case, as it is in reality. Since, therefore, lax conscience is erroneous, Principle 3 brought above in n. 310 is to be applied to it.

Lax conscience has two degrees almost equally dangerous, namely cauterized conscience (abgestumpftes Gewissen), which from a long-standing habit of sinning makes little of all or certain determinate grave sins, indeed almost does not even perceive them. For from perverse morals the moral sense can be so clouded that man does not even abhor grave sins, but as it were drinks iniquity like water.⁴⁶ Nevertheless, from this it is not licit to deduce that such a man now cannot distinguish between moral good and evil, or that he labors under moral insanity and therefore lacks moral responsibility. And truly this moral insanity is repugnant to synteresis and to the nature of conscience. The other degree of lax conscience is Pharisaic conscience, which in appearance is a tender conscience, because in certain matters, especially exterior ones, it is very, indeed too, accurate, but in other matters, and those more necessary, it sins without scruple.⁴⁷

⁴⁶ Cf. Isa. 5, 20; Job 15, 16.

⁴⁷ Cf. Matt. 23, 13 sqq. "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you cleanse what is outside the cup and dish, but inside you are full of robbery and uncleanness" (ib. v. 25). Those are not so far from this Pharisaic conscience who are too anxious about many external devotions; but on the other side they easily injure fraternal charity and the moral virtues. Commonly these men are called Scheinheilige, Betschwestern, Quiseln, devotes, and they are found in the male sex equally as in the female.

315. Causes of lax conscience. The first root indeed is that habitual disposition of soul proceeding from original sin, which inclines one to deny or lessen obligations and to extend freedom of acting more than is just; but the proximate causes are: 1. depraved education and intercourse. Experience, alas, clearer than the light of day shows that children educated by irreligious and ill-behaved parents attain neither the true sense of religion nor of morality. Likewise daily we see that those who habitually associate with perverse men are gradually perverted and drink in false judgments concerning religion and morality. - 2. Vehement disordered passions rather often cause a lax conscience. For such passions are accustomed to cloud the intellect and therefore impede its right judgment. Therefore the common adage is: "What one desires, this also he believes." Hence there are so many false judgments in matters of morals! For example, movements of anger are called pious indignations; unbridled ambition hears the name noble emulation; the sacred hunger for gold is called providence for adverse circumstances; sensual pleasure is named necessary care of the body, etc. - 3. A life long immersed in vices, which is accustomed to produce a clouding and finally a blinding of the intellect and an obduracy of the will. There is added the fact that a man given over to vices always receives fewer graces of God and from this slips into a deep abyss in which he no longer rightly perceives the norms of morality.

Effects. There is no one who does not see how dangerous lax conscience is, since from it arise innumerable sins, which are the more dangerous the less rightly they are perceived. Fearing this danger the Psalmist prays: "From my hidden [sins] cleanse me [O Lord]!"⁴⁸ Lax conscience, unless it has arisen from bad education, is customarily culpably erroneous, and from this all sinful acts which proceed from it, although they are not recognized as sins, are imputed to fault.

⁴⁸ Ps. 18, 13.

316. Remedies. 1. The first, best, and most efficacious remedy against lax conscience is devout and assiduous prayer: "Give me understanding, and I shall search Thy law, and I shall keep it with my whole heart."⁴⁹ - 2. Another remedy very much to be counseled is sacramental confession and instruction made by a prudent and patient confessor. But when the confessor notices that the penitent labors under a lax conscience, let him treat him kindly, yet at the same time strongly admonishing and instructing him toward the reformation of conscience. - 3. The third remedy is the removal of the causes which produced the lax conscience. Thus, if that laxity arose from bad education, good instruction is to be imparted; if it happened from bad intercourse, the society of God-fearing men is to be counseled; if an earlier bad life made the conscience cauterized, amendment must be procured with all one's powers.

⁴⁹ Ps. 118, 34.

45. • A lax conscience is called that which, from a lighter reason, judges that what is illicit is licit; or finds only a venial sin where there is mortal sin: namely, that which, without sufficient reason, bends judgment in favor of liberty, either to avoid the law, or to diminish the gravity of fault.

Such a conscience is very greatly dangerous, as is easily clear to one attending to it; for it casts souls into the broad way, which leads to perdition.

It can be distinguished in three ways, namely: 1° a conscience lax simply, which tends to extend liberty more than is just, relying upon an opinion slightly probable or improbable, or even, according to St. Alphonsus (nn. 71-73), upon the less probable for liberty when the certainly more probable for the neglected law stands; 2° a cauterized conscience, which, from a long-standing habit of sinning, accounts grave sins, indeed even most grave sins, as nothing;¹ 3° a pharisaical conscience, which makes great things small, and conversely small things great. It takes its name from the Pharisees, who spurned the most grave commandments of the law, while they would have judged themselves guilty of great sin by eating with unwashed hands, or by passing over empty traditions.

46. • The things which generally pertain to a lax conscience can be comprised in these few words.

I. He sins gravely who, knowingly obeying a lax conscience, transgresses some law in a grave matter. And indeed ignorance of this kind, as being voluntary, can easily be overcome; therefore he cannot be excused from lethal sin under the pretext of this ignorance.

II. Indeed he can sin gravely in a light matter, if his own rashness impels him to act while any dictate whatsoever has been omitted and contemned.

Quest. What are the causes, effects, and remedies of a lax conscience?

Resp. to the first. The causes are: omission of prayer; tepidity of soul; excessive solicitude for temporal things; familiarity with sinful men; a custom of sinning, which removes the horror of sin; a soft life, which enervates the heart and turns it away from spiritual things.

Resp. to the second. The effects are blindness of mind; hardness of heart, which is scarcely wont to be moved by any means; obduration in evil, which induces the greatest danger to salvation, according to that saying of the Apostle:² According to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest up to thyself wrath in the day of wrath.

Resp. to the third. The following remedies, among others, can be proposed: humble and assiduous prayer; sacred exercises; pious meditation on the last things, according to that saying: Remember thy last things, and thou shalt not sin forever;³ frequent reading of pious books; daily examination of conscience; frequent recourse to the Sacrament of Penance; flight from the wicked and conversation with the good; to adhere to the principles and opinions of St. Alphonsus, and frequently to handle his ascetical works; for the writings of the Most Zealous Doctor possess very great force for moving the soul, and for turning the mind away from secular and carnal desires and leading it back to God, as the experience of those proves who have read through them for some notable space of time.

I. What lax conscience is. - Much more numerous than the scrupulous are found in this world, alas, those who labor under a more lax conscience. But lax conscience properly is that which doubts, suspects, or probably thinks, on account of light and contemptible reasons, that an act here and now to be placed, though evil, is not evil, or is less evil than it is, e.g., venial when it is mortal. Hence it is as if moral anesthesia.¹

¹ Theologians have few things concerning the lax, especially in the treatise on Conscience. Before others Haine, Raphael of St. Joseph, Beaudoin, Prummer can be seen; likewise Legrand in Coll. Brug. 1923.

It is called a) properly; for lax conscience is often said improperly for the habitual disposition which inclines to more lax judgments and to having a lax conscience;

b) doubts, suspects, or probably thinks: for if it judges certainly, then it now becomes a conscience simply erroneous, although this could have arisen from preceding laxity;

c) on account of light reasons that an evil act is not evil...: this is its proper object by which it is distinguished from every other positively doubtful and probable conscience, indeed also from a scrupulous conscience;

d) an act here and now to be placed: thus it is distinguished from a consequent lax conscience which judges an act placed.

II. Lax conscience is threefold: a) simply such, which leans on an opinion slightly or doubtfully probable, or applies more benign reflex principles too frequently and wrongly; it arises from defect of attention, rather often voluntary, and from lightness of soul;

b) cauterized, I Tim. IV, 2, which makes even very grave sins nothing and reputes evil as good without any remorse, Is. V, 20, and arises from gross ignorance and a long-lasting habit of sinning. For thus, from perverse morals, the moral sense can be obscured so that man does not abhor even grave sins, but drinks iniquity like water, Job XV, 16. This conscience is opposed at once to the fearful and the scrupulous, so that the fearful conscience holds the middle between the cauterized and the scrupulous.

c) pharisaic, so called from the Pharisees straining out a gnat but swallowing a camel. This makes great things, e.g., duties of state, internal things, things of the natural law, small, and makes small things, e.g., works of supererogation, external things, things of positive law, great, Mt. XXIII, 24. It often arises from malice, and is opposed at once to the tender and the narrow conscience, so that the tender mediates between the pharisaic and the narrow.

III. The conjectural signs by which a lax conscience is discerned and its difference from a scrupulous conscience are enumerated by Lacroix, Th. M. l., n. 526, from Stoz, Tribunal Poenitentiae, n. 223:

1. He is lax who spurns and holds as nothing those things which others commonly think are sins; but he who fears those things which others hold as nothing is scrupulous.

2. He who generally does not believe preachers and confessors, but judges their reproofs to be immoderate exaggerations, is lax; but he who does not believe confessors or other learned and upright men excusing the fact is scrupulous.

3. He who, trusting in his own judgment, is accustomed to proceed with no one consulted, is lax; but he who, even in clear matters, or concerning which he has elsewhere received a resolution, asks again and again, wishing through this to render himself more secure, is scrupulous.

4. He who in confessing is in no way solicitous about expressing the species or number of sins is lax; but he who confesses all things doubtfully and hesitantly, repeating the same thing rather often, saying now this number, now that number, or a different circumstance, and never satisfies himself, is scrupulous.

5. He who precipitately and without any consideration does whatever, is lax; but he who proceeds so hesitantly in all things that he does not trust the common doctrine of theologians, but always seeks evidences and demonstrations, is scrupulous.

6. He who quickly and vaguely hurries through any prayers, interrupts them without cause, looks around while praying, or talks, is lax; but he who prays anxiously, rather often stops in order to have attention, repeats the same things, is scrupulous; and so concerning other matters.

From these things it follows that a lax conscience is found even among the pious, at least in light matter, e.g., if they make certain light sins nothing, or act precipitately and without consideration in whatever they do, or are accustomed to proceed trusting in their own judgment with no one consulted, etc., cf. the things said under 1, 3, and 5.

Specifically, in confession a penitent is to be judged of lax conscience if there is discerned:

a) an evidently insufficient accusation, such as ordinarily exists among those who on the occasion of annual confession say that they have committed no evil, neither theft nor homicide, or confess only a few distractions in praying, or even certain similar things;

b) absence of remorse of conscience and delay of confession until some external circumstance as if compels one to confess;

c) defect of all sorrow concerning the sins declared, as among those who seem rather to defend their sins than accuse them, who distracted and insensible hear the exhortations of the confessor, who by certain little reasonings try to persuade themselves that God is too good to condemn to hell for omission of Mass or for meats eaten.

But if by these or other signs set forth above the confessor recognizes a lax conscience: 1) he cannot simply trust such a lax penitent who recognizes himself guilty of no grave sin, but by suitable questions, as far as possible, let greater integrity of confession be procured; 2) where he accuses himself doubtfully concerning consent, he is to be presumed to have consented, otherwise he would not doubt but would be certain that he did not consent, or he would in no way remember; 3) above all, contrition is to be inculcated to him.

IV. Several causes of lax conscience are enumerated, which on the part of the intellect are reduced to vincible ignorance, and on the part of the appetite to perversity of will. For the most part they are:

1. depraved or neutral education, which is unequal to establishing the difference of good and evil and inculcating the true sense of obligation; and familiarity with vicious persons, to whose morals we become accustomed and with whose sentiments we are joined;

2. defect of consideration and counsel in ordering the moral life, whence by use, in an external and mechanical manner, good works are done rather than from love of good and hatred of evil;

3. a soft life which enervates the soul and causes lightness of soul, or defect of moral discipline in the will, which is acquired only through the practice of mortification and self-denial;

4. vehement inordinate passions, especially in youth, by which reason is obscured and easily judges licit what we desire too much, e.g., anger, ambition, cupidity, empty glory, sensual pleasure, especially lust, by which it happens that the animal man does not perceive the things which are of the Spirit of God. Thus, for example, motions of anger seem nothing other than pious indignation, unbridled ambition nothing other than noble emulation, avarice is held as legitimate providence, commercial frauds are judged a display of industry, pleasure an honorable or necessary recreation, etc.;

5. excessive solicitude for temporal things, which makes us earthly, in mature age;

6. life immersed for a long time in vices, or the custom of sinning;

7. presumptuous confidence in God, from which arises neglect of prayer, examination of conscience, confession, which altogether casts down the soul and leaves it fasting from spiritual food;

8. tepidity of soul.

V. The effects of a lax conscience are: a) in the intellect: blindness of mind, dullness of sense, foolishness or blind tranquility after sin;

b) in the will: hardness of heart or insensibility to pious admonitions, so that scarcely by any means can it be moved;

c) mockery of pious exercises;

d) obduration in evil and final impenitence, Rom. II, 5.

VI. A lax conscience is not a rule of acting prudently, but is to be put aside: a) because it is uncertain; b) moreover it arises from rashness or ignorance which is voluntary, or at least cannot remain involuntary while the doubt arising on account of light reasons is seriously examined; c) besides, it is dangerous and is accustomed to have harmful effects, because it casts the soul into the broad way which leads to perdition, Mt. VII, 13, whence ordinarily it increases the danger of sinning mortally or of persevering in sin; and therefore, other things equal, even more than a scrupulous conscience, it is to be guarded against and amended.

But if it is not put aside, the agent sins in that species and gravity of sin which he knows himself to commit or to the danger of which he exposes himself, as theologians teach concerning conscience vincibly erroneous and uncertain; and indeed he sins as often as at least confusedly he adverts the insufficiency of the reasons on which he leans and voluntarily neglects to apply means apt for forming a right conscience, and thus exposes himself to the danger of sinning. - Indeed he can sin gravely even in a light matter, if his rashness, with any dictate whatever omitted or contemned, impels him to acting, so actually disposed that, if he adverted the action to be gravely evil, he would nevertheless place it.

VII. Remedies. - A lax conscience is to be put aside by true faith and purification of heart, profession and exercise of true religion. Hence the remedies are the study of reflection or greater consideration, and the attack upon tepidity; in species:

1. a spiritual retreat for some days, by which the soul may be vacant to God and to itself, Hos. II, 41;

2. daily discussion of conscience concerning the acts of the present day, Is. XLVI, 8;

3. devout and assiduous prayer and meditation on the last things, Eccli. VII, 40, and frequent reading of pious books;

116. A lax conscience (conscience relachee; ruim of los geweten) properly is one which doubts, suspects, or probably thinks, on account of slight and contemptible reasons, that an act here and now to be placed, being evil, is not evil, or is less evil than it is, for example, venial when it is mortal. Whence it is as it were a moral anesthesia. - It is said:

a) properly: for lax conscience is often taken improperly for a habitual disposition which inclines one to laxer judgments and to having a lax conscience;

b) doubts, suspects, or probably thinks: for if it judges with certainty, then it now becomes a conscience simply erroneous, although this could have arisen from preceding laxity;

c) on account of slight reasons, that an evil act is not evil...: this is its proper object, by which it is distinguished from every other positively doubtful and probable conscience, and even from scrupulous conscience;

d) an act here and now to be placed: thus it is distinguished from a consequent lax conscience, which judges an act already placed.

117. Division of lax conscience. - Lax conscience is threefold:

a) Simply such, which rests upon an opinion thinly or doubtfully probable, or applies the more benign reflex principles too frequently and wrongly; it proceeds from a defect of attention, more often voluntary, and from levity of mind.

b) Cauterized (I Tim. IV, 2: conscience emoussee, cauterisee; verstokt of verstompt geweten), which makes even grave sins as nothing and accounts evil as good without any remorse (Is. V, 20), and proceeds from crass ignorance and a long-standing habit of sinning: for in this way, from perverse morals, the moral sense can be so clouded that a man does not abhor even grave sins, but, as it were, drinks iniquity like water (Job XV, 16). This conscience is opposed at once to the God-fearing and to the scrupulous conscience, so that the God-fearing conscience holds the mean between the cauterized and the scrupulous.

c) Pharisaic, which is so called from the Pharisees straining out the gnat but swallowing the camel: it makes great things (for example, duties of state, internal things, prescriptions of the natural law) little, and little things (for example, works of supererogation, external things, prescriptions of positive law) great (Mt. XXIII, 24). It often arises from malice, and it is opposed at once to the tender and to the narrow conscience, so that the tender conscience mediates between the Pharisaic and the narrow.

118. Conjectural signs of lax conscience. - The following signs are enumerated, by which it is recognized and distinguished from a scrupulous conscience:¹

¹ Thus Lacroix, Th. M., l. I, n. 256, from Stoz, Tribunal Poenitentiae, n. 223.

1. The lax man is one who despises and holds as nothing those things which others commonly think are sins; but he who fears what others hold as nothing is scrupulous.

2. He who generally does not believe preachers and confessors, but judges their rebukes to be immoderate exaggerations, is lax; but he who does not believe confessors or other learned and upright men when they excuse the fact is scrupulous.

3. He who, trusting in his own judgment, is accustomed to proceed without consulting anyone is lax; but he who, even in clear matters, or in matters about which at another time he has received a resolution, asks again and again, wishing by this to render himself more secure, is scrupulous.

4. He who in confessing is in no way solicitous about expressing the species or the number of sins is lax; but he who confesses all things doubtfully and hesitatingly, repeating the same thing more often, saying now this number, now that number, or a different circumstance, and never satisfying himself, is scrupulous.

5. He who acts in anything precipitately and without any consideration is lax; but he who proceeds in all things so suspended that he does not trust the common doctrine of theologians, but always seeks evidences and demonstrations, is scrupulous.

6. He who hurries through any prayers swiftly and vaguely, interrupts them without cause, looks around while praying, or chats, is lax in this; but he who prays anxiously, often stops in order to have attention, and repeats the same things, is scrupulous; and so concerning other matters.

From these it follows that even among the devout there is found a lax conscience, at least in light matter, for example, if they make certain light sins as nothing, or act in anything precipitately and without consideration, or, trusting in their own judgment, are accustomed to proceed without consulting anyone, etc., as was said under 1, 3, and 5.

Especially a penitent in confession is to be judged to be of lax conscience if there is discerned:

a) an accusation evidently insufficient, such as ordinarily exists among those who, on the occasion of annual confession, say that they have committed no evil, neither theft nor homicide, or confess only a few distractions in praying, or certain similar things;

b) absence of remorse of conscience and delay of confession until some external circumstance as it were compels one to confess;

c) lack of all sorrow for the sins declared, as among those who seem rather to defend their sins than to accuse them, who hear the exhortations of the confessor distracted and insensible, who try to persuade themselves by certain little reasons that God is too good to damn to hell for omission of Mass or for eating meat.

But if by these or by other signs stated above the confessor recognizes a lax conscience: 1) he cannot simply trust such a lax penitent who recognizes himself guilty of no grave sin, but by apt questions, as far as possible, greater integrity of confession should be procured; - 2) where he accuses himself doubtfully concerning consent, he is to be presumed to have consented, otherwise he would not doubt, but would be certain that he had not consented, or would in no way remember; - 3) above all, contrition is to be inculcated upon him.

119. Causes and effects of lax conscience. - Several causes are enumerated, which on the part of the intellect are reduced to vincible ignorance, on the part of the appetite to perversity of will. For the most part they are:

1. a bad or neutral education, which is unequal to establishing the difference of good and evil and inculcating the true sense of obligation; and familiarity with the vicious, to whose morals we become accustomed and with whose sentiments we are joined;

2. defect of consideration and counsel in ordering the moral life, whence good works are done from usage, in an external and mechanical way, rather than from love of good and hatred of evil;

3. a soft life, which enervates the soul and causes levity of mind, or a defect of moral discipline in the will, which is acquired only through the practice of mortification and self-denial;

4. vehement inordinate passions, especially in youth, by which reason is clouded and easily judges licit what we desire too much, for example, anger, ambition, greed, empty glory, sensual pleasure, especially lust, by which it comes about that the animal man does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit of God. Thus, for example, movements of anger seem to be nothing other than pious indignation, unbridled ambition nothing other than noble emulation, avarice is held as legitimate providence, commercial frauds are thought to be a display of industry, pleasure an honest or necessary recreation, etc.;

5. excessive solicitude for temporal things, which makes us earthly, in mature age;

6. a life long immersed in vices, or the custom of sinning, and of deliberately neglecting remorse of conscience, which takes away horror of sin;

7. presumptuous trust in God, from which arises neglect of prayer, examination of conscience, and confession, which wholly casts down the soul and leaves it fasting from spiritual food;

8. tepidity of soul.

But the effects of lax conscience are:

a) in the intellect, blindness of mind, dullness of sense, foolishness or blind tranquility after sin;

b) in the will, hardness of heart or insensibility to pious admonitions, so that it can scarcely be moved by any means;

c) mockery of pious exercises;

d) hardening in evil and final impenitence (Rom. II, 5).

120. Thesis. Lax conscience is not the rule of acting prudently, but must be laid aside.

It is proved: For a) it is uncertain; - b) it proceeds from rashness or ignorance which is voluntary, or at least cannot remain involuntary when the doubt arisen from slight reasons is seriously examined; - c) moreover it is dangerous and is accustomed to have harmful effects, because it casts the soul upon the broad way which leads to perdition (Mt. VII, 13), whence ordinarily it increases the danger of sinning mortally or of persevering in sin; and therefore, other things being equal, even more than a scrupulous conscience, it must be guarded against and corrected.

But if it is not laid aside, the one acting sins with that species and gravity of sin to which he knows he commits himself, or to the danger of which he exposes himself, just as theologians teach concerning a vincibly erroneous conscience and concerning an uncertain conscience; and indeed he sins as often as, at least confusedly, he adverts to the insufficiency of the reasons on which he rests and voluntarily neglects to employ apt means for forming a right conscience, and thus exposes himself to the danger of sinning. - Indeed he can sin gravely even in a light matter, if his rashness, with any dictate omitted or contemned, impels him to acting, being actually so disposed that, if he adverted that the action was gravely evil, he would nevertheless place it.

121. Remedies for lax conscience. - Lax conscience must be laid aside from true faith and purification of heart, by the profession and exercise of true religion. Whence the remedies are the study of reflection or of greater consideration, and the combating of tepidity; in particular:

A conscience is called scrupulous which, from a slight, indeed even empty cause, doubts concerning the honesty of some action, and therefore fears sin where there is no sin. For a scruple is an empty apprehension, or slight suspicion, by which someone falsely judges something to be a sin. But the word scruple is said to be derived from little stones, or pebbles, which, inserting themselves into the shoes of travelers, create trouble for the feet.

But a lax conscience is called that which from a rather slight reason judges that what is illicit is licit; or finds only a venial sin there where there is a mortal one: it is namely that which, without sufficient reason, bends judgment in favor of liberty, either for avoiding the law, or for diminishing the gravity of fault. This conscience can be distinguished in three ways, namely: 1st, a lax conscience simply, which tends to extend liberty more than is fair; 2nd, a cauterized conscience, which from a long-standing habit of sinning regards grave sins, indeed even most grave sins, as nothing; 3rd, a pharisaical conscience, which makes great things small, and in turn small things great. It takes its name from the Pharisees, who spurned the most grave mandates of the law, while by eating with unwashed hands or passing over empty traditions, they considered themselves guilty of great sin.

For correcting the scrupulous, or at least for dealing more usefully with them, there will briefly be said here something concerning the signs, causes, harms, and remedies of scruples, and also concerning practical rules to be followed both by scrupulous penitents themselves and by their confessors.