b. THE RELATION OF PECCATA ACTUALIA TO THE CONSCIENCE

The old division of actual sins into peccata contra conscientiam (a) veram, (b) erroneam, (c) probabilem, (d) dubiam may appear at first glance rather mechanical, but it serves a real need. Whoever sins against a correctly informed conscience (conscientia recta) sins most grievously. He sins as an (“being condemned of himself,” Titus 3:10); he is approaching the condition of a man who is determined to espouse error and faces the danger of committing the sin against the Holy Ghost.51 — One who has an erring conscience (conscientia erronea), who regards it, e. g., as his duty to pray to the saints, is in a predicament. He sins when he obeys his conscience, and he sins when he does not obey his conscience. In the first case he does what God has forbidden. In the second case he sins because he fails to do something which he feels conscience bound to do as commanded by God.52 It is therefore of great importance to correct an erring conscience by proper instruction from God’s Word.—“Against the probable conscience he sins who neglects the safer way” (Hollaz, Examen, “De peccatis actualibus,” qu. 11). This somewhat infelicitous expression — conscientia probabilis, opinativa, Wahrscheinlichkeits-geunssen — conveys an important truth. He sins who, instead of inquiring conscientiously which of two or more possible or proposed modes of procedure is the best and safest one, treats the whole question lightly. That holds true in the secular as well as in the religious domain. In all things that are left to their decision, Christians are so much concerned about choosing the best that they implore God to lead them to choose the safest and the best way. — In the case of a doubting conscience (conscientia dubia) Christians must wait until the doubt is cleared up before they act. Rom. 14:23: “He that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith.” 53