is a venial sin, because there is no mortal sin unless it be contrary to the law of God.  Now it is possible for one of the articles of faith to present itself to the reason suddenly under some other aspect, before the eternal law, i.e. the law of God, is consulted, or can be consulted, on the matter; as, for instance, when a man suddenly apprehends the resurrection of the dead as impossible naturally, and rejects it, as soon as he had thus apprehended it, before he has had time to deliberate and consider that this is proposed to our belief in accordance with the Divine law.  If, however, the movement of unbelief remains after this deliberation, it is a mortal sin.  Therefore, in sudden movements, the higher reason may sin venially in respect of its proper object, even if it be a mortal sin in its genus; or it may sin mortally in giving a deliberate consent; but in things pertaining to the lower powers, it always sins mortally, in things which are mortal sins in their genus, but not in those which are venial sins in their genus.

Reply Obj. 1:  A sin which is against the eternal law, though it be mortal in its genus, may nevertheless be venial, on account of the incompleteness of a sudden action, as stated.

Reply Obj. 2:  In matters of action, the simple intuition of the principles from which deliberation proceeds, belongs to the reason, as well as the act of deliberation:  even as in speculative matters it belongs to the reason both to syllogize and to form propositions:  consequently the reason also can have a sudden movement.

Reply Obj. 3:  One and the same thing may be the subject of different considerations, of which one is higher than the other; thus the existence of God may be considered, either as possible to be known by the human reason, or as delivered to us by Divine revelation, which is a higher consideration.  And therefore, although the object of the higher reason is, in its nature, something sublime, yet it is reducible to some yet higher consideration:  and in this way, that which in the sudden movement was not a mortal sin, becomes a mortal sin in virtue of the deliberation which brought it into the light of a higher consideration, as was explained above. ________________________

QUESTION 75

OF THE CAUSES OF SIN, IN GENERAL
(In Four Articles)

We must now consider the causes of sin:  (1) in general; (2) in particular.  Under the first head there are four points of inquiry: 

(1) Whether sin has a cause?

(2) Whether it has an internal cause?

(3) Whether it has an external cause?

(4) Whether one sin is the cause of another?
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FIRST ARTICLE [I-II, Q. 75, Art. 1]

Whether Sin Has a Cause?

Objection 1:  It would seem that sin has no cause.  For sin has the nature of evil, as stated above (Q. 71, A. 6).  But evil has no cause, as Dionysius says (Div.  Nom. iv).  Therefore sin has no cause.