I 01 In respect law which transgression

2. In respect of the law of which they are a transgression (i.) Sins of commission Peccata positiva quce committuntur adversus legem vetantem.

(ii.) Sins of omission Peccata ncgativa, quce committuntur adversus legem jubentem. Comp. Matthew 25:42-45, " Inasmuch as ye did it not; " James 4:17," Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."

There is here perhaps a want of sufficient precision.

Every positive act of sin is a breach of a law which forbids that sin, but it is also a breach of a corresponding law which enjoins the opposite good. On the other hand, every omission of good which the law enjoins is not necessarily a breach of the law which forbids the opposite evil. We cannot commit evil without omitting the antagonist good; but we may omit good without necessarily committing the antagonist evil, e.g. one cannot tell a lie, which is a breach of the law forbidding falsehood, without at the same time breaking the law which commands and speaks the truth; but one may omit to obey the law which commands to show kindness to all men, without directly breaking the law which forbids us to do injury to any man. We must distinguish these here, and say that all sins of commission are also sins of omission, but all sins of omission are not also sins of commission. And we must distinguish, further, between a law of primary obligation and a law of secondary obligation. By the former, we mean one which directly arises out of our relation to God, and which is always binding; by the latter, we mean a law arising out of our relations to our fellow-men, and which is binding only under certain conditions. Now, in reference to the former, there is no distinction between a sin of omission and one of commis sion; every omission of the commanded good is a commission of the prohibited opposite evil, and vice versa. In reference to the latter, there is a distinction between sins of omission and sins of commission, to the extent that though the com mission of a forbidden evil is also of necessity the omission of the opposite good, the omission of a commanded good is not necessarily the commission of the opposite evil.