Sin and Toleration

Peccata quamvis magna et horrenda, cum in consuetudinem verterint, aut parva aut nulla esse creduntur, usque adeo ut non solum non occultanda verum etiam praedicanda ac diffamanda videantur, quando, sicut scriptum est: Laudatur peccator in desideriis animae suae, et qui iniqua gerit bene dicitur. Talis in divinis libris iniquitas clamor vocatur, sicut habes apud Isaiam prophetam de vinea mala: Expectavi, inquit, ut faceret iudicium, fecit autem iniquitatem, et non iustitiam sed clamorem. Unde est et illud in Genesi: Clamor Sodomorum et Gomorrhaeorum multiplicatus est, quia non solum iam non apud eos puniebantur illa flagitia, verum etiam publice veluti lege frequentabantur. Sic nostris temporibus ita multa mala, etsi non talia, in apertam consuetudinem iam venerunt, ut pro his non solum excommunicare aliquem laicum non audeamus, sed nec clericum degradare. Unde cum exponerem ante aliquot annos Epistolam ad Galatas, in eo ipso loco ubi ait Apostolus: Timeo vos ne forte sine causa laboraverim in vobis, exclamare compulsus sum: Vae peccatis hominum, quae sola inusitata exhorrescimus; usitata vero, pro quibus abluendis Filii Dei sanguis effusus est, quamvis tam magna sint ut omnino claudi contra se faciant regnum Dei, saepe videndo omnia tolerare, saepe tolerando nonnulla etiam facere cogimur, atque utinam, o Domine, non omnia quae non potuerimus prohibere faciamus. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensis, Enchiridion de Fide, Spe et Charitate, Cap LXXX

Sins, although grave and horrible, when men become accustomed to them, are looked upon as trivial, or they are judged not to be sins at all, and this goes so far that such sins are not merely concealed but are vaunted and spread aboard, and so, as it is written, 'The sinner is praised in the desires of his own heart and he speaks well of him who openly carries his iniquity.'1 Such iniquity is called in Scripture called a cry, as in the Prophet Isaiah, who speaking of the evil vineyard says, 'I looked for judgment to be done, but there was iniquity; for righteousness, but there was a cry.' 2Whence also it says in Genesis: 'The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah has grown,'3 because in these places outrages were not only not punished, but were openly committed, as if by law. And so in our own times there are many forms of sin, though not just the same, are now so openly and habitually done, that for doing them we not only dare not excommunicate a layman but we dare not even degrade a clergyman. So it was that a few years ago when I was expounding the Epistle to the Galatians, at that very place where the apostle says, 'I fear for you, lest perhaps I have bestowed labor upon you in vain,'4 I was driven to exclaim, 'Alas for the sins of men, for it is only when we do not do them that we shudder at them. When we are accustomed to them, though the blood of the Son of God was poured out to wash them away, though they are so grave that the kingdom of God is shut against them, by familiarity all things are tolerated, and by habitual toleration we are compelled to do them. But may it be, O Lord, that we may not come to practise all that we have not the able to prohibit.' Saint Augustine of Hippo, Handbook on Faith, Hope and Charity 1 Ps 10.3   2 Is 5.7 3 Gen 18.20  4 Gal 4.11