"Man by sinning withdraws from the order of reason, and thereby falls from human dignity, so far as that consists in man being naturally free and existent for his own sake [autocentric]; and falls in a manner into the state of servitude proper to beasts, according to that of the Psalm (xlviii. 15): _Man when he was in honour did not understand: he hath matched himself with senseless beasts and become like unto them_; and Proverbs xi. 29: _The fool shall serve the wise_. And therefore, though to kill a man, while he abides in his native dignity, be a thing of itself evil, yet to kill a man who is a sinner may be good, as to kill a beast. For worse is an evil man than a beast, and more noxious, as the Philosopher says." (2a 2æ, q. 64, art. 2, ad 3.) Hence observe:--(1) That a Utilitarian who denies free will, as many of that school do, stands at some loss whence to show cause why even an innocent man may not be done to death for reasons of State, _e.g._, as a sanitary precaution. (2) That the State must come to a conclusion about inward dispositions by presumption from overt acts, arguing serious moral guilt before proceeding to capital punishment. To this extent the State is remotely a judge of sin. But it does not punish sin _retributively_ as sin, nor even _medicinally_. It punishes the violation of its own laws, to _deter_ future offenders. (_Ethics_, c. ix., s. iii., nn. 4-6, pp. 171-174.) _Readings_.--St. Thos., 2a 2æ, q. 64, art. 2, 3; 2a 2æ, q. 108, art. 3. SECTION IX.--_Of War_.