artfully perverted by separating them from the context which qualified them, and several were but opinions hazarded on subjects which presented a complex character, difficult of solution. It is a singular fact that St. Augustine, in regard to a particular case, pronounces an opinion which is now generally considered extremely severe; and on another point seems almost to justify what no divine at the present day could be found to sanction.* This shows that the holiest and most enlightened men may err in matters not decided by the Church; and it should dispose us to regard with indulgence those who, with upright intentions, advance opinions that, on mature examination, may not be found tenable. The satires of Pascal have involved in disgrace the whole society of Jesuits, because some objectionable principles had been maintained by individual members, which, however, were exaggerated and caricatured by the artful and caustic Jansenist. It is the glory of the Society, that, whatever indulgence it showed to human weakness, its members themselves generally exhibited in their own conduct evangelical perfection. It is, indeed, the characteristic of the saints to be severe towards themselves, and indulgent towards others; and only a few years have elapsed since the Church has enrolled in her list of triumphant confessors Alphonsus de Liguori, a moralist remarkable for the mildness of his opinions, which some branded as relaxed, but still more conspicuous for virginal integrity, pastoral zeal, and all the high qualities of an Apostolic prelate. The popular character of his principles in France may be conjectured from the rapidity with which the excellent compendium of M. Neyraguet has passed through several editions.

It is not, however, our object to vindicate any class of theologians, but to give an insight into Christian ethics as they exist, pruned by the hand of authority from the excrescences which spoil their beauty and usefulness. There remain, it is true, many opinions of a questionable kind still afloat on the theological sea. The chief pastors have not taken on themselves to decide every moral question that has been a subject of discussion; since the endless variety of phases which human actions may assume might render this extreme minuteness in defining the limits of right and wrong hazardous and perplexing. It was enough to defend the great principles of morality, and their application to important cases, against the temerity of

De Serm. Domini, n. 50.

men whose zeal was not according to knowledge. The freedom of opinion which is left does not render the science of little value, since it presents a comprehensive rule of duty with the highest sanction of authority. Omitting to speak of the exact sciences, we ask, What other science can offer an equal amount of useful knowledge with fewer questionable points? Not certainly chemistry, which by undergoing an entire revolution has not strengthened its claims on our confidence; not geology, with its Plutonian and Neptunian theories; not medicine, which, for the most part, is matter of experiment, with very doubtful issue,-kill or cure. We stop not to inquire whether law be a science, or art, since, unhappily, we know too much of its glorious uncertainty to fear its rival claims. Our science has broad and deep foundations, absolutely immovable; and the superstructure is solid and secure.

Ethics are not matters of sterile speculation, but essentially practical, regulating the actions of man, his words, his affections and thoughts, by the divine law. Man, inasmuch as he is a free and responsible agent, is the object of this science, which, leaving to physiology to contemplate his physical organization, and to medicine to treat of his corporal maladies, considers him as a moral being, subject to impulses which he must restrain and direct, and bound to the performance of certain duties. Her immediate end is to establish and maintain order in man himself by subjecting the animal appetite to reason, and, in case nature still revolt, by influencing the judgment and will, so as to prevent any consent or voluntary delectation in that which is irregular. Internal peace is secured by this control of the appetites and inclinations. Using the goods of life for his nourishment and comfort, man abstains from excessive indulgence, and thus he is not enfeebled by debauchery, or brutified by intoxication, or disturbed by passion. The disorders consequent on the original transgression yield to the superior influence of religion. The science, however, contemplates the possible deviations from her principles and laws, and is employed in devising remedies for all imaginable prevarications, as well as in determining the amount of moral guilt attached to them respectively. She considers man, in every class of society, and in every station of life, as a frail and sinful being; and whilst she lays before him his duties, she supposes the possibility of defects and transgressions. Without waiting for the evidence of actual guilt, she visits the high places of the land, and marks the defilements by which human weakness may stain

are all

offices the most holy. She follows the sinner into the sanctuary, deprives him of the benefit of asylum, erects her tribunal at the very altar of God, and decrees the punishment of profanation and sacrilege. The walls of the cloister do not oppose an obstacle to her scrutiny. The musings of the convent-cell, the whisperings of the tempter that addresses the frail daughter of Eve even within the earthly paradise, judged of by her according to the standard of Him who searcheth the heart and reins. No place is deemed too holy to exclude temptation, no perfection so complete as to remove danger. With scales taken from the sanctuary she weighs each circumstance which may aggravate guilt, or change altogether its character; with minute accuracy she numbers the transgressions; and with unsparing strictness she unfolds the obligations which arise from their commission; whilst with a mother's solicitude she points to the means necessary to insure pardon. It is, however, unjust to suppose that the cases laid down by casuists are so many realities, since they are generally mere creatures of imagination, designed to illustrate and apply the principles. It may be that several similar sins have been, in various circumstances, committed; but their commission cannot be proved or inferred from mere hypotheses; much less is it fair to argue their frequency from the fact that they are spoken of as possible. As well might the character of a nation be assailed, because the laws decree punishment against such as may be guilty of unnatural enormities. Surely it is from the criminal records, and not from the statute-book, that the amount of crime should be estimated, nor does even the conviction of an individual culprit establish the general criminality of the body to which he belongs. If a theologian dwell on the guilt of a sacrilegious priest, is it just to infer that sacrilege is the ordinary characteristic of the priesthood? If he exaggerate the profanation of the holy ministry, does it follow that it is constantly profaned? If he condemn the looking back with regret on the world which has been forsaken, and the forfeiting in secret the purity which was vowed to God, with what appearance of reason is it inferred that the cloister is the habitation of unclean spirits? Honni soit qui mal y pense.

Moral theology reviews the relations of man to his fellowmen individually, to his family especially, to his country and her government, and to society at large. This is a wide and vast domain. Some of these relations are of the most deli

cate kind, which many think should be covered with an impenetrable veil, since their exposure shocks public sentiment, and the glance of curiosity may bring death to the soul. The French infidel affects horror at the cahiers which are submitted to the ecclesiastical student to prepare him for the ministry of the confessional, by giving him an insight into mysteries of which he has no practical knowledge. The calumniators of Dens have paraded and exposed in the vernacular tongues all that this excellent divine thought necessary to detail, that what is lawful and what is forbidden might be accurately discriminated, and marriage maintained in every respect honorable,the bed undefiled. The tract of Sanchez, De Matrimonio, written on his knees, at the foot of the crucifix, with an iron girdle around his loins, has been singled out for denunciation, as an index of Spanish corruption, an insult to public morals, a libel on Christianity. Even Saint Alphonsus de Liguori has not escaped the censure of the advocates of decorum and morality! Protestant and infidel have joined in the war-cry against Roman casuists; but is it meant that the law of God does not regulate the relations of man and wife? Is it supposed that the first laws of nature can be defeated without sin, or that nothing must be said to disturb the false tranquillity of the transgressors ? Are crimes which the marriage-veil conceals from the public eye less abominable before God than the frailties of the inexperienced and unprotected, which are followed by exposure and shame? Whoever entertains such views forgets what St. Paul has said to inculcate the duties of the married state, and what Moses has recorded respecting the punishment of their violation. Of Onan it is written, "The Lord slew him, because he did a detestable thing." In times of primitive purity and simplicity, the holiest prelates of the Church, such as Chrysostom and Augustine, entered into details from the pulpit which the public ear will not now suffer. Shall we, on this account, consider all such offences against the fundamental law of nature as imaginary, and shrink from their contemplation, and in every circumstance affect utter ignorance of their possibility or their malice?

It is amusing to see Michelet solicitous about the purity of the young Levites, on their being allowed to peruse the Diaconal; it is highly ludicrous to hear the corrupt compiler of extracts from Dens, whilst putting every dangerous detail within

* 1 Cor. vii. 3.

† Gen. xxxviii. 10.

the reach of every school-boy or girl, affecting to be shocked at the impropriety of instructing the clergy in the like details, the ignorance whereof would expose them, like unskilful physicians, to mistake the diseases which they may be called on to cure. Since the matrimonial relations form an essential part of Christian morality, — since the laws are founded in nature, and have God for their author, since the transgressions are pointed out in Scripture, and the severest punishments are there denounced against the transgressors,-the professor of Christian ethics must study them. The innocence of his life, the solemnity of his obligations, and the daily exercises of piety which are enjoined on him, are so many protecting influences in a study, the pursuit of which, although not free from danger, is, under these circumstances, infinitely less dangerous to the Levite than the morbid descriptions of Sue or Bulwer are to the young female reader. Nay, we will say confidently, there is far more danger to a youth, male or female, from the premature reading of certain Scriptural facts and enactments, than there is to the theological student from the study of all the details of Dens, Sanchez, or Saint Alphonsus. Those who know vice only in the abstract, by studying its deformity, are generally remarkable for great innocence and purity of manners, and are never found, on this account, less delicate or refined in their intercourse with society. It is not presented to them in the pages of the casuist in the glowing colors wherewith it is depicted in romance, or with the charms wherewith stage representation invests it. The tear of sympathy for the faithful lovers does not steal down the cheek, nor does the bosom throb with high emotions. Adventure, intrigue, stratagem, are not employed to give interest to the narrative. Vice is considered as base, degrading, producing wretchedness and ruin, the worst enemy of man, and as that which God hates with perfect hatred; its fatal results in time and eternity are portrayed; and is it in circumstances like these that innocence, which in age more tender resisted the rude blasts of the world, is most likely to be blighted?

Some affect to believe that the crimes contemplated by theologians belong to extraordinary epochs, when man was rendered savage by wars, and his passions defied all control. Would to God that it were so! Still would their labors have their value, because suited to circumstances which may somewhere exist, and may sooner or later occur among ourselves. But, alas! what is man everywhere, and at all times? Truly an