iniquity, but I will require his blood from thy hand." Ezech. iii.
I will undertake, O wicked sinner, I will undertake, to thy cost,
the cause of this soul, this reprobated soul, which thou hast
destroyed ; and reprobated as it is, I shall still be concerned for it,
and will retort its reprobation on thy devoted head. 1

Enough, beloved Christians, have I said to make you compre-
hend the grievousness of this sin. But not to insist any longer
thereon, 1 shall now set forth the strongest inducement to watch its
approaches, and the best and safest rule we can follow in order to
guard against it. A sin, of which we are often guilty without
intending to commit it. I wish I were so happy as to make you
comprehend this important verity, and so far to prevail on you, as
that each one should apply this lesson to himself! For we may
scandalize souls without forming deliberately a design to damn
them, or having a determinate will to make our neighbour fall.
The devil only is capable of such maliciousness ; and none (says
St. Chrysostom) but the devil, can love the scandal for the scan-
dal's sake. It is not requisite that I have an express will to ruin
my brother : it is enough that I perceive I ruin him effectually ;
that my conduct, of itself, hath a tendency to ruin him ; and that
I perform some action, in consequence of which he will undoubtedly
be ruined. But I would not that he were ruined. True : but to
will that he be not ruined, and to will, at the same time, that
which ruins him outright, (replies St. Chrysostom,) are two con-
tradictory wills ; and the worst of it is, that of these two wills the

one good, the other bad ; the former by which you wish that your
brother may not be ruined, is but a half will, an imperfect will,
an unavailing will — one of those velleities with which hell abounds,
and which effectually lead us to damnation ; whereas the latter,
whereby you wish that which is the origin of his ruin, is an effica-
cious will, an absolute will, a consummate will, a will carried into
execution, which communicates perversion, and causes damnation.

Thus a woman of the world, filled with airy notions, and no



342 ON SCANDAL.

way actuated by the Spirit of God, is engaged in reciprocal visits
and conversations, which, however dangerous, she will not inter-
rupt, nevertheless, bears witness to her own innocence, and that
she never entertained any criminal intention. She sees, notwith-
standing, that by this communication she inflames the passions of
a sensual man ; that she excites in his heart irregular desires ; that
she takes him off from the way of salvation ; that she encourages,
not a little, his idle cajolery ; and that by not discountenancing his
frequent attendance, without a will to ruin him, she ruins him
effectually. Is she, therefore, the less a murderer of his soul ?
No, Christian ; the scandal she gives is a grievous sin. Her real
intention, by this intercourse, is to indulge her vanity. But setting
aside her real intention, her vanity kindles and nourishes, in the
breast of this young man, immodest affections. For that respect
which he pays to her person she terms complaisance, which she
terms civility, and she is fully determined to stop there. But her
resolution cannot hinder the effect of her complaisance from going
still farther, and from bringing, in spite of her, destruction on him
whose affections she means to preserve, and no more, and to
renounce whom she hath not sufficient fortitude of mind.

Upon that account I said — (and oh ! that you would turn the daily
experience you have of it to advantage) — upon that account I said,
and I say it again, that this murdering of souls was often a conco-
mitant to trivial matters in the eyes of the world, but an utter
abomination, if maturely considered, in the presence of God ; a
concomitant to looseness of attire, to luxury of decoration, to
undisguised allurements, to the tyranny of the mode which the
prince of the world, that is, the devil of the flesh, hath invented ;
to levity and privacy, wherein the bounds of decorum are passed
without difficulty; to particular conversations, the secrecy, the
familiarity, the agreeableness of which effeminates the strong, and
infatuates the sage ; to an irregular and too free a vein of humour ;
to a passion to please and pass for agreeable. But all this, say
you, is innocent. What ! (replies St. Jerom) do you call that
innocent, which so deeply wounds your neighbour's soul ? And
though, as you apprehend, (the inconsistency of which Almighty
God will make known,) all this were perfectly innocent in itself,
when you find its consequences to be so deplorable, ought you not
to reject it with detestation and horror ?

Did St. Paul reason thus, and are these the principles and



OH SCANDAL. 343

moral documents he hath left in the church ? No, no, (says this
apostolical man,) that I shall never suppose allowable, which I
foresee, and which I know, cannot but be detrimental to my
brother's soul. He discoursed of the flesh of animals offered up in
sacrifice to idols ; flesh not contaminated in itself, but which, on
the contrary, might be eaten indifferently by those of the faithful
who had upright consciences, that is, who had no propensity to
idolatrous worship, and made a sincere profession of believing only
in the living God. It matters not, (says this vessel of election,
this man raised by God to instruct us in our duty and improve our
morals,) if the meat which I eat should scandalize my brother,
though the use of it be forbidden by no other law, I will condemn
myself to forbearance by the law of charity: " If meat scandalize
my brother, I will never eat flesh." 1 Cor. viii. Are you then,
beloved Christians, more privileged than St. Paul was ? Are you
not equally bound by the law of charity ? Are you allowed to
plead exemption from it more than he was ? And if this great
apostle, giving up his right, thought it incumbent on liim to
abstain from flesh, though not prohibited, but which he appre-
hended might give rise to scandal, with what face can you affirm,
in the presence of God, that a hundred things are matters of indif-
ference, of which you well know the pernicious effects, having
learned by experience how prejudicial they are to those who
approach you ? No, (we ought to say with the apostle of Christ, a
truly Christian soul,) if these practices, these customs, which the
world authorizes, and which gratify my self-love, are a cause of
scandal, whatever my reason may allege to the contrary in their
behalf, I am determined to relinquish them; be they ever so
innocent, to outward appearance, I abhor, I detest, I renounce them
for ever : " If meat scandalize my brother, 1 will never eat flesh."
2ndly. Thus you must speak, thus you must reason, if you speak
and reason from principles of religion. Otherwise — (and it is, as
I at first observed, the second misfortune of him that gives scandal)
— otherwise, beloved hearers, you are answerable in the presence
both of God and man, not only for the particular crime you com-
mit, by scandalizing your brother, but in general for all the crimes
which he whom you scandalize commits, or shall commit. Now,
who can fathom and measure the depth of this abyss ? Or, to use
an expression of the divine Spirit, how " deep calleth on deep!"
Who can number them up ? And who but yourself, O God,



344 ON SCANDAL,

" that beholdest the depths," is capable to comprehend them ? Of
how many sins may not, for instance, bad advice be productive ?
Violent and unjust advice, given to a man in power and authority,
which induces him to gratify his vengeance or ambition, what
mischiefs it produces ! What disturbances arise from it ! What
a multiplicity and variety of sins it brings after it ! You are too
knowing not to see the consequences, and have too much sensibi-
lity not to shudder at them. Now faith informs us, that whoever
is the author of such advice, participates, the very moment he
gives it, without other participation than merely the giving of it,
in the whole guilt of those misfortunes ; and, whether he will or
not, is responsible for all the injustices of him who follows it, and
carries it into execution. How incomparable are the judgments of
our heavenly Lord ! How the sons of men must be delivered over
to excessive folly and a reprobate sense, when they forget such
great and terrible truths !

But sins, you say, are personal ; and although Almighty God
be strict in his judgments, he is merciful, and desirous to dispel
our fears, when he tells us by his prophet: " The soul that sin-
neth, the same shall die." Ezech. x. By which he would teach
us, that each one will be answerable for his own sins ; that " the
son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and the father shall
not bear the iniquity of the son ;" (Ezech. x. ;) that when we shall
appear before the sovereign tribunal, " every one shall bear his own
burden," (Gal. vi. ;) and not that of another. I join issue with
you ; for all these I know to be so many oracles, set down faith-
fully in the inspired writings, which, according to the ordinary
course of justice, will be verified with regard to sins of every kind,
save the sin of scandal. The reason is this : the sin of scandal is
not merely personal, but an original sin, in some degree, that insi-
nuates and spreads itself through the soul of man, infecting her not
only with its own venom, and its own malignity, but likewise with
the venom and malignity of those to whom it extends. The scan-
dalous sinner will, therefore, be excepted from these general rules,
who, perpetrating crimes for himself and for others, will be
arraigned for his own, and for the crimes of others, at the supreme
bar. The reason of it is natural : for if, according to the law of
God, he who sins must die ; with much greater reason (says St.
Chrysostom) should he die, who causes sin, who incites sin, who
advises sin, who teaches sin, who sets example of sin ; all this, in



ON SCANDAL. 345

which scandal consists, being indisputably more punishable, and
more deserving of death than the sin itself. Therefore, it is true,
that each one will be made to bear his own burden. But as to you,
sinner, who have occasioned scandal, besides your own burden, you
will be forced to undergo that of others too. And although such
persons, whose iniquity you shall bear, will thereby be neither dis-
encumbered nor justified ; it is this foreign burden, this iniquity
of others, that will finally overwhelm you.

And if it be urged that these sins were not known : known, or
not known, (replies St. Jerom,) as they derived their origin from
your sin, by an inevitable fatality they are laid to your charge.
You knew not the irregularities of those you scandalized ; but
though you knew them not, you are not to be looked upon the less
for that, as the original cause. You knew them not ; but you
ought to have known them, you ought to have dreaded them, you
ought to have prevented them, and this you have neglected ; and
all this makes you liable to be punished according to the whole
extent of their malignity.

For this reason, the most holy of kings, in the fervour of his
penitence, beseeched the Almighty to grant him special grace
against two kinds of sin, the consequences of which he appre-
hended to be endless ; hidden sins, and the sins of others : sins
which he himself unknowingly committed, and sins which he
occasioned others to commit, but never imputed to himself as a
fault : " Who can understand sins ? From secret ones cleanse
me, O Lord, and from those of others spare thy servant." Where
is the man who knows all his failings, who endeavours to find them
out, who, to lament and expiate them, hath the gift of discern-
ing them ? " Who can understand sins ?** Purify, therefore,
(adds he,) O God, purify me from those sins which my pride con-
ceals from me, which by worldly dissipation I am hindered from
discerning, which the cloud of my passions, or the veil of my igno-
rance, impedes the sight of: " From my secret ones cleanse me."
But, at the same time, pardon me the sins of my neighbour, for
which I am responsible ; sins, to which I have unfortunately
co-operated ; sins, of which my conduct hath been the pernicious
source ; sins, with which you will one day reproach me, and which
will complete, in conjunction with my own, the heavy burden that
increases daily, and under which I shall, perhaps, ere long, be
oppressed. Pardon me them, O Lord, and grant that I may pre-



346 ON SCANDAL.

vent, by means of exact and severe penance, the rigour of your
judgment, " and from the sins of others spare thy servant."

A most holy prayer this, which the Spirit of God suggested to
David, and the use of which, I doubt not, would be necessary for
the greatest part of those who hear me. A prayer, which the
woman of the world should put up to heaven every day of her life,
in the spirit of compunction. And let it be remembered, that
when I speak of a woman of the world, I mean not a woman
devoid of religion, or even a vicious woman who leads a disorderly
and libertine life. I speak of a woman, who, "content with a spe-
cious regularity that dazzles, is far from a willingness to be under
constraint, or submitting to walk in the straight way that leads to
God. I speak of a woman, who, though she rates herself high for
her faultless demeanour in essential points, nevertheless, by a thou-
sand insinuating ways, and a studied vivacity, is a scandal to souls.
I speak of a woman, who, without passion and without attachment,
is oftentimes equally criminal with those who are passionately
attached ; and who, notwithstanding her apparent reputation of
which she is so jealous, and of which she takes so great care as to
escape censure, and the imputations consequent to the weaknesses
of her sex, is not the less for that, on account of the sins she so
often foments, an enemy to God. A prayer, from which would
arise her conversion, if after the example of the inspired king, she
said every day : " From the sins of others spare thy servant."
Pardon me, O Lord, such a number of sins, of which I unreason-
ably believed myself clear in thy divine sight, and in which, blinded
by self-love, I was made to believe I bore no part, but the weight
of which now lies heavy upon me. Pardon me all those sins, all
those desires, all those sensations, which are owing to my orna-
mental attire, to my insinuating conversation, to my eno-aoino-
manner, though attended with a modesty that inspired me rather
with a profane haughtiness, than Christian circumspection :
" From the sins of others spare thy servant." But, O my Lord,
what though in your goodness you should pardon my offences, can
I pardon myself? Can I set bounds to my penitence, considering
the obligation I am under of satisfying not only for myself, but for
those sinners also, who, by my contrivances, were induced to enter
upon sinfid practices ? " Who can understand sin ? From my secret
ones cleanse me, O Lord, and from those of others spare thy servant."

True it is, ye women of the world, this kind of language is not



ON SCANDAL. 347

usual with you. But God, the ruler of the human heart, may
give, when he pleases, a blessing to my words. I know that the
reformation of a scandalous sinner, in respect to salvation, is a great
miracle ; but the arm of the Lord is no way shortened. Let us
hope for all things by the grace of Jesus Christ. It is more
forcible than the whole world. How exuberant soever may be the
iniquity of mankind, it will be no impediment to the designs of
God. Some there are in this audience, who will persist in their
scandal, refusing assent to these assertions ; and others, though
convinced of what I advance, will be too remiss to relinquish their
habits. Among these hardened souls, however, there are whom
God hath predestined ; and possibly, at the moment I utter these
words, he perceives some one, who, effectually persuaded of the
truth I announce, is already resolved to retrench in his apparel, in
his conduct, in his comportment, in his diversions, in his conver-
sations, in his actions, whatever may be contrary, in any shape, to
the purity of his religion, and the edification of his neighbour.
Though I were to bring over only one to God, should I not thereby
be sufficiently happy ? Be that as it will, beloved hearers, these
are documents laid down in the gospel, which we are bound to
know, being one of the most formal and express articles of the
faith we profess. Every scandalous sinner is a murderer of the
souls to which he gives scandal, and is answerable to God for the
crimes they commit. But if scandal, considered absolutely, and
in itself, be so great an evil, what shall I say of that sort of scandal,
which the same man gives, whose duty it is, in a special manner,
to give good example ? Wo be to the man who is the author of
scandal ; but wo be to him over and over again, when particularly
bound to give edification.

Part II. Every man living by the common law of charity, is
under an obligation of edifying his neighbour. And when St.
Paul laid doivn as a rule for the Romans this great maxim : " Let
every one of you please his own neighbour for his good to edifica-
tion," (Bom. xv.,) it is evident that he spoke in general terms, not
excepting condition, rank, or person. It must, however, be
granted, that there are, on this head, particular engagements, and
particular duties ; and that, according to the different relations in
which men may be considered throughout the community, and to
their different connexions with one another, it is more incumbent
on some, than on others, to comply with this law. In the course

z2



348 ON SCANDAL.

of nature, a father, as such, is bound to give good example to his
children. By the decrees of Providence, a master, or whoever is
vested with power, is bound to edify, by his conduct and morals,
all those who live in subjection to him, In the order of grace, the
priests and ministers who attend the altar, are bound, agreeably
to St. Peter's position, to be a model and rule to the flock of
Christ, by the holiness of their lives : " Being made a pattern of
the flock from the heart." 1 Pet. v. According to the doctrine
delivered by St. Paul, those who are devoted, in a special manner,
to the service of God, should particularly be careful to be sin-
cere in their piety, and even, if possible, without reproach, in
order to shut the mouths of impious men, or bring them over to
God ; at least, not to scandalize them or obstruct their return to
the way of salvation. The stedfast in the faith, I mean Catholics,
should live among their brethren who are disunited from them,
with more attention, vigilance, and caution. And these assertions
are all founded on the most solid and incontestable principles
of Christianity.

If, therefore, in contravention to these duties, the scandal should
proceed from the same source, from which ought to flow good and
edifying example ; or, to speak more clearly, if the very person,
who, by God's appointment, is under a special obligation of giving
edification to his neighbour, should be the first to scandalize him ;
ah ! Christians, this is what completes the malediction of our
Saviour, and should make us cry out in the bitterness of our soul :
"Wo be to that man!" because (says St. Chrysostom) then the
scandal is more contagious, and makes a deeper and more lasting
impression on the soul ; because then it is more difficult to guard
against its influence ; because then impiety takes greater advantage,
and licentiousness and looseness of manners draw a more specious
pretext, not only from possession, but from prescription. Be
pleased to give ear to this second point of doctrine, in laying which
before you, I shall entirely confine myself to those particular kinds
of scandal which have just been mentioned.

1st. How great, beloved hearers, is the crime of a father, who,
in disparagement to the name of Christian which he bears, and
utterly unworthy to be called a father, by his bad example, scan-
dalizes and corrupts his own children ? It was his duty to bring
them up in the exercise of religion ; but, far from that, by his



ON SCANDAL. 349

impious discourses, by his jesting imprudently at our sacred
mysteries, by his hatred and aversion to all holy things, by his
affected opposition to whatever is denominated work of piety ; in a
word, by liis impious unchristian life, he instils into them his spirit
of libertinism, and principles destructive of all religion. It was
his duty to correct the precipitancy of their temper, and repress
the sallies of their growing passions ; but he encourages them by a
more shameful precipitancy of temper, and by sallies of passion
more extravagant and senseless. It was his duty to provide for
then' improvement in virtue ; but by his debauchery and excesses,
excesses of which they are but too well apprised, excesses which
he is not at the pains to conceal, they are hurried and misled into
strange irregularities and depravity of manners* How many
fathers in the Christian world, how many, perhaps, of those who
hear me, are in this predicament ? They are not content to be
libertines themselves, they raise up in their children, by the
education they give them, a generation of libertines. Their
authority over them is exerted only to effect their ruin. They
are their fathers only to transmit to them their vices, to inspire
them with their ambition, to make them drink in with their milk
the ranklings of their enmities, to entangle them in their injustices
by making them inheritors of their ill-acquired fortunes. Were it
not better (as St. Chrysostom observes) they had been stifled in
their cradles ? And if we reflect with horror and astonishment on
the barbarous superstitition of those infidels, who were used to
immolate their children to their idols ; do they not stir up in us
the same feelings, who, in direct contempt of the true God, to
whom they well know their children have been consecrated in the
saving laver, inhumanly sacrifice them to the spirit of the world,
that evil sprit with which they are themselves possessed. Such,
for the same reason, is the inordination of a mother, who by all
laws is under an obligation of bringing up her daughters, servants
of God, and spouses of Jesus Christ, but is so very blind, or to
speak more properly, and allow me the expression, is so very cruel,
as to make them slaves of Satan, and victims to vanity, teaching
them the science of eternal damnation, on pretence of giving them
a knowledge of the world, and destroying, by her example, all the
lessons of virtue, which, in other respects, she is so well qualified
to give them by words. For, notwithstanding the scandal she gives
her own children, she expects they will listen with patience and sub-



350



ON SCANDAL.



mission to her admonitions and instructions. Whatever degree of
liberty she assumes, whatever communication, whether suspected
or undisguised, she is said to carry on, she perpetually preaches
regularity to her daughters, and requires that they behave with
circumspection and decency, with tractability and docility, while
she takes, herself, the greatest latitudes, and will not comply with
the most essential duties. But in this consists that species of
scandal which I now encounter. For how can this zeal, though
maternal, avail, when not supported, when frustrated, or, rather,
when destroyed and annihilated, by her own example ? What
good effect can the remonstrances of a mother, whose reputation
is blasted, have on the mind and conduct of a daughter, whose
notions are far from the simplicity of the dove, and who, probably
enough, by having -seen too much, is become as clear-sighted and
penetrating as the serpent.

2ndly. How great is the crime of a master of a family, who,
forgetful of what he is, or abusing his power, and perverting the
order of divine Providence, misleads and corrupts those whom it is
his duty to inspect and direct ? St. Paul has given us the dictate
of the Holy Ghost upon this matter: " If any man take not care
of his own, and especially those of his own house, he hath denied
the faith, and is worse than an infidel." 1 Tim. viii. A short sentence
this, but full of energy ; a sentence, from which I should expect
more, towards the reformation of your lives, and the sanctification
of your souls, than from ever so many and such eloquent sermons,
if you would, beloved hearers, but revolve it in your minds, and
meditate upon it with due attention. But if St. Paul spoke thus
of unattentive and careless, how would he have spoken of scanda-