GUILTY ATTEMPTS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 152, 31 March 1876, Page 10

GUILTY ATTEMPTS.

— ++ — . Hamlet says that " conscience does make cowards of us all •" and in many instances the fear which this monitor provokes isa wholesome one. Those persons who have been educated in the belief that to steal or to lie, to swear or to calumniate are wicked actions, and who, in consequence, are afraid of committing them, are much more likely to prove useful and respectable members of society than are those who, having na conscience in the matter, are not withheld by any scruples from these evil practices ; and it will readily be admitted on all hands, that it would be a most lamentable step that would reduce the former class to the condition of the latter. Yet such a step is many times attempted by numbers of people, who would most indignantly repudiate any intention of taking it ; and who would do so consistently, since they act in iguorance ;— an ignorance, however, which proceeds from want of consideration, and is not, therefore, wholly excusable. It will doubtless be granted, that successfully to persuade a person to do once what he believes to be culpable is a veryfair augury that he will again allow himself to be so per suaded, and that byand-bje lie will need no persuasion, but

will be ready to act as convenience may demand, without regard to right or wrong. Cc it'est que le premier pas gui coute, says the proverb, and they who once set out on the downward path, most frequently reach the bottom of the descent without much delay. Now there are many ways of inducing persons to take the first step that quickly leads to moral bankruptcy, but for the present we are concerned about one only. Amongst the multitudinous false ideas entertained by non-Catholics with regard to all matters connected with the Church, there is none more gross than the belief that it is a praiseworthy action to induce a Catholic in some matter, be it greater or less, to violate the precepts of his religion ; and there is, unfortunately, no attempt which is more commonly made, in public as well as in private. From the mistress who endeavors to persuade her female servant to eat meat on a day of abstinence, or to absent herself without just cause from mass, to the government, which tries to induce its Catholic subjects to conform to some ordinance that is condemned by the Church, all those, who make an attempt at persuading a Catholic to break the laws of his religion, are, whether they know it or not, doing their utmost to degrade him, and change him from an upright and useful member of society into a worthless good-for-nothing, destitute of principle and conscience. The Catholic believes, and truly believes, that he is as strictly bound to obey the precepts of the Church, as he is to observe the commandments of the moral law, and for him to allow himself to be persuaded into a breach of one of the ordinances of his religion is, on his part, quite as grave a defalcation as it would be on the part of a Protestant of good character to permit himself to be success- i fully tempted to steal, or to be guilty of perjury, and if the latter "Would be universally considered deserving of censure, it is certain that the former cannot be thought to be less culpable by all who will duly consider the matter ; for the wicked action in the one case, though no doubt much to be deprecated, is still less to be deplored, than the degradation of mind, and the loss of principle, from which it has proceeded ; and, in the other case, these must be acknowledged to prevail as well ; however the manner in which they are made manifest may be looked upon. Hence it may be seen to be a most mistaken, and indeed a most evil course, to endeavor to make a Catholic act in contradiction to the precepts of his Church, and, in consequence, against the dictates of his conscience : the employer who does so with regard to his employe is in truth, whether he is aware of it or not, acting against his own interests, for he is endeavoring to change an upright servant into a deceitful one, and to rob himself of the pledge which he possesses in the probity of the employed, for the right performance of the tasks allotted by him ; and the government, which enacts laws that its Catholic subjects cannot conscientiously obey, is still more blind, and many times more guilty, ior it ipbo facto makes an attempt to corrupt a large section of the community, and to degrade them from honorable members of society into a worthless body, stripped of principle and honesty.