opposed to charity.

CHAPTER LXXVI.
IMMORALITY.

THE natural order of things brings us to a consideration of the Sixth
Commandment, and at the same time, of the Ninth, as treating of the
same matter--a matter so highly immoral as to deserve the specific
appellation of immorality.

People, as a rule, are tolerably well informed on this subject. It is a
knowledge acquired by instinct, the depraved instinct of our fallen
nature, and supplemented by the experiences weaned from the daily
sayings and doings of common life. Finally, that sort of journalism
known as the "yellow," and literature called pornographic, serve to
round off this education and give it the finishing touches.

But, on the other hand, if one considers the innocent, the young and
inexperienced, who are not a few; and likewise the morbidly curious of
sensual tendencies, who are many, this matter must appear as a high
explosive, capable of doing any amount of damage, if not handled with
the utmost care and caution.

Much, therefore, must be left unsaid, or half-said; suggestion and
insinuation must be trusted to go far enough, in order that, while the
knowing understand, the ignorant may be secure in the bliss of their
ignorance and be not prematurely informed.

They, for whom such language is insufficient, know where to go for
fuller information. Parents are the natural teachers; the boy's father
and the girl's mother know what to say, how and when to say it; or at
least should know. And if parents were only more careful, in their own
way, to acquaint their children with certain facts when the time comes
for it, much evil would be avoided, both moral and physical.

But there are secrets too sacred even for parents' ears, that are
confided only to God, through His appointed minister. Catholics know
this man is the confessor, and the place for such information and
counsel, the holy tribunal of penance. These two channels of knowledge
are safe; the same cannot be said of others.

As a preliminary, we would remark that sins, of the sort here in
question as well as all kinds of sin, are not limited to deeds.
Exterior acts consummate the malice of evil, but they do not constitute
such malice; evil is generated in the heart. One who desires to do
wrong offends God as effectively as another who does the wrong in deed.
Not only that, but he who makes evil the food of his mind and ponders
complacently on the seductive beauty of vice is no less guilty t