The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-02-09

UaSStn,e, or quasi ertrenaG.
The passage is so remarkable that |
quote it word for word that my readers
may see how wide of the mark Bishop
Keane is in limiting Liquors. decision to
ertrenad 7aecesSttds.
1T is certain that he who is placed in ex-
treme necessity may steal the property of an
other In sufficient quantity to free himself from
such necessity. So the Doctors by common con-
sent as also Aquinas who gives as the reason
that In such an extremity all things are com
mon; since the law of nations by which division
OF property has been made cannot set aside the
natural right which appertains to every one of
providing for himself when laboring under ex
treme necessity. The same decision is gwen
(Iden dicitur) when the necessity is next to ex
treme, or equivalent to 1t; tor in necessity of
this kind, otherwise called very grave or quasi
extreme, one may also provide for himself with
ordinary means of subsistence but not with such
as are exquisite and extraordinary. So by com
mon consent Lugo and many others"
| The last mentioned of whom pronounces
this opinion certain. So that Bishop
Keanes extreme necessity" comes down
guori proceeds:
"Such is considered to be very grave ne
cessity, when one is in probable danger of incur
X
danger OF losing some principal member OF the
body, or some sense, say for instance an eve
another long list of authorities {: also when one
is in proximate danger of falling into perpetual
captivity, or galley slavery, or some very severe
and lifelong disease or disgrace another long
list of authoritiesl. For there Is no need, as
Lugo, and Ebel quoting from Aquinas, and
others say, that evils of this kind should be
actually pressing upon you; but it is enough
that proxmately and with moral certainty they
are threatening. Nay, says Holtzmann one of
the authorities cited above it is enough that
the danger from these things be one certainly
probable"
And so the Bishops ertrenaa necessitaS
on which he would have me lay so much
stress is whitfield down to mere proba-
61Aty of mourning severe or lifelong dis
ease or disgracel
Notice too that if at the time the man
was re ct spe paupe,', the obligation to
make restitution afterwards is not only
suspended, but ertlnguiShed so that, if the
man inherits fortune next day he is
under no obligation to replace what he
has consumed of another man S property.
But the most amazing feature of this case
is the reason Bishop Keane gives why the
man may thus help himself '-"i in which
case, says the Bishop, any one would
be bound in conscience to give him as an
aims what he had to take; the simple
English of which is that whatever I am
bound in conscience to give as an aims to
another he has right to take from me
secretly, without my knowledge or con-
sent. Beautiful ethics this
We pass now to the case of the poor
Northumberland to beg or work, but
not to steal, whom the Blsl OPP thinks
wronged in not quoting Liguori limita-
ton, provided his shame be so great
that he would rather die than begl'-
Well, [ fail to see the injustice. The
pride that makes man ashamed to get
his living honestly, and not ashamed to
get 1T dishonesty, is not only contempt
BILE, but heinously wicked. The shame
that grows out of it is therefore a sinful
shame. The greater the shame becomes
the more sinful it becomes; and when it
has reached the point at which man
would rather die than make his living
honestly, instead of telling him, as Ligu7
orr does, that he may make it by stealing.
he ought to be told to die at once, as the
greatest benefit he can confer on his fell
low-men.
9: DR.. Witherspoon (the Bishop pro.
ceeds) goes on with the teaching of this
Roman "casuist as follows:
Domestic servant men and women NAV steal
(occuHe StTTipere) from their own masters for
the purpose of compensating themselves for
their own labor which they Judge to be greater
than the salary they receive" 1b. N. 5210
Here this Roman casuist goes on to say that the
compensation need not be in the same kind in
which the salary is paid that while the servant
ought first to seek redress by law, yet the
omission of this is only to be reckoned venial
SIN; and that the servants own Judgment as to
the value of his services is to be his guide in
determining how much of the property of his
master he will secretly appropriate to himself.
Here Bishop Keane says truly that 7
have quoted the language of proposition
condemned by Innocent XI, as the teach
ing of Liguori. The quotation was found
by me, as were nearly all the others to
whose accuracy the Bishop takes excep-
ton, in letter in the N. York Observer,
over the well-known signature of "Iren-
@us," where it is given as the teaching of
Liguori. 1t was copied from that paper
simply as memorandum, and by the
mistake referred to already, was incorpo-
rated into my letter.
The passage intended to quote is as
follows:
domestic servant may, according to his own
Judgment, compensate himself for his own labor