The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-02-12

though it does no one any harm and
does some good?
1t is always sinful to tell lie. II
the untrath is of such jocosG nature
that everybody recognizes it as such,
and no one is deceived, it is regard
cd as 4 joke rather than lie. One
may also make use OF Il certain,
broad, mental restriction when he has
q Just and proportionate reason Tor
SO doing. LII this case, tue speaker
does not deceive his neighbOr; he al
lows his neighbor TO deceive himself,
and just cause may render the men
tai restriction permissible. In all
other instances, u lie is sin and can
not be INDUCED in even to effect good
or avoid evil. The Scriptures fire.
uuently condemn lies: Thou shalt
fly lying" exodus 800 BE not
willing to make any manner of lie.
(Ecclus. 7-14): Thou shalt not bear
false witness" Matt. 1919 These
texts of Holy Writ without distinction
and limitation condemn lying, A lie,
moreover, is contrary to the very end
for which the Creator instituted
human speech: it is detrimental to the
common welfare, for if lying were licit
and men could no longer trust one
another all confidence and trust in
human society would b. at All end
4 lie is morally evil in itself, for it
proceeds from the father Of lies -
the dcvil-aud is opposed to the Su-
prCmc Truth-God 1t is the received
teaching Of the Catholic Church that
4 lie is q sin--a moral evil-and it Is
never permitted to do evil, even the
slightest, that good nay result. Car
dinal Newman sums up the Catholic
position i'll the following words: "Shc
(the Catholic ChurCh) holds that 1T
were better for the sun and moon
TO drop from heaven, for the earth
to fail, and for all the many millions
who are upon it to die of starvation
in EXTREMIST agony, 50 far as tenn
poral affliction goes, than that one
soul, | will not say, should be lost
but should commit one single yGnial
sin, should tell one wilful untruth,
though it harmed no one or steal one
poor farthing without excuse diff
OF Anglicans I-24O) A lie always
does some harm: at least il always
Injuries the one who is guilty of it,
and if it be deliberate, it offends
God, Who said; Thou shalt not bear
false witness"
Is the st. Francis Girls Directory,
San Francisco, CAL, still in existence?
No. The institution was burned
down last year and we arc reliably
informed that it will not be rebuilt.
We are told in the book of Genesis
that light was created on the first day,
whereas the sun was not created till
the fourth day. But since all our light
comes from the sun, how can light
have existed before the sun was made ?
The Book of Genesis is not a hand
book of astronomy, nor is the Bible in
general u treatise on physical science
of any kind. Such inQuirerS as this
cannot expect to get scientific infor-
nation from the Bible any more than
we can look for exact chemistry in
cook book, or poetiCal diCtion i'll
an Act of Parliament. Indeed, cook
book would have little practical value
il 1t discussed the chemical properties
of the food of which it treated, and an
Act of Parliament would not become
easier of Interpretation by being draft
cd in blank verse: and the Bible in like
manner would have been quite useless
for its purpose of teaching religion il
it had been burdcned with scientific
explanations, which would have been
quite unintelligiblc to its first readers,
and TO most of its present ones as
we'll. We are told that God created
the light aud the sun, as well as all
other things, in successive periods OF
time But how He did it, and how the
successive classes of created objects
influenced one another, we are left to
find out, If we can, for ourselves. III
this particular case, moreover, it is
not clear what we are to understand
by the creation of the sun. Does it
refer to the first moment of the sun S
separate existence, or to its previous
existence i'll combination with the pla.
nets subsequently given off from it, or
to the moment when its rays first
reached the earth, which was very
considerably later than either of these
times? It is, of course, quite impossi-
bic TO say But according to the gen,
orally accepted "nebular hypothesis
Of LaplaCe and Hcrschel tho whole
of the present solar system was once
tation, the PARTICLES which are now
the planets were whirled off into
space; and the sun was created as
the central residuum of the whole. It
would therefore not have been fully
formed until some time after the earth
bad parted company with it, whereas
light must have existed from the time
when the original nebular mass began
its career: and again the cooling OF
the earth's surface, and the consequent
changes in the geological and atmos.
pheric conditions, must have made con
siderable progress before the suns
first rays can have reached it. Thus
the account of Genesis is, as it hap,
pens, scientifically accurate in this
matter.
Does the Church of Rome teach that
an accommodated person dying in
this state, is condemned to eternal