reasons proportionate
to the evil of risking life; and in these and similar cases, if death
results, it is indirect suicide, and is in nowise criminal.

The same cannot be said of death that results from abuses or excesses
of any kind, such as dissipation or debauchery; from risks that are
taken in a spirit of bravado or with a view to winning fame or lucre.
For a still better reason this cannot be said of those who undergo
criminal operations: it is never permitted to do what is intrinsically
evil that good may come therefrom.

All this applies to self-mutilation as well as to self-destruction; as
parts of the whole, one's limbs should be the objects of one's charity,
and God's law demands that we preserve them as well as the body itself.
It is lawful to submit to the maiming process only when the utility of
the whole body demands it; otherwise it is criminal.

One word more. What about those who call upon, and desire death? To
desire evil is sinful. Yes, but death is a moral evil when its mode is
contrary to the laws of God and of nature. Thus, with perfect
acquiescence to order of Divine Providence, if one desire death in
order to be at rest with God, that one desires a good and meritorious
thing and with perfect regularity; it is less meritorious to desire
death with the sole view of escaping the ills and troubles of life; it
would even be difficult to convict one of mortal offending if he
desired death for a slight and futile reason, if there be due respect
for the will of God. The sin of such desires consists in rebellion
against the divine Will and opposition to the providence of God; in
such cases the sin is never anything but grievous.

CHAPTER LXX.
SELF-DEFENSE.

THE thought is a terrible one--and the act is desperate in itself--of a
man, however justified his conduct may be, slaying with his own hand a
fellow being and sending his soul, unprepared perhaps, before its
Maker. But it is a still more desperate thing, because it strikes us
nearer home, to yield up one's life into the hands of an agent of
injustice. There is here an alternative of two very great evils; it is
a question of two lives, his and mine; I must slay or I must die
without having done anything to forfeit my life.

But the law of charity, founded in nature, makes my life more precious
to me than his, for charity begins at home. Then, to save his life, I
must give mine; and he risks his to take mine! I do not desire to kill
my unj