from greater sins by winking for the time at the less, or at mere
improprieties or faults; and this is the key to the difficulty which
Catholic books of moral theology so often cause to the Protestant. They
are intended for the Confessor, and Protestants view them as intended
for the Preacher.

2. And I observe upon Taylor, Milton, and Paley thus: What would a
Protestant clergyman say to me, if I accused him of teaching that a lie
was allowable; and if, when he asked for my proof, I said in reply that
such was the doctrine of Taylor and Milton? Why, he would sharply
retort, "_I_ am not bound by Taylor or Milton;" and if I went on urging
that "Taylor was one of his authorities," he would answer that Taylor
was a great writer, but great writers were not therefore infallible.
This is pretty much the answer which I make, when I am considered in
this matter a disciple of St. Alfonso.

I plainly and positively state, and without any reserve, that I do not
at all follow this holy and charitable man in this portion of his
teaching. There are various schools of opinion allowed in the Church:
and on this point I follow others. I follow Cardinal Gerdil, and Natalis
Alexander, nay, St. Augustine. I will quote one passage from Natalis
Alexander:--"They certainly lie, who utter the words of an oath, without
the will to swear or bind themselves: or who make use of mental
reservations and _equivocations_ in swearing, since they signify by
words what they have not in mind, contrary to the end for which language
was instituted, viz. as signs of ideas. Or they mean something else than
the words signify in themselves and the common custom of speech." And,
to take an instance: I do not believe any priest in England would dream
of saying, "My friend is not here;" meaning, "He is not in my pocket or
under my shoe." Nor should any consideration make me say so myself. I do
not think St. Alfonso would in his own case have said so; and he would
have been as much shocked at Taylor and Paley, as Protestants are at
him[21].

[21] Vide Note G, _Lying and Equivocation_.

* * * * *

And now, if Protestants wish to know what our real teaching is, as on
other subjects, so on that of lying, let them look, not at our books of
casuistry, but at our catechisms. Works on pathology do not give the
best insight into the form and the harmony of the human frame; and, as
it is with the body, so is it with the mind. The Catechism