with mankind shall possess the kingdom of God." [1] But adultery is thus strictly forbidden, because to the turpitude common alike to it and to other excesses it adds the sin of injustice, not only against our neighbour, but also against civil society. Certain it also is, that he, who abstains not from other sins against chastity, will easily fall into the crime of adultery. By the prohibition of adultery, therefore, we at once see that every sort of immodesty, impurity, and defilement is prohibited; nay that every inward thought against chastity is forbidden by this commandment is clear, as well from the very force of the law, which is evidently spiritual, as also from these words of Christ our Lord: " But I say to you, that whosoever shall see a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart." [2]
This is the outline of those things which we have deemed proper matter for public instruction: to it, however, the pastor will add the decrees of the holy Synod of Trent against adulterers, and those who keep harlots and concubines; [3] omitting many other species of immodesty and lust, of which each individual is to be admonished privately, as circumstances of time and person may require.
We now come to explain the positive part of the precept. The faithful are to be taught, and earnestly exhorted, to cultivate with zealous assiduity, continence and chastity, "to cleanse themselves from all defilements of the flesh and of the spirit, perfecting sanctification in the fear of God." [4] The virtue of chastity, it is true, shines with a brighter lustre in those who, with holy and religious fidelity, lead a life of perpetual continency: an ordinance in itself admirable, in its origin divine: yet it is a virtue which belongs also to those who lead a life of celibacy; or who, in the married state, preserve them selves pure and undefiled from unlawful desire. The Holy Fathers have delivered many important lessons of instruction, which teach to subdue the passions, and to restrain sinful pleasure: the pastor, therefore, will make it his study to explain them accurately to the faithful, and will use the utmost diligence in their exposition. [5]
Of these instructions some relate to thoughts, some to actions. The remedy prescribed against sins of thought consists in our forming a just conception of the turpitude and evil of this crime; and this knowledge will lead more easily to the considerations which prompt to its detestation. The evil of this crime we may learn from this reflection alone; by its commission, the perpetrator is banished and excluded from the kingdom of God; an evil which exceeds all others in magnitude. This calamity is, it is true, common to every mortal sin; but to this sin it is peculiar, that fornicators are said to sin against their own bodies, according to the words of St.
