11. May we desire our own death?
No, we may not when the desire proceeds from dejection or despair; but we may when we ardently desire to offend God no more, and to be united with Him in Heaven.
'I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ' (Phili. i. 23).
12. When do we injure our neighbor as to the life of his soul?
When we scandalize him; that is, when we deliberately seduce him to sin, or voluntarily influence him, and give him occasion, to commit it.
13. Who render themselves guilty of this sin?
In general, all those who in any way incite, advise, or help others to do evil, command them to do it, or approve of it; and in particular those, 1. Who use impious or filthy language, or dress themselves immodestly; 2. Who spread abroad bad books and pictures; 3. Who open their houses to thieves, drunkards, gamblers, or other wicked men, for their unlawful meetings; and 4. Those superiors who give bad example, or who do not hinder evil, as they are in duty bound to do.
14. What should in particular deter us from giving scandal?
1. The thought that he who gives scandal is a minister of Satan, destroying those souls which Jesus Christ has ransomed with His blood, by seducing them to sin.
'He [the devil] was a murderer from the beginning' (John viii. 44). 'Destroy not him, for whom Christ died' (Rom. xiv. 15).
2. The dreadful consequences of seduction, since those who have themselves been seduced generally seduce others, and thus the sin is continually propagated.
The whole human race corrupted through the descendants of Cain (Gen. vi.). Jeroboam's sin and punishment (3 Kings xii-xiv.).
3. The awful sentence of Jesus Christ.
