No one has ever stated the truth more clearly, more unmistakably than Christ our Lord. Was it not precisely for this very fact that “many of His disciples went back and walked no more with Him”? (John 6, 67.) D. The “Good Catholic.” “I am a Catholic. I live up to my religion and go regularly to the sacraments. I have had a good Catholic education and hear a sermon every Sunday. I do not see why I should be afraid to read any book, even if it belonged to those forbidden by the Index.” You may do so; but you may fare in consequence as David fared—David who was a saint and yet committed adultery and murder. If you read a forbidden book without permission, you are as good a Catholic as one who eats meat on Friday. The object of the law of abstinence is to make sure that every Christian performs at least a certain minimum of penance. Now there are saintly persons who, in imitation of our crucified Savior, do more penance on ordinary days than the average Catholic does by abstaining from meat on twenty or more Fridays; and yet they are not exempted from the law of abstinence and would be the last to claim such an exemption. Similarly the object of the Index is to make sure that every Christian avoids at least the worst books. By obeying its laws we declare that our standpoint is that of the Church of God. This result cannot be obtained unless the prohibition is made universal, exempting no one, no matter how pious or learned he may be. Therefore, _all_ Christians, good and bad, priests, religious and lay people, students and professors, unless they have a dispensation, are bound by the ecclesiastical laws regarding books. By asking for a dispensation we implicitly acknowledge and approve of the official position of the Church on the subject of wicked books, and, so far as in us lies, ratify and sanction the reasons which lead to their condemnation. You say you are a good Catholic, and therefore this law does not bind you. Are there any commandments of the Church that bind only bad Catholics? E. A Mortal Sin. “I am told that a transgression of the Index law is a mortal sin. Can it be true that the Church, the kindest of mothers, should load us down with such a severe obligation?” According to the theologians, the reading of a forbidden book, or of a considerable part of it, _is_ a mortal sin. The selection of the books on which our souls feed is a matter of no small importance. True, the Church is the kindest of mothers; but she is also the wisest. To direct the consciences of her children and “_to restrain them from the reading of bad books as from a deadly poison_,” is the great object of her legislation. Under the leadership of a mastermind like that of Leo XIII, the Roman authorities have labored for years in formulating the present ecclesiastical laws about books. These laws are the voice of the supreme pastor, the successor of St. Peter. Let us not spurn it like the heathen and the publican. F. The Galileo Case.