Scandal supposes an inducement to commit sin, which is not the case when the receiver is already all disposed to sin and is as bad as the giver.  Nor can scandal be said properly to be given when those who receive it are in all probability immune against the evil.  Some people say they are scandalized when they are only shocked; if what shocked them has nothing in it to induce them into sinning, then their received scandal is only imaginative, nor has any been given.  Then, the number of persons scandalized must be considered as an aggravating circumstance.  Finally, the guilt of scandal is greater or less according to the helplessness of the victim or intended victim, and to the sacredness of his or her right to immunity from temptation, children being most sacred in this respect.

Of course God is merciful and forgives us our offenses however great ’they may be.  We may undo a deal of wrong committed by us in this life, and die in the state of grace, even after the most abominable crimes.  Theologically, therefore, the idea has little to commend itself, but it must have occurred to more than one:  how does one feel in heaven, knowing that there is in hell, at that moment, one or many through his or her agency!  How mysterious is the justice of God to suffer such a state of affairs!  And although theoretically possible, how can anyone count on such a contingency in his or her particular case!  If the scandalous would reflect seriously on this, they would be less willing to take the chances offered by a possibility of this nature.

CHAPTER LXXXII.  NOT GOOD TO BE ALONE.

A man may come to discover that the state in which he finds himself placed, is not the one for which he was evidently intended by the Maker.  We do not all receive the same gifts because our callings are different; each of us is endowed in accordance and in harmony with the ends of the Creator in making us.  Some men should marry, others may not; but the state of celibacy is for the few, and not for the many, these few depending solely on an abundant grace of God.

Again, one may become alive to the fact that to remain in an abnormal position means to seriously jeopardize his soul’s salvation; celibacy may, as for many it does, spell out for him, clearly and plainly, eternal damnation.  It is to no purpose here to examine the causes of, and reasons for, such a condition of affairs.  We take the fact as it stands, plain and evident, a stern, hard fact that will not be downed, because it is supported by the living proof of habit and conduct; living and continuing to live a celibate, taking him as he is and as there is every token of his remaining without any reasonable ground for expecting a change, this man is doomed to perdition.  His passions have made him their slave; he cannot, it is morally impossible for him to do so, remain continent.

Suppose again that the Almighty has created the state of wedlock for just such emergencies, whereby a man may find a remedy for his weaknesses, an outlet for his passions, a regulator of his life here below and a security against damnation hereafter; and this is precisely the case, for the ends of marriage are not only to perpetuate the species, but also to furnish a remedy for natural concupiscence and to raise a barrier against the flood of impurity.