第29章

And though the order of his superior be just, that does not oblige you to obey him, for it is not just at all points or in every respect- non undequaque juste praecepit- but only probably so; and, consequently, you are only probably bound to obey him, and probably not bound- probabiliter obligatus, et probabiliter deobligatus.'" "Certainly, father," said I, "it is impossible too highly to estimate this precious fruit of the double probability." "It is of great use indeed," he replied; "but we must be brief.Let me only give you the following specimen of our famous Molina in favour of monks who are expelled from their convents for irregularities.

Escobar quotes him thus: 'Molina asserts that a monk expelled from his monastery is not obliged to reform in order to get back again, and that he is no longer bound by his vow of obedience.'" "Well, father," cried I, "this is all very comfortable for the clergy.Your casuists, I perceive, have been very indulgent to them, and no wonder- they were legislating, so to speak, for themselves.I am afraid people of other conditions are not so liberally treated.Every one for himself in this world." "There you do us wrong," returned the monk; "they could not have been kinder to themselves than we have been to them.We treat all, from the highest to the lowest, with an even-handed charity, sir.And to prove this, you tempt me to tell you our maxims for servants.In reference to this class, we have taken into consideration the difficulty they must experience, when they are men of conscience, in serving profligate masters.For, if they refuse to perform all the errands in which they are employed, they lose their places; and if they yield obedience, they have their scruples.To relieve them from these, our four-and-twenty fathers have specified the services which they may render with a safe conscience; such as 'carrying letters and presents, opening doors and windows, helping their master to reach the window, holding the ladder which he is mounting.All this,' say they, 'is allowable and indifferent; it is true that, as to holding the ladder, they must be threatened, more than usually, with being punished for refusing; for it is doing an injury to the master of a house to enter it by the window.' You perceive the judiciousness of that observation, of course?" "I expected nothing less," said I, "from a book edited by four-and-twenty Jesuits." "But," added the monk, "Father Bauny has gone beyond this; he has taught valets how to perform these sorts of offices for their masters quite innocently, by making them direct their intention, not to the sins to which they are accessary, but to the gain which is to accrue from them.

In his Summary of Sins, p.710, first edition, he thus states the matter:

'Let confessors observe,' says he, 'that they cannot absolve valets who perform base errands, if they consent to the sins of their masters; but the reverse holds true, if they have done the thing merely from a regard to their temporal emolument.' And that, I should conceive, is no difficult matter to do; for why should they insist on consenting to sins of which they taste nothing but the trouble? The same Father Bauny has established a prime maxim in favour of those who are not content with their wages: