apostates howled and gnashed their teeth at him, because he declined to redeem, as they thought, the national honor by taking his own life. The defaulter, the criminal brought to bay, sentimental lovers and seekers after notoriety, captains of sinking ships and generals of routed armies, and even men with every worldly advantage, but still tired of life, all seek in suicide a happy release, and are popularly extolled for their self-respect and bravery. Facts like these show the popular tendency.
But there is one institution, the Catholic Church, that takes a bold stand against this horrible modern mania. She spurns from her sanctuary and her consecrated soil, the vile body of the suicide, she bans his action as an outrage against society, against Nature and against God. She denounces him as a selfish coward, and while charitably recommending him to God's mercy in her private devotions, she neither entertains herself nor holds out to others much hope of his ultimate salvation. In a word, though from a popular standpoint there be crimes of a darker hue than suicide, there is none other by which from a Catholic standpoint a man so utterly renounces his religion and his God.
" Thou shalt not kill." Christ Himself tells us that all of the ten commandments are summed up in these two: " Thou shalt love God above all things, and thy neighbor as thyself; " " Thou shalt not kill," therefore, is but a negative way of asserting the positive duty of justice and love man owes to his fellowman. But not only to his fellowman, but also to him-
