together; they are averse to the presence of other persons; they prefer to sit for hours in the dark; they wander about in secluded and out-of-the-way places; they are at every dance that is held for miles around. The Christian code of morals can never sanction such company-keeping. Such a method of courtship is fraught with the greatest dangers and generally constitutes a proximate occasion of sin.
Holy Scripture condemns this. "Can a man hide fire in his bosom, and his garments not burn? Or can he walk upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?" (Prov, vi. 27, 28.) "Are you," asks St. Augustine, "more masters of yourselves than David, or wiser than Solomon? Now, if too familiar intercourse with women, and the seduction of their caresses were the ruin of these great men, how will it fare with those who purposely seek such familiarity with the opposite sex, who perhaps live in the same house with them and frequent every amusement in their company?"
St. Jerome calls illicit acquaintances the 'death-agony of a moribund chastity."
Even that mildest of moralists, St. Francis de Sales, points out the great danger of undue familiarity: "These erotic friendships evoke so many temptations, dissipations, and jealous feelings, not to speak of other things inimical to the peace of the soul, that the better feelings of the heart are completely crushed and destroyed by them." St. Alphonsus, the prince of moral theologians, says: "I maintain as a general principle, that it is a matter of great difficulty for any one who keeps up an intimacy of this kind. to preserve himself from proximate occasion of sin."
