III. Exercise of Censorship.— Catholics do not frown upon the exercise of this right of ecclesiastical censorship as tyrannical. They deem that, if there be in such repressive meas ures of the Church any seeming tyranny, it is the tyranny of love and not of hate. Just as a mother is narrow minded and will not allow her child to drink a solution of arsenic in water, merely because it looks harmless, so the Church is narrow-minded in protecting her children from poison in faith and morals. They may reject her motherly love, and give up member ship in her community; but so long as they freely will to be her children and to share in the graces of her sacramental life, they must abide by her censorship in matters of faith and morals.
The ecclesiastical laws now governing cen sorship are given in the Codex Juris, canons 1384-1405. Twelve classes of prohibited pub lications are enumerated in canon 1399; they are all such as would lead to the poisoning of the wells of doctrine in the matter of faith and morals. In keeping these wells pure, ecclesi
astical authority is only following out Saint Paul's injunction to Timothy: eGuard the glori ous deposit (of faith) by the help of the Holy Spirit who dwelleth in us" (2 Timothy 1-14). The laws, by which ecclesiastical authority guards the deposit of faith are binding upon all Catholics. To prevent the reading of cer tain books, canon 2318 Codex Juris enacts the penalties incurred by violation of the more seri ous enactments of ecclesiastical censorship. They are ipso-facto excommunicated from the Church, who publish "books by apostates, here tics and schismatics, that defend apostasy, heresy or schism; likewise they who defend, or wittingly and without due permission read or retain such books or other books that have been nominatim prohibited by Apostolic Letter.° Bibliography.-- Hilgers, 'Der Index der verbotenen Biicher' (1904); Eticherver bote in Papstbriefen) (1907) ; Taunton, 'The Law of the Church' (1906).