There is in many a wonderful propensity to perplex the distinctions between right and wrong, and to obscure the boundaries of virtue and vice. Their propensity is both absurd and wicked. It most frequently manifests itself in two ways:—1. By bestowing soft and gentle names on crimes of real and destructive magnitude. Thus, infidelity and scepticism have been called “free inquiry,” indifference to all religion “a spirit of toleration,” duelling “an honourable deed,” adultery “gallantry,” extravagance “a liberal expenditure,” the selfish sensualist “a good-natured man.” By the use of such false and misleading terms, we lower the standard of right and wrong, and expose ourselves to the temptation of practising what we have persuaded ourselves is not so very wrong. 2. By applauding works of genius and imagination of which the real tendency is to inflame the passions, and to weaken moral and religious principle. The tendency of such works should lead us unhesitatingly to condemn and reject them, whatever may be the literary fascinations of their style. Nothing is more dangerous than a book which imparts to vice the delusive appearance of a virtue. Thus, to confound the distinctions between right and wrong, is to renounce the superiority which man claims over the brute creation—that of being a rational creature, for the brutes are never guilty of anything so irrational as that of calling good evil, and evil good.—Charles Moore, M.A., Sermons, ii. pp. 155–172.
The Sin of Using Wrong Names.
v. 20. Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil.
What difference can it make what anything is called!
“What’s in a name?
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
Yet the Bible pronounces its woe upon those who merely call things by wrong names. Why?
1. Names are not mere words: they are the representatives of ideas; and hence, they have a force of meaning which makes them powerful instruments. There are opprobrious epithets that wound more severely than a blow. Slander has slain more than the dagger. The name of a place or person suggests to us all that we know, or have conceived, about it or him. Paul, Jesus—what a power there is in these names! How suggestive are the phrases, “an upright man,” “a transparent character!” Because words are representatives of ideas, to use the wrong names is to convey false ideas. 2. The wrong use of names confounds moral distinctions, and perplexes and misleads men in regard to duty. Right must not be called wrong, or wrong right. This is to sweep away all the landmarks of duty; or, rather, it is shifting all the buoys and beacons by which we navigate the sea of life, so that instead of warning us of danger, they shall rather draw us upon shoals and rocks. The skill of every successful errorist consists in a dexterous jugglery of names. 3. By giving decent names to gross sins, the standard of public morals is lowered, and the community is corrupted. One of the things that blinded America to the evil of slavery was, the term that used to be applied to it—“our domestic institution,” &c. Be on your guard, then, against wrong names. Do not try to deceive yourself by means of them. Pure covetousness is sin, even though you do call it economy, &c. Do not try to deceive others (Matt. v. 19; Mark ix. 42).—S. G. Buckingham, American National Preacher, xxv. 269–278.
Self-Conceit.
v. 21. Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight.
Self-conceit. I. Its signs: dogmatism; contempt of others; scepticism. II. Its causes: ignorance,[1] vanity. III. Its folly: it makes a man ridiculous; leads him into error. IV. Its offensiveness to God; in spirit—principle—action. V. Its certain humiliation.—J. Lyth, D.D.