From “Casket of Odds and Ends.”
This is a question which, it seems to me, is not asked with sufficient frequency or seriousness, even by those who profess to be Christians. By this question should every course of conduct and every case of conscience be tested.
Is it right? “Well, I do not think any special harm can result from it.”
That is more than you can decide. None but God can foresee consequences. Though it may seem to be but a slight deviation from the rigid law of rectitude, it must do harm to yourself, and may result in injury to others. A little wrong is an “offending in one point.” “Little foxes destroy the vines.”
Is it right? “Why, everybody does so.”
“Thou shalt not follow the multitude to do evil.” We are not responsible nor accountable in masses, but as individuals. We never lose our personality in a crowd, and every wrong done in association with others is as distinctly marked as though it were done in solitude, and must be answered for alone.
Is it right? “It is popular. I shall be commended and praised for it.”
But human praise cannot change the inherent character of the action. There is no alchemy in words and smiles to transmute the dross of wrong into the gold of right. Better have the approval of thine own heart than the empty praise of crowds.
Is it right? “It seems expedient.”
Well, the right will always be found the expedient in the end. But some persons think that strict right may, in some cases, be sacrificed to a present expediency. Expediency in such a case is but a euphonism for wrong. It means, let us do a little evil that good may come. But evil never yet begot good. Good is never the progeny of such adultery. It is a universal law that every seed produces fruit of its own kind, and though God may sometimes, in His wise providence, crush the evil seed that human expediency has planted, and deposit, invisibly to us, good seed in its place, yet the damnation is no less just of those who say, “Let us do evil that good may come.”
Is it right? “It is human nature.”
But human nature is all wrong, and grace is given us for its subduing and sanctification. He who follows the impulse of his carnal nature is supplying aliment to strengthen the “old man with his deeds.” It is a sad proof of our degeneracy that the right almost always implies self-denial, self-crucifixion.
Is it right? “It is pleasant.”
Sin makes itself palatable to our depraved nature. But when right and enjoyment present themselves as claimants for our choice, and we must give up the one to gain the other, which shall be sacrificed? Woe to us if we trample upon right in our scramble after pleasure.
Is it right? “If it is not, I cannot help it.”
But this you know to be untrue. If you do wrong, it is because you choose to do it; all things considered, prefer it.