|
what the age and clime conceives as sin. It tends to keep one's neighbor proper and one's congressman respectable. But like all mob action, it is arbitrary, ruthless, frequently misdirected. Yet one need not altogether abstain from expressing shock and condemnation of public wrongdoing which comes to one's attention. Silence might even be construed as approval. St. Paul, hearing that one among the Corinthians was guilty of incest, rebuked them collectively for not reproving it, and expelling the man guilty of such a deed from their company (1 Cor. 5:1, 2). But before acting scandalized, one must sternly ask one's self, "Is it true? Is it as serious as it is represented? Is it truly an offense against the moral law, and not a perhaps wholesome breach of prejudice? Is the offense a public concern, or strictly a private matter?" If the answer to these questions cannot be an unqualified affirmative, a good conversationalist will have none of it. If the scandal will tend to induce others to imitate it rather than avoid it, he will suppress it. If the sin was one that but for some metaphorical wire tapping would not be known and should not concern the public, he will suppress talk of it. |
|||
|
