That such an answer should be given to such a charge is a strange,
solemn fact, which tragically confirms the true indictment. The effect
of all sin is to make us less conscious of its presence, as persons in
an unventilated room are not aware of its closeness. It is with profound
truth that the Apostle speaks of being hardened by the 'deceitfulness'
of sin. It comes to us in a cloud and enfolds us in obscure mist. Like
white ants, it never works in the open, but makes a tunnel or burrows
under ground, and, hidden in some piece of furniture, eats away all its
substance whilst it seems perfectly solid. The man's perception of the
standard of duty is enfeebled. We lose our sense of the moral character
of any habitual action, just as a man who has lived all his life in a
slum sees little of its hideousness, and knows nothing of green fields
and fresh air. Conscience is silenced by being neglected. It can be
wrongly educated and perverted, so that it may regard sin as doing God's
service; and the only judgment in which it can be absolutely trusted is
the declaration that it is right to do right, while all its other
decisions as to what is right may be biassed by self-interest; but the
force with which it pronounces its only unalterable decision depends on
the whole tenor of the life of the man. The sins which are most in
accordance with our characters, and are therefore most deeply rooted in
us, are those which we are least likely to recognise as sins. So, the
more sinful we are, the less we know it; therefore there is need for a
fixed standard outside of us. The light on the deck cannot guide us;
there must be the lighthouse on the rock. This sad answer of the heart
untouched by God's appeal prevents all further access of God's love to
that heart. That love can only enter when the reply to its indictment
is, 'I have despised Thy name.'
Let us not forget the New Testament modification of the divine
accusation. 'In Christ' is the Name of God fully and finally revealed to
men. For us who live in the blaze of the ineffable brightness of the
revelation, our attitude towards Him who brings it is the test of our
'hallowing of the Name' which He brings. He Himself has varied Malachi's
indictment when He said, 'He that despiseth Me despiseth Him that sent
Me.' Our sin is now to be measured by our under-estimate and neglect of
Him, and chiefly of His Cross. That Cross prevents our consciousness of
sin from becoming despair of pardon. Judas went out, and with bitter
weeping, himself ended his traitorous life. If God's last word to us
were, 'Ye have despised My Name,' and it sank into our souls, there
would be no hope for any of us. But the message which begins with the
universal indictment of sin passes into the message which holds forth
forgiveness and freedom as universal as the sin, and 'God hath concluded
all in unbelief that He may have mercy upon all.'