v. 20. _Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil._
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.