The Abuse of Noble Things
“If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” — Marv. vi. 23.
THINK the darkness of which our Lord
speaks means the difficulty of seeing sin. I understand Him to mean that it is never so difficult to see sin as when it comes from something really good in the man. There are vices which come from an evil nature; these are at once detected and condemned. But there are vices which originate in the very goodness of the soul. How many a young man is led astray by his generous impulses! He takes to the winecup, not from any love of the wine, but from the sheer love of fellowship. He exceeds in his potations, not to pamper himself, but to keep up the good cheer of others. He says more than he means, not because he is deceitful, but because he wants to make people happy. He gives promises in advance of his ability, not from any weakness of principle, but just because the warm impulse of the moment is too strong for him. The poet speaks of being led astray by a light from heaven. That is what Christ means by the light within a man being darkness. He means that a colder nature would commit fewer lapses in righteousness. But He says also that, just because the young man’s sin comes from something noble in his nature, it: is specially difficult for his friends, or even for himself, to detect it. The light from which it proceeds obscures it, hides it, darkens it. Nothing, says Jesus, veils sin from our sight like its origination in brilliant qualities. The man’s comrades actually imitate his faults. If they saw in the street a degraded drunken creature, worn in limb and tattered in garment, they would say, ‘“What a terrible thing is this human iniquity!” But when they see a brilliant youth heated into extra lustre and made to sparkle with adventitious fire, when they see his natural good-nature enhanced and his genial glow made ruddier, then misery is cloaked in light and vice gets a temple in the soul. It is hard for a man to detect his brother’s sin when it is wreathed round one of the gifts of God.
Lord, thy psalmist has said, “Cleanse me
THE ABUSE OF NOBLE THINGS = 307
from secret faults!” — faults in the dark. My secret faults are the faults which come from my virtues; cleanse me from these, O Lord! Thou hast set many lights in the upper chamber; may they never lead me wrong! Thou hast given me a power of satire to lash what is mean; let me never use it on the sensitive heart! Thou hast given me a power of manner to greet a friend; let me never thereby ‘deceive the soul of innocence! Thou hast given me a love of companionship; let it never launch me into perilous depths! Thou hast given me a little mirror called self-respect that I may keep all stain from my attire; let it never degenerate into pride of heart! I would not have sin enter by the front door — by the very pillars of my house. I would not have my gems tarnished, whatever else be tarnished. Let not my light be the darkness! Keep the stain from my star! Let me blight not by my bloom, ruffle not by my rose, wound not by my wealth, slay not by my song, corrupt not by my courage, tempt not by my tenderness, beguile not by my beauty, debase not by my devotion, lower not by my love! The lights which come from Thee should be lights to Paradise; let them not lead me into temptation, O Lord!