Respectability and Morals
By J. A. L. Derby
MANY people judge the moral quality of an act by its respectability or disrespectability. Burglary, drunkenness, petty thievery, profanity in the presence of ladies, brawling, murder, and the like, they would shun as the plague or as death itself. But when the test of respectability fails, these people are at a loss for a moral standard. No wonder they find it easy to substitute what they prefer to believe God means for what He says. It is not at all a matter of principle, but a matter of feeling or convenience. No wonder they can persuade themselves that saying "Lord, Lord" is as good as obedience. Does the commandment say the seventh day is the Sabbath, they will have it that "pious" observance of the first day (Sunday) will suit the Lord just as well. The world might be full of dear, respectable people, polished, pious, and refined, who stand not half so good a chance of salvation as do "the publicans and the harlots." J. A. L. DERBY.