Proverbs 6:30-31 - Homiletics

Motive and responsibility

I. GUILT IS TO BE MEASURED BY MOTIVE . The starving pickpocket is not so wicked as the well-to-do house breaker. Even in the low depths of crime moral distinctions need to be observed, lest we do grievous injustice to our most unhappy fellow men. The principle that guilt is commensurate with motive rests on the Christian conception of it as an inward fact. This makes it always difficult to form a correct judgment of other people. The rough external standard of the law must be applied by the administrators of civil justice, because no other standard is within their power. But it still remains true that the judge who pronounces sentence may be a much worse man than the prisoner whom he sends to the hulks.

II. PRIMARY NECESSARIES ARE PRIOR TO CONVENTIONAL LAWS . It is an instinct of the most elementary character that prompts the hungry man to take food. Of course, it is still possible for moral laws to interfere with the pursuit of the object of that instinct, and we must always recognize that moral laws are higher than natural instincts. But in our complicated modern civilization we are not dealing with the direct and simple impact of those lofty and inflexible laws. We are brought into contact with very curious social arrangements, and the laws of right and justice are only allowed to work themselves out by means of an extraordinary social machinery. Under such circumstances there may be room for a protest of instinct against convention, though there can never be an excuse for the enjoyment of any personal desire when that is contradicted by absolute morality. The hero of Victor Hugo's story, 'Les Miserables,' is not regarded as a vulgar thief when he steals the loaf from the baker's shop to feed his starving family. He appears as a revolutionist protesting against what he feels to be an unjust distribution of property. A healthy Christian conscience must condemn his action; but in such a case every human heart will give great weight to "extenuating circumstances."

III. RESPONSIBILITY CANNOT BE MEASURED BY MOTIVE . Here a new element is introduced—one which cannot be lightly set aside. A man must reap the consequences of his deeds, no matter what motives prompted them. If he acts foolishly from the best of motives, he must suffer for his folly; if he offends against social law, no plea of primary necessity will exonerate him from the penalty. In a world of law and order we must look to the results of our conduct as well as to its inward urging principle. Moreover, if we injure any one without the least malice, but only through what we regard as sheer necessity, the fact of the injury does not vanish, and we are under an obligation to take the first opportunity to make ample amends. Further, it is the duty of society to see that external right is done, even though those who resist it may be acting with the best of excuses. The thief must be punished, though his starving condition rouses our pity. But surely these painful points of casuistry should never arise. It is the duty of Christians to work for a better social order, wherein no injustice can give the semblance of an excuse to crime.