Norwich bulletin., 1917-08-11
Sunday Morning Talk
PICTURESQUE SIN.

No sane dweller of this planet would choose evil, if he could know it for out in false colors makes appeal to rational beings. To find victims the devil must masquerade as an angel of light His great resource lies in making appear attractive that which
 In s his preface to "oi1ver twist" Charles Dickens makes some remarks that are worth recalling: T had fellows (amiable for the most part, faultless in dress, plump in pocket, choice in horsefesh, bold in bearing, fortunate in gallantry, great at a song, a bottle, pack of cards or dice box, and fit companion for the bravest. But I have never met (except in Ho- garth) with the miserable reality. It appeared to me to draw a knot of such associates in crime as really do exist; to paint them in all their de- all the squalid poverty of their lives; to show them as they really are, for ever skulking uneasily through the dirtiest paths of life, with the great, prospect, turn them where they might; 1t appeared to me that to do this would be to attempt something which was greatly needed and which would be a service to society"
 A lady who once opened her draw ing room to a, smooth talking, pfausi ble priest of ore of the Oriental faiths was disillusioned when some years later, she travelled in India and ob served what ignorance and degrada- tion resulted from this same charm ing philosophy in the land of it's birth. It was one thing to listen, in company with well conditioned Ameri- ,an friends, to the white -robed fasci- mating Swami, but quite another to be introduced to his wretched CO., religionists on their native heath.
 Evil of any description cannot be recommended except by a sort of fic- ton. As an illustration of the princi- pie. note the typical liquor advertise Inent; generally rather a clever piece of business. It sets off the way fea- lures of the cup that cheers and also inebriates. Booze is ina ged forth as one of life's most jocund and health giving clements. It is represented as fostering longevity. Laughter. song and general well being accompany it's -se. The drinker is. depicted. not ass some reelins sot of the gutter. but as a clear eyed, muscular giant, at the top notch of physical and mental efficiency.
 Poetry and romance are never so dangerous as when they assume to make innocuous and attractive things that are potent for evil. Thatched roof cotta ges in English villages over which artists rave may be really cn- sanitary pest holes, not fit for human habitation. So it is with scores of picturesque human situations and ex- periences. One would shun them as he would the plague, could their real character appear. Evil with the ma six off is shorn of power No one drinks of the well proved to be full of ty- phoid germs. even though the pump is painted in pretty colors.
 The devil is a trickster, depending g on internal magic to put it over" He must disguise poison, pillage and lust a part Of the legitimate goods of life; must trick out the paste diamonds, lawless luxuries, and all the other shams of life as right and proper for mans use He must make us ju6<.e to be excellent and useful what to en- frightened eyes would appear worthless and disgusting. His would surely be a hopeless task did not half the human race so stubbornly choose blindness rather than sight.
 THE PARSON.