Sin is Poison - Not a 'Mistake'

"Don’t you see what happens? The milder you make your label, the more dangerous you make your poison."

"In the early 1900s the Australian pastor Henry Howard once preached a strong message on sin. Afterward, an officer of the church said to him, “Mr. Howard, we don’t want you to talk as plainly as you do against sin. Call it a mistake if you will, but do not speak so plainly about sin.” Howard took down a small bottle and showed it to the man. It was a bottle of strychnine (rat-poison), and it was marked “poison.” He said, “I see what you want me to do. You want me to change the label. Suppose I take of this label “poison’ and put on some mild label, such as “essence of peppermint.’ Don’t you see what happens? The milder you make your label, the more dangerous you make your poison.”"

John Wilbur Chapman, Revival Sermons (New York: Flemming H. Revell, 1911), 21-22.