It is Better Hidden

There is no justification for hypocrisy. If there was anything our Lord considered contemptible it was the pretended and feigned righteousness some outwardly displayed, but were "whited sepulchres, and full of dead men's bones." But there is no offense to good morals to contend that society is better served when the evil of the wicked is concealed rather than paraded openly and shamelessly.

The flaunting of wickedness, as if there is some kind of virtue in being a servant of the devil openly instead of secretly, is to ignore the corrupting influence of evil upon others, especially those in their young years.

Of someone is determined to consume alcoholic beverages, commit fornication, lie, steal or some other of the many forms of sinful behavior, he does eternal spiritual damage to his own soul. But if he commits his transgressions in hiding, even though his damnation is certain, at least he will not be influencing others to the same spiritual devastation. There are some things better left unsaid openly and undone publicly even if respect for God is under deceptive concealment.