Imatges de pàgina
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of men preying on one another, and seeking gain in their ruined fortunes! Virtue stands amazed, as it gazes on the strife for pre-eminence, and the struggles for wealth and power, in which the successful, without sympathy or compunction, hasten to their object over the crushed hopes and rights of their fellow-men! Blessed Gospel, when shall thy triumph be complete! When shall the Spirit so imbue the hearts of men as to make them pitiful and fraternal to their fellows, and teach them to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with their God!

O my soul, in a world where so many contend for their own interests, regardless of those of others, let it be thy object to do good to all, and rather to suffer than inflict injury. Well dost thou know that a curse accompanies the gains accumulated by injustice and oppression. They will eat the flesh as if they were fire, they will sting as a scorpion, and bring in their train the curse of the Almighty. Avoid, therefore, the slightest approach to this vice, and for this end, banish every covetous desire, and suppress every unkindly feeling which might prompt to injustice. Remember that God is a just God, and he will be strict in exacting an account from thee. Thus has he revealed himself, "A God of truth and without iniquity; just and right is he ;" and canst thou appeal to him while acting in opposition to his expressed will? Canst thou hope in his mercy if thou show no mercy?

Canst thou die

in peace while the cry of the oppressed rises against thee?

TALE-BEARING.

A TALE-BEARER revealeth secrets but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter. Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no tale-bearer, the strife ceaseth. He that covereth a transgres

sion seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.

The words of a tale-bearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.

SOME from a spirit of mischief, and some from sheer ignorance and idleness, are betrayed into the vice which is here condemned. When it springs from the former it is atrocious, and is identical with slander, making light of a neighbour's reputation and peace of mind, and caring little whether the evil report it circulates be true or false. When it arises from an idle spirit of gossip, it may have less atrocity, but is still criminal, and in its consequences may be equally injurious. The love of news is with many a besetting sin; the hearing or communicating of which constitutes with them the spice of life. In the neglect of personal and family duties they will gad about from neighbour to neighbour, and what is thus gathered, particularly if scandalous, will be as liberally retailed. Time and labour are freely expended in giving currency to an evil report. What havoc is made of reputation at little coteries of such people! With what zest will they proclaim the alleged failings of neighbours, feebly attempting to palliate the iniquity of the act by the qualification of hoping that the rumours are unfounded, or that they can scarcely be true! They care little about authorities, and as it is not a part of their policy to inquire into the truth of what they have heard, the

kitchen is as good authority with them as the drawing room, a notorious falsifier as good as a credible witness. Woe to the individual who falls into the hands, and is left to the tender mercies, of such inveterate newsmongers and gossips! He may expect his most innocent actions to be distorted, his motives misinterpreted, his most trivial failings magnified at each successive repetition, so that his own portrait as drawn by them would frighten him. Every village and neighbourhood embraces persons of this character, with whom it is unsafe to have intercourse. Tale-bearers seldom have much regard for truth, and freely draw on their imagination for the embellishments of their stories. entrust a secret to such persons, for " a tale-bearer revealeth secrets, although very friends are thereby separated." A domestic or social strife is to them a rich treat, and the fire will not go out while they can feed it with fuel. Reader, would you stand aloof from so pestiferous a vice? Be a keeper at home, no busy body in other men's matters, but attentive to domestic duties, and the cultivation of the social affections.

Never

My soul, avoid the mean and dangerous vice of tale-bearing. It would be iniquitous to spread a false report to the injury of thy neighbour, and it should pain thee to hear a true one to his discredit. Flee the society of tattlers, that thou mayest escape the infection of their discourse. Remember the scriptural warning, "With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again." Repulse the tale-bearer, and admonish him to cast the beam out of his own eye, that he may be able to detect the mote in that of his

neighbour.

FALSE WITNESS.

A MAN that beareth false witness against his neighbour is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp

arrow.

A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies. A false witness shall perish : but the man that heareth speaketh constantly.

A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall perish.

He that speaketh truth showeth forth righteousness: but a false witness, deceit.

An ungodly witness scorneth judgment: and the mouth of the wicked devoureth iniquity.

A MAN may be guilty of bearing false witness when he inconsiderately repeats what is not true, to the disparagement of others; but of this we have already treated under former topics. The species of the sin to which we now refer, is perjury, or the giving of false testimony under oath. Assuming that the administration of oaths under proper legal forms is scriptural, the testimony which is given under their sanction, must be regarded as the strongest possible confirmation of a fact. The appeal is made to God, the Searcher of hearts, for the truth of what is declared; and it is to be presumed that the witness will have such reverence for the divine Majesty as not to call on him to attest a falsehood. Yet alas! such is the depravity of the human heart, that perjury is a common vice, and it is to be apprehended that the irreverent manner in which oaths are administered in the civil courts, and still more strikingly in customhouses, contributes to its frequency. Not only is this solemn appeal to God required on the most trivial

occasions, but the administrator seldom evinces in his manner the slightest sense of the solemnity of the duty in which he is engaged, and repeats the formula with a rapidity and indecent haste, which render its terms almost unintelligible. Conveying the impression, by his manner, that the whole proceeding is an idle ceremony, it is not wonderful that the ignorant and the irreligious should in witness-bearing have but little sense of their obligation. Experience would seem to indicate, that the frequency of oaths should be diminished, and that there should be greater impressiveness in their administration.

The crime of perjury justly exposes the transgressor to severe penalties. It is the worst form of violating the truth. It defeats the ends of justice. It deprives others of those aids by which their property, reputation, and even life, might be secured. It is a breach of the law of God, a gross insult offered to his Majesty, and a braving of his terrible vengeance. How fearful then the position of that man who defiles and jeopards his soul by this iniquity! A false and perjured witness shall surely perish, and those who would escape the temptation to the crime, should learn habitually to respect the laws of him who is the God of truth.

My soul, may thy sense of God's terrible Majesty be an all-sufficient restraint to preserve thee from the slightest deviation from truth. Especially be impressed with the sanctity of an oath. If thou wouldst ascend into the holy hill of God, thou must not lift up thyself to vanity, nor swear deceitfully. Stand in awe, lest thou shouldst be included among those concerning whom the Most High swears that

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