ON THE OBSERVANCE OF THE NINTH

COMMANDMENT.

(BY JOHN PHILIP WILSON.)

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour."

Ir will be acknowledged without scruple, that, to perform our duties in a becoming manner, we must view scripture precepts in the broadest and most comprehensive light possible, for, although the most essential rules of conduct, both in the law and gospel, are remarkable for brevity, yet they are aphoristical, and their principles and provisions extend much further, and comprise more, than could be expressed by the most prolix verbosity. If, therefore, we are merely careful not to infringe the absolute and express prohibition of any established law,-thinking thereby to avoid the penalties attached to a non-observance,but yet do not hesitate to perform acts which bear a similarity or analogy to the forbidden one, and which may probably in effect be the same, though, strictly speaking, not within the pale of the commandment, we do not perform our duty either as christians or as citizens. Let it be remembered, that our duty does not only consist in a mere abstinence from gross error, or a ceremonial observance of outward form, but in moral obedience.

The conclusion naturally following the foregoing premises, as applicable to the present subject, is, that the ninth commandment extends, not alone to mere perjury, (although that be the main feature of its detail,) but also to calumny, evil speaking, false assertions, and other habits as prevalent as they are pernicious,—a position established under the authority of the gospel and the epistolary precepts of the apostles. Before, however, proceeding farther, I will observe, that the purity of the Mosaic law had become soiled and encrusted, previously to the coming of our Saviour, by superstitious rites and senseless restrictions, arising from a false view of the letter, which were observed from tradition and habit, but were foreign to its spirit and original intention. These the hand of the Messiah pared away, and in their stead substituted a more extended moral observance of the law of God. He cast the refulgent and unshadowed light of truth upon the system of good and evil. He caused virtue to stand forth divested of the extraneous matter with which bigotry, superstition, or false philosophy, had deformed her; and He made clearly manifest, that, in all dealings with our fellow-men, 2D. SERIES, No. 20.-VOL. II,

we were not to be guided solely by the exact limitations of a fixed rule, but by its intention, and our own moral sense of duty.

Having premised thus far, I cannot commence my present theme better than by quoting a small portion of the general epistle of St. James, chap. iii. "If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. - - The tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Be. hold how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind but the tongue can no man tame, it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Who is a

wise man, and endued with knowledge among you? let him show out of a good conversation, his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth," &c.

The chapter from which the preceding passages are selected, is particularly worthy a most careful perusal and study, inculcating as it does a grand and important lesson. It shews us the difficulty, but points out the necessity, of guiding our speech as well as our actions. "The tongue is a little member," but withal may inflict wounds more deadly than the sharpest arrow, though tipped with the poisonous upas. One slight motion may create throes of agony in an undeserving bosom, which no consolation can assuage-one word, one little sound, may banish from a heart some fondly cherished jewel, some well-loved object, causing a chasm which thousands of words cannot again fill-a loss which millions cannot recompense. One fleeting breath may taint a thing erst beautiful and bright, may dry up a source whence long flowed a stream of felicity full and unbroken.

But let us not look only at the gloomy side. "The tongue is a little member," but its power is as availing in a good as in a bad cause. Words may breathe consolation to a bereaved spirit; words may accommodate dissension and strife-may impart happiness. By words we may dissipate the mists of error, and substitute the 164.-VOL. XIV.

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sunshine of truth-by words we may prevent crime-by words, prompted by feel ing, we petition the God of all; and glorify the Ancient of days.

On the government of speech, therefore, by reason and sense of duty, or by imprudence and malignity, depends the use to which it is applied, and the effects which it will produce; for it would be idle to suppose, that words ought not to be governed as well as actions, when they are equally capable of producing good or bad consequences. Speech is one of the grandest faculties of man, and therefore ought to be the last put to wicked uses: few are, however, more abused. Some talk is idle, useless, and uninstructive, and, from the want of guiding intellect, may be compared to any continued sound made articulate by mechanical means. The subject matter of other, is disgraceful, false, and malignant, which last it is my present object to discuss.

The importance and obligation of a strict observance of the leading feature of the ninth commandment, expressed by the words "false witness," is sufficiently evident to be indispensable as a rule of conduct, when we consider that the proper and equitable administration of justice must necessarily in a great measure depend upon true testimony: false evidence must, therefore, as an inevitable consequence, defeat or neutralize the ends of justice. This part of the subject being so clear, I shall not pursue it further, but at once proceed to those conclusions which may not be quite so apparent.

The psalmist says, "the tongue is the pen of a ready writer." Let us reverse the apophthegm, and say, that the pen may be as an hundred tongues to a mischievous talker, and the commandment equally infringed by writing as by words. The means which the pen affords for disseminating lies and misrepresentation, is diur. nally illustrated by the abuse of the press, the disreputable portion of which teems day by day, week by week, and month by month, with injurious scandal against both public and private character; and so far has the vitiated taste for this unwholesome food increased, that hundreds support themselves and families by pandering to it. But it has been urged, forsooth, that this is necessary for the spiritual well-being of the community, and that these men are the guardians of the public morals! Ay, indeed? But so be it. Let these persons assume the task, but, let them first see that they are free from those faults with which they charge others,-let them examine themselves closely, and then he who is without

sin may cast the first stone. With this restriction, methinks we should have fewer self-constituted public censors.

By comparison of the Mosaic law with the Gospel, bearing in mind the moral extension of the former by the latter, we shall find that, by an easy and natural transition, christian duty embraces, not merely the limits expressed by the wording of this commandment, but, as before observed, all that evil-speaking which we comprehend by the words obloquy, calumny, and scandal. Little, perhaps, do some of those persons imagine, who, for the gratification of a base and mean-souled propensity, indulge in this practice, which has been made the subject of ridicule, of serious censure, and of satire, that they are actually infringing a solemn command of the Most High, ratified by the special and solemn injunctions of the Redeemer. The vice of scandal has been particularly attributed to the female sex, and perhaps correctly, not from the construction of the female mind, but from the influences of female education, which, not being conducted on such enlarged principles as that of the male, naturally reduces the mind to a lower scale, and confines the objects of its_contemplation to more petty matters. But, altogether waiving disquisition on this point, I shall consider the principle of the act alone, without reference to those who are its

actors.

It is a dark spot on the character of man, particularly the lower classes, that he seems to dwell with more eagerness in his conversation upon misfortune and vice, pain and misery, than upon happiness and virtue; and to disseminate with greater eagerness, intelligence of the former than the latter. This is exemplified not only in his conversation, but in his habits. Now we cannot arise from a perusal of the Gospel, or a careful consideration of our social duties, without being impressed with a sense of the necessity of endeavouring to root out and erase from our nature this unamiable trait. The pages of the New Testament teem with exhortations to charity and brotherly love; and how at variance with that beautiful principle must be the feeling which would prompt us to speak to the injury of our fellow-sojourners in mortality. All men, be they rich or poor, humble or exalted, wise or foolish, brave or timid, good or bad, are placed here with one grand view-all have allotted duties to fulfil, apportioned by their Creator, all are in a state of probation, all are fellow-partakers of the joys and ills of existence, all hold life as a frail tenure dependent on

the will of the Giver, and all are equally objects of the Almighty care and regard. Jesus hailed those who performed their duties as brothers, without distinction of age, class, or adventitious qualifications; "For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and my mother," Mark iii. 35.

It is clear that the detestable vice of lying is pointed at directly in the present commandment. We find in Exod. xxiii. 1. "Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness:" also in Lev. xix. 11. "Neither lie one to another." In the New Testament we find corresponding texts, such as, "Speak every man truth with his neighbour, for we are members one of another," Ephes. iv. 25. In speaking of lying, let it be borne in mind, that the term comprehends more than an actual falsehood, boldly and absolutely asserted. A lie may be expressed passively, by a look, a wink, a shrug, or the truth so told as to express a meaning different from the real one. either case, the criminality is the same, from the object being the same, though there may be a trifling variation in the means employed. The intent with which a falsehood is framed is generally bad, and, even if it be not so, the means used for the accomplishment of a good purpose ought not to be contrary to moral law.

In

No further demonstration is required of the wickedness of evil speaking, than that it must originate in evil feelings-in envy, hatred, or malice. Many political speakers and writers, violent party men, when they have exhausted their store of arguments against the public conduct and measures of their opponents, or when they do not feel their own faction strong or popular, proceed to anatomize their private characters, and hold up any blot or imperfection which they may discover, to public view, with an invidious exultation, disgraceful to themselves, and the cause they are defending. Such conduct is in the worst possible taste, to say nothing of its moral impropriety, and completely unjustifiable, unless, indeed, such private blots or imperfections can be proved to have influence, either actually or presumptively, over public measures. But political calumny is not confined within such a limit, for some men, in the rancour of faction's spirit, scruple not to set on foot reports, which have no foundation in truth, to the prejudice of an adversary; and, even at the best, family occurrences, which perhaps rather deserve the name of misfortune than of crimeyouthful and long past errors-the infidelity

of a wife-the profligacy of a son-are remorselessly dragged from obscurity, the decent veil of oblivion torn from them, and they are then cast in the teeth of a political adversary, with a cruelty and taunting acrimony at once unchivalrous and ungentlemanlike.

With such public examples, it is not surprising that scandal finds its way into the quieter walks of domestic life, where con. versation on the affairs of our neighbours and acquaintance seems to be far more interesting than a proper attention to home concerns. We have a wonderfully acute vision in discovering the smallest mote in the eye of our neighbour, but fail in observing the huge beam which deforms our own, and is the mark of censure, or the laughing-stock of those on whose defects we have been so peevishly or satirically animadverting. How supereminently ridiculous to conceive, that whilst we are so liberal of remarks upon others, our own conduct escapes their scrutiny! and yet at the very moment that we are passing strictures, disseminating lies or scandal, or indulging in remarks upon the frailty of others, we should be highly indignant, were we informed that precisely the same conduct had been pursued towards ourselves in our absence! Oh! for the consummate folly of man-the incongruities, the strange anomalies, of his nature!

Universal philanthropy is, perhaps, the noblest and most magnificent sentiment that can exalt a mortal breast. It is a patriotism bounded only by the limits of the globe, and the number of habitants, a feeling which swells the soul beyond the ordinary attributes of humanity, and excites it to efforts which, if not splendid and imposing from outward show-to schemes which, even if hopeless and utopian-are intrinsically beautiful from principle. How antipodal with so sublime and expanded a feeling is the petty malignity which prompts men to use one of the blessings of God to the injury, perhaps destruction, of our fellow-creatures-how inconsistent with the spirit of charity is the wish or the attempt to work an injury to another, be it in person, purse, or fame, even though in retaliation for damage done to ourselves. Most persons wish to be thought great-minded, yet what can be more indicative of a narrow and cowardly soul, than the common habit of calumniating and reviling our neighbour in his absence: petty in its own nature, it takes its rise from a source equally contemptible-envy-which can be the origin of nothing but what is base and lowminded.

That it is wicked both in the estimation of God and man, to promulgate a base and deliberate lie to the prejudice of any one, it of course needs no logic to prove; but even to disseminate with malicious joy, reports, though founded on truth, when the intent and object is to ruin a fellow-creature, and consign him by obloquy to the scorn, hatred, and reproach of society, proves a man either not to understand, or completely to disregard, the doctrines of Christianity. However, (as some qualification may be considered necessary to the foregoing sentiment,) when the calls of justice are to be satisfied, or when our true object is the prevention of sin, it becomes a duty to state all we know, without reservation and without addition, of the evil doings of another; but let it be remembered, that God looks at the intent of a deed, and when our object is merely to slake the thirst of revenge, the attainment of some sinister view, or the gratification of the splenetic feelings arising from envy and hatred, that the act is unjustifiable in His all-just and all-wise estimation. Let us also bear in mind, that as we are in the same measure answerable for the effects of our speech as our deeds, it behoves us to guide it with equal caution to any other voluntary motion for which we feel ourselves responsible.

To perform our duties according to evangelical principles, we must not only abstain from lies and perjury, but from "all uncharitableness." It is not sufficient that we refrain from forswearing ourselves, but also from sayings or writings which may create discord or unhappiness. The pleasure or gratification arising from such a practice can only exist in a black and vitiated mind; and the principle is so entirely bad, that it is certain, those who derive pleasure from such a source, are far, very far, from being good Christians or good

citizens.

AN ESSAY ON FRIENDSHIP.

FRIENDSHIP, when it springs from right principles, and is directed to proper objects, is one of the greatest of sublunary blessings. The term friend is, indeed, often made to bear a loose and unmeaning signification, by being too indiscriminately applied; but friendship, in its true and legitimate acceptation, is an affection of the heart, and a reciprocal feeling of good-will entertained by different parties for each other. There should be no wavering, no vagueness, no perfidy between professed friends. No person is worthy the name of friend

who cannot be implicitly confided in, and for whom a decidedly favourable opinion cannot be entertained. Hence, friendships should be cautiously and judiciously formed, and, when once formed, maintained with a firmness becoming the important nature of the compact.

As no man's feelings ought to be tampered with, it is amazing to see with what rapidity friendships are often formed, and how suddenly they are broken off! Those who can so slightly esteem the obligations of friendship, ought to be watched with jealousy; for to-day they may appear warm in their professions of regard, and to-morrow they may be wholly estranged. With the fickle-minded and the designing, it is equally dangerous to have any connexion. No favours can bind the latter; they are always plotting and scheming to betray and ruin those to whom they pretend to be attached; and the former, whatever degree of kindness they may imagine themselves to feel for others, are either too weak, or too fond of novelties, to remain long in the same mind, and are, therefore, not persons who can be safely trusted.

Hasty attachments are frequently followed by bitter repentance; for it seldom, if ever, happens that they are of long duration. Formed without consideration and discerniment, their shallowness will soon appear, and cause the unfortunate party to deplore the effects of a misplaced confidence. A friend, with whom an unreserved interchange of sentiment may take place without fear of betrayal, is so rarely to be met with; and the proper selection of one is so difficult, and withal so necessary to our credit and happiness—that, rather than select without discrimination, we had better live without an intimate, and bury our secrets in our own bosoms.

We cannot look around us in the world without viewing multitudes associating with their respective friends, with whom they have familiar intercourse; but of these, how few are to be depended on in the time of need! Then, indeed, their apparent regard degenerates into cold indifference, if not avowed contempt. Conscience is abused, promises are broken, and the loudest notes of praise and admiration are changed into the murmurs of disaffection, and the evil surmises of a vindictive spirit. Surely a lamentable want of firmness of principle, and of every thing amiable and excellent, exists, where a man can thus act a base and double part; and yet daily experience teaches, that no ordinary degree of prudence is wanted, to enable men to guard against the wiles of the underminer,