Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1860-07-26

| its large and powerful roots The root of the
! tree of truth is called Religion. There is no
more essential part of tree than its roots
! Many branches may be cut of,-there are
some trees the trunks of which may be
cut down, and they will spring up from the
| root again, but no tree can grow without
roots nay, without them it cannot stand up
right. Ii you only injure the roots, the bright
green leaves would lose their color and mois-
ture turning brown and dead they would fall
| to the earth and return to dust the limbs
would afterwards become rotten and one by
one fall of, aud soon the wasted and decaying
trunk itself returns to the earth from which
1t sprung. The root religion is the life of the
tree OF truth. There are, it is true, persons
OF truth who have no true religion, but they
| are indebted to the influence of the religion
| OF the Bible for that virtue. There are per-
| sons out there standing in the broad sunlight
J We are in the shade, yet there is here both
| light and heat we as well as they feel the
dfusive influence of the heavenly lumiuary
although VIC are shielded from its direct rays
Again, if We examine the roots of different
trees, we will find strong resemblance among
| them. However different looking the trunks,
or limts, or leaves may be- the roots look very
much alike. So, children, while there are
many virtues in the world they all have the
same root. The root of the tree of truth is
Religion, as in fact it is the root of every vir-
tue. This part of the subject shall not dwell
upon, because it is taught you by others and
| better teachers. This is not the day and |
am not the man to tell you of the root of
| the whole matter" or of the showers of grace
| by which it is Rourished 1t is with the tree
] g 4 2 +, 10
that | have to do, and | shall only repeat in
order that you may not forget it, that religion
is the origin and root of truth and of all that
! is noble and good in the world.
Passing on, then, from the root, as | have
! said, and coming to the mighty trunk of the
! tree, or truth itself (for it is an old saying
that truth is mighty J | regret children, to
| be obliged to say to you that perfect truth is
"A very rare virtue in the world There are a
great many persons, some of them well dress
ed people, fnc ladies and gentlemen as well as
many who are not, who say q great many
things they ought not to say. Your short ex
rcrencc has no doubt served to teach you
/ that it is not safe to believe all you hear, and
dear children, when you get Older, you will be
astonished to find how this world is given to
| lying | wish each Of you to understand that
your father aud mother and Sunday school
teacher are not included in these remarks -
( They are all doubtless very good people, and
always speak the truth. | would not impair
/ your confidence 10 Your friends. But repeat
/ that 9 strict adherence to the plain, honest
truth, in oil things, and on all occasions, is a
! very beautiful. but a very rare virtue. YCu
will find out soon enough how corrupt is hu-
man nature, and | will not further enlarge up
/ on the lamentable fact that the world is filled
with falSehood. And now, children, how do
you suppose this happens, that so many peo-
pie have contracted this unnatural and dread
| ful practice of telling things that are not
/ true? / will tell you. They learned it when
! they were little boys and girls like you. They
/ did not start right their principles, that is
| their root, is not Of the right kind. Trees or
| plants naturally grow up as straight as an ar
! row, but suppose that when they are Young
/ and tender some person should bend them
/ over a short distance from the ground and
! keep them in that position They would then
! grow crooked and deForrted, and after they
/ had grown so and become old no power on
! earth can make them grow straight again. So
! It is with early habits let children like you
get into the way of telling fal3ehoods, aud
grow up indulging in that habit, and they nev-
er can reform it. Your souls, children, are
! like those white dresses that some Of the la
dies and girls are wearing You see they are
perfectly clean and as white as snow. But
! SUPPOSE that by Some accident they should be-
come spotted with a few drops Of ink. How
at once would their appearance be changed,
and their beauty and usefulness destroyed
Beware, then, how you soil the purity of your
soul, destroy your peace of conscience and
harden your heart by faIsehood.
How shall | describe to you the beauty OF
truth and the defornity of falsehood False
hood is like dark and gloomy cavern where
light never enters 1t is infested with hiss
ing serpents, venomous reptiles and savage
wild beasts. But truth Is a lovely valley, with
green fields and woodlands, watered by fine
river, with thriving city on its banks. 1t is
enlivened by the sun in his splendor, gliding
every dome and every hill top with his glori-
ous rays. A refreshing shower has just fallen,
and in the east appears a rainbow, the bond
of truth between God and man, just as it ap-
peared for the first time to Noah, when
Each mother held aIoft child
To bless the bow of God !"
! the pledge of seed time and harvest, summer
and winter until time shall end.
! Children, some Of you know what poison is.
There are certain drugs which, if swallowed,
produce great sickness and pain, and if the
the proper medicine is not Immediately used
the person dies in great agony. So 1t is in q
| moral sense with falsehood. Truth is like the
pleasant, wholesome food about to be spread
on yonder tables but now suppose in one of
the dishes we're placed quantity OF arsenic
or strychnne of which if you were to put
very small quantity On your tongue with the
tip of your finger, it would produce your
death. How every little boy and girl would