The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1888-09-27
A LAY SERMON ON LIARS.

ChulnluiucsS IueTe is among men.
How much exaggeration and mis-
representation. And yet all men
like to know the truth and the ex-
act truth about anything. They
don't want lies or exaggeration Civ.
en- to them. In their conversations
with one another they are so anx.
ious to be believed that they do not
hesitate to call upon the Almighty
to witness that what they say ia
true. They swear by the Almighty
that it is so, and, although they
do SO lightly and carelessly, yet
the appeal to the Almighty is just
as solemn, and enters his ears just
as certainly as though they were
taking the oath with uplitted hand
in the court room. Men always
swear by the Lord God, never by
the devil, because the devil is
known to be "the father of lies"
So great and noble is a really
truthful man, while SO low and ig-
noble is an untruthful man, that to
call man liar is regarded as the
greatest insult that can be offered a
man. For to brand him as liar is
to place him below all true man
hood. And yet the imputation of
being liar, which makes us so an
cry, and which we SO quickly resent,
we ourselves make true of ourselves.
We make ourselves liars. For but
few of US are given to telling the
truth-telling just what we know
to be true, no more and no less.
Indeed, very few of us can tell the
exact truth. We are so given to ex-
aggeration, it is so much the habit
of eur tongues that, seemingly, we
cannot tell the truth. The fact is,
in our intercourse with others, es-
pecially when we want to entertain
our friends or companions, we all
like to cause little surprise, create
little sensation. So when we con-
tribute our share of the conversa-
ton, when we tell what we have
seen or heard, we put a little color
ing into it. We say that everybody
is talking Of such or such q subject
when the truth is, we have heard
only two or three speak of it. Or,
"the street was crowded with PEG.
pie, at the time of some accident,
when, in fact, there were not over
dozen in sight. So almost every
thing, we do not tell the exact truth,
for that would not make so great an
impression, therefore we convey
falsehood and make of ourselves
what we so much despise in others
liars. For the definition of liar
is one who tells falsehood.
The Psalmist David wrote: 81
said in my haste, all men are liars"
The old Scotch preacher remarked
on these words: "And had David
lived in my day he might have said
it at his leisure" So in the above
view, we may venture to say that
nowadays almost all men are liars.
Nevertheless, as | said at the begin
ming, all men like truthfulness. All
men want everybody else to tell
them the exact truth. No man
wants any liars around but himself.
And how all men esteem that rarity,
a really truthful man-one whose
word can he depended upon, whose
word is as good as his bond. The
old-fashioned Quaker was believed
to be such character. He was a
man of but few words, but what he
said was generally found to be the
truth. Everything was simply yea
and nay. He would take no oath,
even before the courts, for he need
ed none. His word needed no in
dorser. And in those days men
used to go far for Quaker goods, be-
cause they were believed to be hon.
est goods, corresponding with the
true words that sold them.
Of course, there were others be-
sides Quakers in olden times whose
"word was as good as gold" The
writer of this remembers an honest
trader in dry goods whose less hon
est clerk had sold 3 piece of slightly
damaged cloth at the full price.
Upon learning of this the old gen.