Morning journal and courier., 1889-03-04
THE SCIENCE OF LYING.
Iss mysteries Rxpounded by Rev. MT.
 Baird at the George Street Church
 Last Nfght-The Great Zane or Socie. a1aJuAE HfmNelf.

Iss mysteries Rxpounded by Rev. MT.
 Baird at the George street Church
 Last Nfght-The Great Zane of Socie.
 tY-Man's Enemy Against HimseIf.
 "That lying is both science aHd an art is very plain," said Rev. MT. Baird at the
 Third NJ. E. church last evening, after choosing Levitacus xix, ?: "Neither lie to
 one another" az his text. 'But the dltter-
 ence between lie and an untruth is very marked D he continued. "A lie must have
 in it the element of deception. There are two modes of lying-the direct, and the in- direct. If we describe thing in way it is not it is lie. Some people say fits grand or oh, it was horrid,' when it wasn't anything of the kind. This is indirect lying. All this where 8 man wilfully perverts or does any- thing against the facts of the case is lying, but is often thought to be justified by mans profession. It is one of the dangerous kinds of lying. We know how people will sometimes steal in with half told tale and half hint. The meanest lie is the half told one, which contains enough truth to make 1t believed. This kind is frequently done when l people islander other people. It means the exaggeration of wrong qualities and perver- sion of truth. We say there is 8 great l plausibility for this kind of lying in hattery. There are people mean enough to indulge in this manner of lie. Indirect fattery is as obnoxious to society as hattery is:
 Men go under false guises today. There are little polite lies that men countenance. had rather have rough, blunt man than polite liar. You do not know whether Mrs. - is home to-day or not by what the servant says at the door. We dare not some times say things that are in our minds. By our silence we sometimes perpetrate the lie %I,1,, 1, O,1l get name for standing by the truth and re- buking untruths, people will not tell these
 things in our presence. It is possible before fore we grow old to have such reputation
 for truth telling, as will shame the very sci- ence of lying. It is a science and art. A good deal of skill is needed. It is
 said that practical liar must have 8 good memory. Yet there is danger, not bodily,
 but danger of being branded liar. There is danger on all sides. It is only little longer when practical liar becomes dishonest and 8 fraud. There are poisons that 10 chemical antidote can touch; they pervade the blood and become part of the being. Men who would be otherwise united are rent asunder by this venomous breaker of the confidence of society.
 Untruthfulness has been the downfall of modern Greece and Rome and of every repub- lie of Europe. Introduce it into any govern
 ment and it will eventually bring that gov ernment down to the dust. When man loses self-respect enough, when he is weak enough to do this thing he lives lie, and his nature becomes so subdued as to shrink before life's labor. We must temper what we say and sometimes it is best to refrain from saying certain things, not from the lower but the higher motive. In these days of much talk- ing and large business transactions, O.! how important it is for every man to tell the truth. One unprineipled person let loose in a com- munity will do more harm than any number of right minded men. A more ugly gash than was ever made by cudgel is made by vicious tongue. Let us put away this bane and remember the words of the prophet of old: Lie not one to another, and cultivate and love the truth for it's own sake