The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-02-20
THE LAW OF TRUTH.
Rev. Charles H. strOng's Sermon on
the Ninth Commandment.

Rev. Charles H. Strong preached last
night at ST. Johns Church upon the Ninth
Commandant, Thou shalt not bear false
witness against thy neighbor."
1t is an old offender said Mr. Stronghold
is to be arraigned at the bar of conscience;
a power potent for all evil and that has
exercised evil throughout the ages tnat
has banished the sunshine and destroyed
the happiness of many home, the tongue.
In all judicial systems the hearing OF false
witness, when it's results are damaging
10 property or person, is condemned, but
in no other does the practice meet with
such sweeping condemnation as Is contain
ed in the Mosaic code, where it is classed
with murder, theft and adultery.
There is nothing so delicate as charac-
ter, nothing that can be so easily tainted
or that it is so difficult to clear of stain. 1t
redress is sought, il is at the cost of having
the sacred secrets and the tender senti-
ments OF the home aired in public. In our
own time publicity is more to be dreaded
than of yore, il is the reign of the sensa-
tional newspaper and it's lynx-eyed re-
porter.
Among the forms of SANDER one of the
most deadly in it's effects is misrepresenta-
ton. II has worked infinite evil in church
and state, where rival disputants have
thought it necessary 10 blacken each 9TH
er's character in order to destroy the force
of an argument, or to state falsely their
opponents position in order to demolish
II. In theology, in science and in state
craft Misrepresentation has been the
of avrfl and n good So
prone have churchmen been to this form
of SANDER, that il has been well said,
That clergymen and women have no
other weapons than their tongues"
Insinuation and detraction are forms of
false witness, in which it is sought to as
cribe evil motives or the hope of gaining
selfish ends as the cause of all good ac-
tions. In the eyes of these robbers of
reputation, the brave are foolhardy, the
benevolent lovers of notorety, the gener-
Gus spepdthrifGs and the economical mis-
ers. For every good deed they find a
selfish or ignoble purpose. They can see
in others only the reflection of their own
base instincts or mean minds.
Sometimes there is SANDER, even In
silence. when we permit the name of a
good man or a pure woman to be de-
stroyed i'm our presence. 1t is the SANDER
of the cowardly and the base, who, lack
ing themselves the manhood to voice the
falsehood, allow it to pass unrefuted and
undenied
The last and the most prevalent form
of Islander is taie-bearing, the gossip OF
polite society 1t seems to have come
down through the ages graced by some
form Of apostolic descent, for as il was
described by st. Paul, so ii is to-day. 1t
is the universal vice and finds its votaries
everywhere and in every walk and grade
OF life. The tale-bearer, without occupation
at home, goes from house to house, and
In her train there are blackened charac-
tiers and withered regulations. BY the
lifting of an eyelid she blasts a mans
honor, and by shrug of the shoulder de-
files a woman's name.
What has been said, concluded Mr.
Strong, has not been designed to mirror
the weaknesses or reveal the faults of
any one, but rather that every one may
examine his own heart and so purge and
cleanse 1t that from his lips only truth
and love and charity shall proceed