The lie of gossip.  If by some power, human or divine, the gossiping tongue could be silenced and the tattling mouth effectually closed, half of the evil of this world would already be stopped, and the other would commence to languish for want of patronage.  The lie of gossip is the blackest of them all.  The blackest of all the black horde, the very worst of the whole evil troop; insinuating, sly and crafty, it creeps around with a serpent’s stealth, and carries beneath its tongue the deadly poison of ten thousand adders.  The venom can be extracted from the cobra’s fangs, but no power on earth can tame the tongue of an unprincipled gossip.  Some lies you can kill, but the lie of gossip is imperishable.  You may clip its wings, but its flight is unhindered; you may cut off its head, but two will grow out in its place; you may crush it to earth beneath the heel of denial.  Let it alone and possibly the dirty, contemptible, infamous thing will die; touch it not and it may droop and languish; do not chase it and it may grow weak for want of exercise.

Oh, my dear reader, above all things, don’t have your life a lie, your career a falsehood.  Be no hypocrite, live no lie, and the God of all truth will see something in you to admire if you live truthfully and honestly before all men.  Truth is a sure pledge not impaired, a shield never pierced, a flower that never dieth, a state that feareth no fortune, and a port that yields no danger.  We can not build a manly character unless we are in possession of the imperial virtue, truth.  Ah! truth is the diamond for which the candid mind ever seeks.  It is the sanction of every appeal that is made for the good and the right.  It may be crushed to earth, it may be long in achieving victory, but it is omnipotent and must triumph at last.  Christ brought truth into the world.  Truth, then, is a personal, experimental and practical thing.  It is a thing of the heart, and not mere outward forms; a living principle in the soul, influencing the mind, employing the affections, guiding the will, and directing as well as enlightening the conscience.  It is a supreme, not a subordinate matter, demanding and obtaining the throne of the soul-giving law to the whole character, and requiring the whole man and all his conduct to be in subordination.  Truth blends with every occupation.  It is noble and lofty, not abject, servile and groveling; it communes with God, with holiness, with Heaven, with eternity and infinity.  Truth is a happy, and not a melancholy thing, giving a peace that passeth understanding, and a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory.  And it is durable, not a transient thing, passing with us through life, lying down with us on the pillow of death, rising with us at the last day, and dwelling in our souls in Heaven as the very element of eternal life.  Such is truth, the sublimest thing in our world, sent down to be our comforter and ministering angel on earth.