Chap. XII.]

OBSERVANCE OF TRUTH.

183

lute necessity to the welfare of mankind. Occasions for repos-ing it occur every hour, at home and by the wayside, by dayand by night, in solitude and in company.

Let us suppose, for a moment, the great moral obligation of amutual regard for truth to be dissolved, — no man reposing con-fidence in another, or entitled to it himself; — who does not see,that universal suspicion and distrust, insecurity, anxiety, andalarm, must be the consequence? Direct and deliberate false-hood, therefore, is so personally disgraceful, so pointedly con-demned by Scripture, and tends in its consequences to suchoverwhelming, such universal ruin of every thing valuable andestimable in life, that it is condemned universally, — no voice isever raised in its justification. But, as has been said before,truth is accustomed to be violated in many ways, besides directfalsehood. It is violated whenever there is an intention or a wil-lingness to deceive. Without attempting a complete enumera-tion of these ways, I shall touch, as I may, upon those which aremost worthy of the notice of an elementary writer on morals.

1. Truth is violated when facts, reasonings, circumstances, orany thing else, by whatever name called, are suppressed or omit-ted, with the knowledge or belief, that any person will be led intoerror or mistake by such suppression or omission. I do not say,that the omission or suppression of facts, circumstances, or what-ever else is seen to be necessary to lead the reader or hearer intothe truth, is equally criminal with the direct assertion of what isknown to be false ; — it may not be so, there are degrees in alloffences,—but it is unquestionable, that the one as well as theother is a great violation of truth. And the comparative fre-quency with which truth is violated in this way, makes it a mat-ter of importance, that this part of the subject should be wellunderstood. Various sources of illustration might be used to setthis point in a clear light.

Truth is violated by the historian, when he omits facts andcircumstances, the absence of which prevents his narrative frommaking such an impression of events, characters, and transactions,as would be communicated by stating the truth in the full meas-ure of its integrity, and without disguise. The truth of historyrequires, that nothing he suppressed or omitted, which can mate-

V