There are four chief causes which lead to the guilt of lying—folly, covetousness, malice, and fear. Examine your own life, and see if any one of these has ever tempted you to utter a falsehood.
It was folly which made Richard tell a traveller the wrong road when asked the way to the next village. He thought little of the sin of his lie—it seemed to him but an excellent jest; but the jest cost a neighbour his life! The stranger was a doctor, travelling in haste to attend a patient who had been taken with a fit. Richard’s falsehood made the medical man lose half an hour, when every minute was precious. Oh, what anxious hearts awaited his arrival! But he came too late; he found the sufferer at the point of death, with his desolate family weeping around him!
It was covetousness which made Sally declare that her fruit had only been gathered that morning, when she knew it to be the refuse of yesterday’s market. Did she forget that God’s eye was upon her—that her words could not pass unnoticed by him—that she would have to answer for them at the day of judgment?
It is covetousness that makes Nelly stand begging in the streets, telling to passers-by her pitiful tale of a father in hospital and a family starving. Will the money which she gains by falsehood and hypocrisy bring with it a blessing or a curse? Oh, “What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matt. xvi. 26).
It is malice that makes Eliza invent strange stories of her neighbours. She delights to spread a slander, or to give an ill name. She mixes a little truth with a great deal of falsehood, and cares not what misery she inflicts. Whom does she resemble? Not the citizens of Zion. What language does she speak? Not the language of Heaven.
It was cowardice which drew Peter into falsehood when asked who had broken the china vase: he dreaded a blow; he dared not speak the truth. Do you not blush for him, little reader, who feared man rather than God?
How different is Margaret Lacy! Neither covetousness nor cowardice could ever make her pollute her lips with a lie. She serves a God of truth; she is learning on earth the language of heaven.
She was met one day returning, with a sorrowful step and tearful eye, from a house to which she had gone to try for a place. “Well, Margaret,” said Mrs. Porter, “why so sad? I fear that you have not succeeded.”