Untitled article | AdventAI

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Third-day, January 14, 1868

Slander.

He who steals my purse steals trash, But he who filches my good name, Takes that which doth not enrich himself, But makes me poor indeed.

A slanderer God doth detest, and him who sows seditions, And who of mere conceit doth raise a foul and false suspicion. And him that bears a tale about or takes it of another, Whereby he doth calumniate or vilify his brother. When men fall out, most commonly they run upon this rock, They rail, revile, and slander raise, and scornfully do mock. The errors of the little tongue are great and manifold, I never yet had strength enough this slippery clack to hold.

To backbite is a wicked thing, and darkly to defame Another man, whom openly I dare not thus to blame. A sinner that is penitent, whose fault I understand, Before I would disclose the same, I should cut off my hand.