Keeping Clear

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 4, 1912

“If only I had never repeated it. I know now that it was untrue; but it is too late for me to catch it and stop it from spreading and spreading, wider than the truth can ever follow it.”

It was one of many such regrets, voiced by one who had not been careful to keep clear of evil-speaking about another. An idle rumor is what it would have been called by most people, that unkind report that was soon afterward proved to be unfounded in truth. Yet it was anything but idle; it was far too active in spreading itself abroad, aided by other tongues not careful to keep clear of this same evil.

To keep our tongues from evil, and our lips from speaking guile, as the good old verse puts it, is one of the most important things in life. It may seem a little thing to hush the sharp word, the unkind remark, and the hasty repetition of something heard that is not to the credit of another. Yet it is important; and that not only to the one spoken of, but it is directly important to the one who is careful to keep clear of these things. A reputation for gossip is easily won; and it never yet added anything to one's credit. It may seem pleasant at the moment to be the bearer of news; but it is far pleasanter, in later memory, to hold the knowledge of a tongue unsullied by evil, and lips sealed against guile.

There are so many good things to tell about one another, it is a pity to let any of these things lie unnoticed, while we recount the small fault which might die out from lack of attention if we let it severely alone. It is not our place to judge and set right all the weak spots in others. We ought to be thankful that this is so, instead of trying to take upon ourselves the judging from which we are mercifully freed.—Onward.