Charity | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 21, 1871

Charity.

An exchange publishes the following paragraph under the heading of “Cautiousness.” We think it rather deserves to be called Christian Charity:

Shun evil speakers. Deal tenderly with the absent; say nothing to inflict a wound on their reputation. They may be wrong and wicked, yet your knowledge of it does not oblige you to disclose their character, except to save others from injury. Then do it in a way that bespeaks a spirit of kindness to the absent offender. Be not hasty to credit evil reports. They are often the result of misunderstanding, or evil design, or they proceed from an exaggerated or partial disclosure of facts. Wait and learn the whole history before you decide, then believe what evidence compels you to, and no more. But, even then, take heed not to indulge the least unkindness, lest you dissipate all the spirit of your prayer for them, and unnerve yourself for doing them any good.