Against Believing Evil Reports
It is a remarkable fact that while the apostolic injunction reads: "Prove all things: hold fast that which is good," a goodly portion of the world seems to read that injunction, in its application to witness-bearing concerning others, "Prove nothing; catch at that which is evil." It is one of the unexplained facts in the natural history of humanity, that persons will receive with perfect trust any story of wrong-doing on the part of another, while they are cautiously incredulous regarding anything which may be said to that other's advantage. Here is an opportunity for one to distinguish himself from his fellows. Let him refuse to credit the story of another's sin until he has some better evidence for it than irresponsible rumor and mischievous tale-bearing, and unless the world improves very rapidly, such a person will find himself a member of a small minority of the human race, but in the very best of company.