STAND BY THE TRUTH by William Ellery Channing

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 18, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 11.

STAND BY THE TRUTH.

By William Ellery Channing

SPEAK always with moral courage; speak what you account great truths frankly, strongly, boldly. Do not spoil them of life to avoid offense. Do not propitiate passion and prejudice by compromise and concession. Beware of the sophistry which reconciles the conscience to the suppression, or vague, lifeless utterance, of unpopular truth. Do not wink at wrong deeds or unholy prejudices because sheltered by customs or respected names. Having deliberately, conscientiously, sought the truth, abide by your conviction at all hazards; never shrink from speaking your mind through dread of reproach. Wait not to be backed by numbers. Wait not till you are sure of an echo from the crowd. The fewer the voices on the side of truth, the more distinct and strong must be your own. Courage even on the side of error is power. How must it prove on the side of truth? One speaking, not from selfish calculation, but giving out his mind in earnest sincerity, uttering his convictions in natural tones, and always faithful to the light he has received, however he may give occasional offense, will not speak in vain; he will have an ally in the moral sense, in the principle of justice, in the reverence for virtue, which is never wholly extinguished in the human soul.—Channing.