Practising Deception

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Sep 19, 1878

Practising Deception.

THERE is a large class of deceptions which are pleaded and extenuated, such as telling lies to children, and telling lies to sick persons. I set myself against the whole of this miserable tribe of wickedness. A lie told to a child is a monstrous thing. Your child is sick, and you bring him a portion and say, "It is good, my dear, it is good," when it is bitter as gall. You are not a liar, but a fool. The child learns after a little time not only that the medicine is not good, but that the truth is not to be regarded. You not only give the child an odious dose of medicine, but you give him a more odious dose of morals. You inoculate him with a spirit of lying from the beginning. I think we cannot be too careful to speak the truth, and above all to the children. As to the sick, I do not believe it necessary to tell them all the truth. But a doctor is not justified in lying to his patients. It is easy for him to say to the person whose case he has undertaken, "You must have confidence in me." But if he says anything, let him say the truth. It may excite the patient or it may not; but if excitability is a reason for not telling the truth, then it is a reason for silence—it is not a reason for deception. I think that such persons are oftentimes injured by being deceived. I think there is a great deal of cruelty practised toward sick people in this way. And I think it is a shame to let sick people go blindfolded down to death, and drop off without a single word, for fear that they will be injured if the truth is told them. I think if a person is going to die he has a right to know it. I do not believe in telling lies to sick folks.— Sel.