The Slandered | AdventAI

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 8, 1858

The Slandered.

A venerable old man says, "Let the slanderer take comfort—it is only at fruit-trees that thieves throw stones."

The old man was right. Who ever saw thieves throw stones at the birch, maple, or elm tree? The more fruit the tree bears, and the richer it is, the more it is likely to attract the attention of the thief.

No man that tries to do his duty to his fellows, and endeavors to live to bear the fruits of true religion in his daily conduct, can for a moment suppose that he will pass along through life without being slandered more or less. Such a man will of necessity have some enemies; and these enemies will try in every way to injure him, and, among others, they will not be slow in stirring up the polluted waters of defamation and slander.

A man who has no enemies is merely a milk-and-water nothing. We would not give three figs for such a man.

He who is anything, who makes a mark in the world, who does good, will have enemies; and, if he have them, he will be sure to be slandered.