Be True

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 6, 1857

BE TRUE.—How stirring these words of old Geo. Herbert. “Lie not,” neither to thyself, nor man, nor God. Let mouth and heart be one; beat and speak together; and make both felt in action. It is for cowards to lie. Lies are the offspring of fear, and slaves to it spit them forth amid the stormy workings of the soul in froth. How like a living thing this truth, as in a gem, shines out as George Herbert sang it two centuries ago:—

Lie not, but let thy heart be true to God;

Thy mouth to it, thy actions to them both,

Cowards tell lies, and those that fear the rod;

The stormy working soul spits lies in froth.

DARE TO BE TRUE. Nothing can need a lie.

A fault, which needs it most, grows two thereby.