"And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and much people of Israel died."-Numbers xxi. 6. SEE how God deals with folks that murmur. But there are other serpents more fearful and terrible than these fiery flying serpents that bit to death so many of the children of Israel for their wicked murmurings. We mean the serpents in the form of books and papers, sent forth by some calling themselves Christians. Multitudes are dying this very day from the biting and stinging of these vile reptiles. Tell these professed disciples of the Lord Jesus to stop sending these coiled serpents all abroad, that poison the souls of so many little folks, will they do it? Try and see. But is there no cure for these serpent bites? Nothing, save the blood of the Lamb. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."John iii. 14, 15. 22 32 LYING AND MAKING LIARS. "A lie, how base! how mean! offspring of selfishness A lover of darkness, and hater of light." "A lying tongue is but for a moment."-Prov. xii. 19. CONVERSATION between Mr. Standfast and Mr. Whiffler.(No. 1.) Mr. Standfast. "Walk in, sir, walk in-take a seat. Glad to meet you. You're the man I've long desired to see. Your name is Whiffler ?" W. "I'm not ashamed to own it, sir." S. "I've a word of exhortation for you." W. "Speak on, Mr. Standfast." S. "If report speaks truth, you're a liar, Mr. Whiffler, barefaced!" W. "What do you mean? an insult ?" S. "I'm not double-tongued or double-faced like you; I mean what I say. You're a liar! you write lies, publish lies, sell lies, read lies, and of course you tell lies! You're a double, treble, quadruple liar-a bundle of lies-a liar from head to foot, from top to bottom! Your whole contour, every look, every moving muscle, indicates falsehood or lying. Lying is your trade!" W. "You call novels lies, do you?" S. "Novels are lies and lies are novels. A novel,' says Webster, 'is a fictitious tale.' And fiction is falsehood -a lie! Therefore, Mr. Whiffler, take pen in hand, and write opposite your name in capitals, 'LIAR!' Every one is a liar that writes lies, sells lies, or puffs lies, whether in LYING AND MAKING LIARS. 35 the church or out of it-in the pulpit or out of it-in the editorial chair or out of it! Now, Mr. Whiffler, you see clearly without spectacles to what class you belong, the truthful or the lying-whether you are on the Lord's side or the devil's? "Do you love truth, talk it, write it, preach it, send it forth to bless the world, or do you take sides with the father of liars-write lies, preach lies, publish lies, send them forth to curse the world? To one of these classes you surely belong. 'No man can serve two masters.' 'He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.'-Math. xii. 30. Some parents put lies in the hands of their children; they tell us their sons and daughters have no taste or relish for truth, historical, scientific, the Bible, the solid, the virtuous and the pure, that edifies, enlightens the mind and purifies the heart; so, forsooth, they place a lie in their hands-a book or periodical, made up more or less of lies, from the father of liars. And thus children, being fed or nourished on lies, mentally become liars very early-grow up to manhood on lies, become rooted and grounded in lies! When children have once acquired a habit of lying or telling lies, how is this habit to be eradicated? Nothing is so difficult to be removed from a child as lying or telling lies. 'Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?' Nothing but grace, superabounding, Almighty, will cure man, woman or child of lying or telling lies when once the habit is formed. "Lying in families and communities increases, just in proportion as you, Mr. Whiffler, and other liars, continue to write, puff and sell lies-novels, romances, fictitious tales! What a curse-what a curse! "Lies beget lies. One liar makes other liars-not a few. The man that writes lies, preaches lies, publishes lies, puffs lies-sells and reads lies. What next? Steal, rob, cut your throat? Look out! The man that tells lies-makes a business of it, as you do is he any too good to steal or rob ?" Merchants, have you liars in your employ! novel-reading clerks? Beware!-look well to your safes. Young men that have their minds vitiated, and their moral sensibilities perverted by reading lies, will not endeavor to procure wealth in the ordinary way, by labor and patience; this is too slow a process to satisfy the fevered excited mind. Fortune must be made at once. It drives young men to the gambling-table, the theatre, the intoxicating bowl, and to the house of ill-fame. Novels are liars! Lying and thieving go hand in hand. And what sin meaner, more despicable, hateful, devilish, than the one now under consideration ? Barnum, P. T., with all his humbuggery, witchcraft, and devilisms, whom you commend to the public, bid "God speed," is not to be compared for mischief, ruin, desolation and damnation, with what Satan is doing through the medium of a corrupt press. Religious novels, "coiled serpents," mixed publications, partly good, partly evil, sugared pills-the devil's baits-which you, Mr. Whiffler, are endorsing, clasping to your bosom. These serpents bite you, sting you to death, by and by! "With what measure ye meet it shall be measured to you again." W. "Are you not aware, Mr. Standfast, that the best literature in the market, the most exquisitely fascinating and sparkling, takes the form of stories, tales or novels? By decrying these you defeat the very thing you are aiming at." 1 |