106 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION. 



of the dishonesty and the depravity of man. Ser 

 vants would be universally honest and trust 

 worthy, and the property of their masters would 

 be regarded as a sacred deposit. 



And what a happy change would such a state 

 of society introduce among mankind ! What 

 a host of cares, anxieties, suspicions, vexations, 

 and perplexities, would be chased away ! and 

 what a world of conveniences, and of delight 

 ful associations, would thus be created ! Every 

 merchant, by marking the price and the quality 

 of each commodity, might leave his goods open 

 to the inspection of the public, and enjoy himself 

 in the bosom of his family, or in active services 

 for the good of the community, without the east 

 risk of loss or of depredations ; and every purchas 

 er might depend upon procuring the articles he 

 wanted at their just value. Every traveller would 

 prosecute his journey, either by day or by night, 

 without the least apprehension from sharpers or 

 robbers, and without being harassed by the im 

 positions of inn-keepers, coachmen, carriers, 

 and porters. Every one s mind would be at per 

 fect ease, in regard to his property, whether he 

 were at home or abroad, in health or in sickness ; 

 being firmly persuaded that every trust would be 

 faithfully discharged, and every commercial con 

 cern fairly and honourably transacted. Selfish 

 ness and rapacity would give place to a spirit of 

 justice, equity, and benevolence; contentions, 

 jockeyings, and altercations would cease ; peace 

 and concord would prevail, and righteousness and 

 truth would shed their benign influence over the 

 whole brotherhood of mankind. 



THE NINTH COMMANDMENT. 



&quot; Thou shaU not bear false witness against thy 

 neighbour&quot; 



This command, like most of the others, is ex 

 pressed in a negative form. It is directed against 

 every species of falsehood, and, consequently, 

 must be viewed as inculcating a sacred and uni 

 versal adherence to truth, in all our thoughts, 

 words, and actions. In the remarks I may throw 

 out in relation to this precept, I shall consider it 

 chiefly in its positive form, as commanding an 

 inviolable attachment to truth. Truth may be 

 considered in two different points of view logi- 

 c.ul truth, which consists in the conformity of a 

 proposition or assertion with the actual state of 

 things ; and moral truth, which consists in the 

 agreement of our words and actions with our 

 thoughts. Logical truth belongs to the thing or 

 the fact asserted ; moral truth, or what is termed 

 veracity, has a reference to the person who utters 

 it. In both these respects, truth is of immense 

 importance to all intelligent beings. The im- 

 dirtance of truth and verachy will appear from 

 the following considerations. 



In the first place, it is the bond of society, 

 and die foundation of all that confidence and in 



tercourse which subsist among raticaal beinj, . 

 By far the greater part of all t ^e Knowledge * 

 possess, has been derived from the testimony 

 others. It is from the communication of others, 

 and from a reliance on their veracity, that those 

 who were never beyond the limits of Great 

 Britain, know that there are such cities as Paris, 

 Vienna, Constantinople, and Cairo ; and that 

 there are such countries as Canada, Nova 

 Scotia, Brazil, Peru, Persia, China, and Hin- 

 dostan. It is from the same source that we have 

 learned the facts of ancient and modern history, 

 and that there once existed such empires as the 

 Greek and Roman, the Persian, Assyrian, and 

 Babylonian. On the same ground, the veracity 

 of others, we confide in all the domestic relations 

 and intercourses of life ; and on this ground all 

 the transactions of commercial society, and all 

 the arrangements and operations of government 

 are conducted. On the implied veracity of others, 

 we retire from our employments at certain hours, 

 and sit down to breakfast or dinner ; and, on the 

 first day of the week, we assemble in a certain 

 place, at an appointed hour, for religious wor 

 ship. On this ground, the pupil confides in his 

 teacher, for instruction the child in his parents, 

 for sustenance, clothing and protection, the 

 master in his servant, for the execution of his 

 orders, and the wife in her husband for provision 

 and support. We confide every moment in the 

 faithfulness of the Almighty for the regular re 

 turns of day and night, of summer and winter, 

 of seed-time and harvest. Could the veracity of 

 God be impeached or rendered liable to suspi 

 cion, we should remain in awful suspense, whe 

 ther another day would again dawn upon the 

 world, or whether the earth would be shattered to 

 pieces, and its fragments dispersed throughout 

 surrounding worlds, before the sun again appear 

 ed in the horizon. A Being possessed of bound 

 less knowledge and omnipotence, without vera 

 city, would be the terror of ihe whole intelligent 

 universe, and would fill them with universal 

 agitation and alarm. 



Again, truth is the foundation of our present 

 comfort and of our future prospects. On the ve 

 racity of those illustrious characters that have 

 gone before us, whose declarations were con 

 firmed by signs and miracles, we depend for the 

 hope of forgiveness and acceptance with God. 

 and for those rich sources of consolation which 

 are calculated to support the mind under the aP- 

 flictions of mortality, and to cheer and animate 

 us in the prospect of a future world. Our hopes 

 of happiness beyond the grave, of the resurrec 

 tion of our bodies at the termination of the pre 

 sent plan of providence of the renovation of the 

 physical system of our globe of a complete res 

 toration to holiness and virtue of a re-union 

 with departed friends of associating with vir 

 tuous beings of a superior order of mingling in 

 a happier world with all those illustrious sainti 



