< a ae TRUTH. 13 “Thus you perceive that while the words of the traveller were literally true, they con- veyed an intentional falsehood to the tything- man, and therefore the traveller was guilty of deceptions I know that people sometimes think these tricks» very witty, but they are very wicked. ‘Truth would be of no value, if it might be used for the purposes of de- ception ; it is. because truth forbids all de- ception, and requires open dealing, that j it is so much prized. _ «It isalways a poor bargain to give away truth for the sake of a momentary advantage, of for the purpose of playing off an ingenious trick. To barter truth for fun or mischief is giving away gold for dross. Every time a person tells a lie, or practises a deception, he inflicts an injury upon his mind, perhaps not visiblésto the eye of man, but as plain to the eye of God as a scar upon the flesh,. By repeated falsehoods, a person may scar*over his whole soul, so as to make it offensive in — the sight. of thate Being whose*love and favour we should seek, for his friendship is the greatest of all blessings: Truth is the great thing to be sought, and 2