Wesley Corpus

Where is mercy to be found, if it would stand in opposition to interest How few will scruple, for a valuable consideration, to oppress the widow or fatherless And where shall we find truth Deceit and fraud go not out of our streets. Who is it that speaks the truth from his heart Whose words are the picture of his thoughts Where is he that has "put away all lying," that never speaks what he does not mean Who is ashamed of this Indeed it was once said, and even by a statesman, "All other vices have had their patrons; but lying is so base, so abominable a vice, that never was anyone found yet who dared openly to plead for it." Would one imagine this writer lived in a Court yea, and that in the present century Did not he himself, then, as well as all his brother-statesmen, plead for a trade of deliberate lying Did he not plead for the innocence, yea, and the necessity, of employing spies -- the vilest race of liars under the sun Yet who ever scrupled using them, but Lord Clarendon 3. O truth, whither art thou fled How few have any acquaintance with thee! Do not we continually tell lies for the nonce, without gaining thereby either profit or pleasure Is not even our common language replete with falsehood Above a hundred years ago the poet complained, It never was good day Since lowly fawning was called compliment. What would he have said had he lived a century later, when that art was brought to perfection 4. Perhaps there is one palpable evidence of this which is not usually attended to. If you blame a man in many other respects, he is not much affronted. But if you say he is a liar, he will not bear it; he takes fire at once. Why is this Because a man can bear to be blamed when he is conscious of his own innocence. But if you say he is a liar, you touch a sore spot: he is guilty, and therefore cannot bear it.