The Speakers’ Contest: ‘Thou Shalt Not.’

THE SPEAKERS' CONTEST. 667 that have been heaped upon the former as well as the Latter-day Saints. Four thousand years ago, God thundered from the summit of Sinai, ten great commandments. Since that eventful day in the world's history, each has been broken time and time again, yet the breaking of none has caused so much sorrow and suffering, misery and death, as the breaking of the ninth, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." The world's tragedy, enacted on the summit of Calvary, was but the effect of a cause which had preceded it. The breaking of the sixth commandment had been preceded by the breaking of the ninth commandment. Let your minds go back to the scene which was enacted in the judgment hall of Pilate, nearly nineteen hundred years ago. Seated upon his throne, with his purple robes about his form, is the Roman governor; before him, stands the man who, but a few hours earlier, had been dragged from his agonizing prayer in Gethsemane; to the right and left, stand Rome's hirelings; close to the throne, stands the band of priests, elders, and scribes, every feature of their vicious faces showing the hatred which they bear towards their intended victim. Only one thought seems to control their actions: "Away with him. Let his blood be upon us and upon our children." The background of the judgment hall is filled with a hating, howling mob, crying, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" presenting in their action, a picture of hate and murderous intent such as the world has rarely seen. Pilate finds no fault. The testimony is not strong enough to convict. Are, then, the priests, elders and people to be denied the blood of their intended victim? No; for "at last came two false witnesses." It would be unjust to say that Pilate knew that the testimony was false, yet upon it, he sentenced the Perfect Man to death upon the cross. The Son of God was crucified on Calvary. He was convicted before Pilate. He was convicted by liars. He was murdered by haters. The breaking of the sixth commandment on Calvary's hill was not a greater crime than was the breaking of the ninth* in the judgment hall of Pilate. The Savior was crucified through the breaking of it; Peter and John were imprisoned by the same means, as were Paul and Silas; the stoning to death of Stephen was but an effect from the

668 IMPROVEMENT ERA. same cause; Peter was crucified, head downward; Paul was beheaded; all the horrors of the early Christian persecutions were but the outcome of the testimony of false witnesses. Read the story of the Inquistion; of the massacre of St. Bartholomew; of the religious persecution in Germany and England; nay, read the story of religious persecutions throughout the world for the past nineteen centuries, and then tell me if you know of any other commandment, the breaking of which has had as far-reaching effect as has the breaking of the ninth. Time forbids a detailed account of all the horrors committed in the name of religion, but in nearly every case, the cause was the same as that which drove the Man of Sorrow from the judgment hall of Pilate to the hill of Calvary. No sooner did Joseph Smith, the boy-prophet of the nineteenth century, tell of the heavenly visit which he had received, than false witnesses arose. Read the story of his mob-driven life, from the age of fourteen until his cold body lay against the stone wall of Carthage jail. Read the history of the Latter-day Saints from Kirtland to Jackson County, to Nauvoo, to Far West, to the valleys of the Rockies; the story of Johnston's army and the Utah penitentiary, and then tell me what was the cause of all the robbing, driving, imprisonments, beatings, mobbings and murders which have been committeed in the name of religion and justice, if it did not arise from the testimony of false witnesses? Let any elder of The Church who has filled a mission to any nation of the earth, tell you of his trials and persecutions, and you ask him the cause. I think that he will answer with me that it was brought about through the testimony of false witnesses. The history of the world's great crimes may be written in two sentences: The breaking of the ninth commandment, the cause; stealing, mobbing and murdering, the effect. Few people, if any, in the world's history, have suffered so much from the breaking of this commandment as have the Latterday Saints, yet sometimes I wonder if many have not forgotten the cause of their persecutions, of most of their sorrow and sufferings? if some of them have not forgotten that the God who gave them existence has said, "Thou shalt not?" if many of them have not forgotten that good (though homely it may be,) maxim of The Church, "Mind your own business?"

THE SPEAKERS' CONTEST. 669 The lowest, most contemptible and cowardly creature is the character assassin, for his work is usually done in such a way that his victim has no chance for defense. The thief and the murderer are of times brave in comparison, for "none but cowards lie." No person can have the right to break the ninth commandment any more than he can have the right to break the sixth or seventh. If, to the breaking of the ninth commandment, you can plead "not guilty," for you have injured no man with false testimony, then all praise to you for keeping free from this sin. But characters may be ruined without a direct lie, by inuendo, a false impression, by a half truth and half insinuation. "A lie that is half a truth, is the blackest lie of all." Such actions always have weight with those who wish to believe evil. A word, a look, a sigh, then, metaphorically, like the Arab, you fold your tent and silently steal away; Mark Anthony-like, your actions seem to say, "Now let it work; mischief, thou art afoot. Take thou what course thou wilt." "When we say of people what we will not say to them, we are either cowards or liars." You tell me that man is the architect of his own career, that if he has broken the law, he must pay the penalty. I grant your charge. But his actions do not license you to add greater crimes to his credit. I deny any man the right to sit in judgment upon the actions of his neighbor, unless he has been injured; yes, even then, I deny him the right to judgment. "Judge not, lest ye be judged." "Forgive one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you." If you pray to God to forgive you of your sins, and refuse to forgive your fellow-man, I deny you the right to utter the Lord's prayer, "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." Note the first thought which the Prince of Peace uttered after the prayer, "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you : but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Before you refuse to forgive, I ask you to remember the last great prayer, — "Father, forgive them, for thev know not what they do;" forgetting not the words of life and beauty, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." Humanity is frail enough; the faults and wrongs which we have and commit are numerous enough, without any adding thereto.

670 IMPROVEMENT ERA. What joy or satisfaction does it give to tell the faults of another? God has not appointed us to tell the failings of our neighbors, to make their failings known to the world. Would it not be nearer our religion and our Prince to hide the faults, and to try and lead the erring one from the errors of his way? remembering that "The words of the tale-bearer are as wounds." Let me make a plea for the erring soul. Fathers, mothers, you who know the faults of your neighbor's son, or the indiscreet acts of his daughter — before you herald them, think how your story would sound, if it were directed against your own loved ones, and how you would feel if the story told should blight the fair name of your child, and cast a stigma upon yourself. You who have children whom you love with your heart's strong beating, what would be your feeling if it were your child of whom some one had spoken ill? If you are first to see a fault, Be not the first to make it known. Hide rather than expose a fault, for there are times when silence is better than the truth. The first Napoleon had, as one of his mottoes, "I command, or I am silent." Can we not take for a motto, "I speak good of others, or I am silent." Young man, you who have a mother and sisters, ere you speak ill, true or false, against the mother or sister of another, let me ask you to think how your words would sound spoken against those dear ones whom you love, remembering that to the true man, the character of a woman is ever sacred; no matter what she is or may have been, you do but lower yourself to speak ill of her. To the young woman who is given to this fault of evil speaking, I can only say, "Thou art thy sex's own worst enemy. Thou hast less charity towards thy sex than has man." We are human, weak and frail. Paul-like, "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." How willing, how weak, only the struggling, fighting soul knows. The greatest battles of life are those fought in silence. Be he what he may or where he may, away down deep in every heart lies the wish to lead a higher, a better, a nobler life; yet how hard it is to overcome evil, to leave forever the flesh-pots of Egypt? Yet, how much easier would be our fight

THE SPEAKERS' CONTEST. 671 if there were only a helping hand, a smile or a word of encouragement! Would it not be better for the young man or woman whom you see going wrong, if, instead of telling others of the wrong, you were to go to him or her with love and kindness and try to help them to a higher and better life; a pound of help is better than a ton of advice; an ounce of kindness, better than a car-load of faultfinding. "There is an infinite satisfaction in receiving the gifts of God, but the privilege of becoming the means through which he will bestow light and blessings upon others, is the greatest privilege bestowed upon man." "There is no beautifier of the form, complexion and manner, like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us." I cannot think that we would defame the character of our brother wilfully; I cannot think that we would injure, by tale-bearing, with malicious intent; but rather, I try to think that we do not know the "why's and wherefore's" for every false step that he may have made. It is not given to us to know his trials and temptations. If we understood his heart's motives, we would be less ready to find fault, more ready to help. For we judge each other harshly, Knowing not life's hidden force; Knowing not the stream of action Is less turbid at its source. Seeing not amid the evil All the golden grains of good; Oh, we'd love each other better, If we only understood. I plead for the erring, struggling, misunderstood soul ; that with love and kindness it shall be led, not driven, to a higher, a better, a nobler life. God gave ten commandments. They are as binding today as they ever were. Where is the Latter-day Saint that would make unto himself any graven image? Where is the one who would worship any other God? They are not Sabbath-breakers; they are not profaners; they are not thieves; the teaching of the seventh commandment is sacred to them; the murderer is unknown among them. All of these commandments have they kept from their youth up; but do they break the ninth commandment? Do they

672 IMPROVEMENT ERA. bear false witness? You ask me if I place the bearing of false witness upon the same level of crime as the breaking of the sixth seventh, eighth or tenth commandment? And why not? God made no distinction when he gave them. He prefaced each with "Thou shalt not." I know of but one distinction made in Holy Writ — that which was made by the Christ. "The first great commandment is this: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy might, mind and strength. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Who is thy neighbor? Read the parable of the good Samaritan. Do I love my neighbor as myself, when with words I rob him of his honor, of his good name? You remember the words which the Bard of Avon has put into the mouth of Iago? Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, Is the immediate jewel of their souls: Who steals my purse, steals trash; 't is something, nothing; 'T was mine, 't is his, and has been slave to thousands; But he that filches from me my good name, Robs me of that which not enriches him And makes me poor indeed. "The crown and glory of life is character." Wealth nor talent should be so priceless. Fame is ofttimes but a dream; wealth but a will-o'-the-wisp. Death robs you of your loved ones, and sorrow fills the heart; friends prove false, and regret floods the soul ; wealth vanishes and leaves poverty; take away religion and the bright star of hope is gone; health goes, the vengeance of a violated law of nature remains. Wealth may be regained, health may return, other loved ones fill the aching void, new friends take the place of those lost, the star of hope may once more shine; but take away honor, and you leave nothing but desolation, heartaches and misery! The sun of life is set; darkness alone remains. You have stolen that which can never be returned. And as surely as God lives, you shall pay the penalty of that theft. The laws of the land may fail to reach you in this life, but the laws of God will reach you in eternity. You have broken a commandment and the penalty shall be paid. The breaking of the ninth commandment has ever been fol-