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There was a boy of the name of John Busby. He said once, "What a wicked man Mr. Bradburry is." A gentleman said to him, "I do not think he is wicked; I think he is very good; he is always on the line of his duty." "I only know," said John, "that he went to church last Sunday, and he slept all through the sermon." The other was very much surprised, because he thought Mr. Bradburry was a very good man; so he said to the boy, "Can you tell me what the text was?" "No, I can't," said John; "but I can tell you Mr. Bradburry was asleep all the time." "Then," said the gentleman to him, "I happen to know the text; for Mr. Bradburry told me not only the text, but all about the sermon. You say he was fast asleep; but I can tell you he has got very weak eyes, and there is a gas lamp between him and the pulpit; and he is obliged to shut his eyes because he cannot stand the light." Do you see, that was "bearing false witness" on the part of John Busby; that was slander, taking away his character. We must not bear "false witness." We used sometimes to play a game called "Scandal." It is a very good game. You all sit round in a circle, and somebody tells a person at one end a story he has heard about something or somebody — anything you like. He whispers it to the next one, and he again whispers it to the next, and he to the next, and to the next. When it comes to the last person, he is to say aloud what he has had whispered to him, and the first is to say what he had said. Often the act of repeating it all around makes it seem quite a different story. That is called "Scandal" or "Slander." You try that game some day, and it will teach you the importance of being very exact in repeating what you hear, if you would not "bear false witness."

(J. Vaughan.)

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KJV: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

WEB: "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.