of testimony we should not merely
abstain from downright wrong. And it is a fine example of the spirit of
the New Testament, in the Old.

"Thou shalt not take up a false report" (ver. 1) is a precept which
reaches far. How many heedless whispers, conjectures lightly spoken
because they were amusing, yet influencing the course of lives, and
inferences uncharitably drawn, would have been still-born if this had
been remembered!

But when the scandal is already abroad, the temptation to aid its
progress is still greater. Therefore it is added, "Put not thine hand
with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness." Whatever be the menace or
the bribe, however the course of opinion seem to be decided, and the
assent of an individual to be harmless because the result is sure, or
blameless because the responsibility lies elsewhere, still each man is a
unit, not an "item," and must act for himself, as hereafter he must give
account. Hence it results inevitably that "Thou shalt not follow a
multitude to do evil, neither shalt thou speak in a cause to turn aside
after a multitude to wrest judgment" (ver. 2). The blind impulses of a
multitude are often as misleading as the solicitations of the bad, and
to aspiring temperaments much more seductive. There is indeed a strange
magnetism in the voice of the public. Every orator knows that a great
assembly acts upon the speaker as really as he acts upon it: its
emotions are like a rush of waters to sweep him away, beyond his
intentions or his ordinary powers. Yet he is the strongest individual
there; no other has at all the same opportunity for self-assertion, and
therefore its power over others must be more complete than over him.

This is one reason for the institution of public worship. Men neglect
the house of God because they can pray as well at home, and encourage
wanton subdivisions of the Church because they think there is no very
palpable difference between competing denominations, or even because
competition may be as useful in religion as in trade, as if our
competition with the world and the devil for souls would not
sufficiently animate us, without competing with one another. But in
acting thus they weaken the effect for good of one of the mightiest
influences which work evil among us, the influence of association. Men
are always persuading themselves that they need not be better than their
neighbours, nor ashamed of doing what every one does. And yet no voice
joins in a cry