Jesse Phillips Blog

I have been reading a chapter from “Charity and It’s Fruits” by Johnathan Edwards. He is addressing our tendency to believe the worst about each other, to spread lies about other people, and to believe reports without verifying them. I’ve put the entire chapter in a PDF file you can download here. Here’s a sample quote to wet your appetite.

“Merely hearing a flying and evil rumour about an individual, in such a thoughtless and lying world as this is, is far from being sufficient evidence against any one, to make us believe he has been guilty of that which is reported ; for the devil, who is called “the god of this world,” is said to be ” a liar, and the father of it,” and too many, alas ! of his children are like him in their speaking of falsehoods. And yet it is a very common thing for persons to pass a judgment on others, on no better ground or foundation than that they have heard that somebody has said this, or that, or the other thing, though they have no evidence that what is said is true.”