ve, was
very happy. She said she was happy to die, and go home and be with
her Savior and the angels in heaven. But there was one thing, which,
for a time, weighed heavily upon her mind. A year or two before she
felt interested in religion she had told a lie to her aunt; and she
could not die in peace, till she had seen that aunt, confessed her
sin, and asked forgiveness. Her aunt was sent for, though she was
many miles distant. When her aunt came, the sick little girl, with
sorrow for her fault, made confession, and asked forgiveness, "Aunt,"
said she, "I have prayed to God, and hope that he has forgiven me;
and I cannot die in peace till I have obtained your forgiveness." If
any child who reads this book is tempted to deceive his parents or
his friends, I hope he will remember that he must soon die, and think
how he will feel in that solemn hour.

But perhaps you think that the falsehood of which this girl was guilty
was one of peculiar aggravation. It was simply this: She was one day
playing in the room with several little children, and was making them
laugh very loud. Her aunt said, "My dear, you must not make them
laugh so loud."

And she replied, "It is not I, aunt, who makes them laugh."

This was the falsehood she uttered. And though her aunt did not know
that it was false, the little girl did, and God in heaven did. And
when she came to die, though it was a year or two after, her soul was
troubled, and the consciousness of her sin destroyed her peace. A lie
is, in the sight of God, a dreadful sin, be it ever so trifling in our
estimation. When we are just ready to leave the world, and to appear
before God in judgment, the convictions of a guilty conscience will
press upon the heart like lead.

There are many ways of being guilty of falsehood without uttering
the lie direct in words. Whenever you try to deceive your parents, in
doing that which you know they disapprove, you do, in reality, tell
a lie. Conscience reproves you for falsehood. Once, when I was in
company, as the plate of cake was passed round, a little boy, who sat
by the side of his mother, took a much larger piece than he knew she
would allow him to have. She happened, for the moment, to be looking
away, and he broke a small piece off and covered the rest in his lap
with his handkerchief. When his mother looked, she saw the small
piece, and supposed he had taken no more. He intended to deceive her.
His mother has never found out what he did.