Against Lying
O 'tis a lovely thing for youth To early walk in wisdom's way; To fear a lie, to speak the truth, That we may trust to all they say! But liars we can never trust, Even when they say what is true. And he who does one fault at first And lies to hide it, makes it two. Have we not known, nor heard, nor read How God does hate deceit and wrong? How Ananias was struck dead, Caught with a lie upon his tongue? So did his wife Sapphira die, When she came in, and grew so bold As to confirm that wicked lie, Which just before her husband told. The Lord delights in them that speak The words of truth; but every liar Must have his portion in the lake That burns with brimstone and with fire.
Isaac Watts’s other poems:
