Secrecy

“ If secrecy were difficult to practise, sincerity, in that degree in which it was here demanded, was a task infinitely more arduous, and a period of new deliberation was necessary before I should decide. I was at liberty to pause: nay, the longer was the period of deliberation which I took, the better; but, when I had once entered this path, it was not in my power to recede. After having solemnly avowed my resolution to be thus sincere in my confession, any particle of reserve or duplicity would cost me my life. ”

“ Secrecy Is for the happy—misery, hopeless misery, Needeth no veil! ”

“ I mean if they were
against my honour, they may not be wicked; but the world calls them so.
But then, say you, the world will never know anything of the matter; yet
would not that be trusting to your secrecy? ”

“ I am not ignorant that many questions may be started relating to the duty of secrecy, where the affairs are of publick concern; where subsequent reasons may arise to alter the appearance and nature of the trust; that the manner in which the secret was told may change the degree of obligation; and that the principles upon which a man is chosen for a confident may not always equally constrain him. ”

“ Secrecy is thus, so to speak, a transition stadium between being and not-being. ”

“ So, shall the abuses of secrecy be done away with for ever—and it shine forth only in the holy sphere to which it should be confined, to modesty and domestic virtue, religious meditation and prayer, and prudence in the transactions of life. ”

“ There is oftentimes deception, if not absolute lying, in this talker. Why does he receive the secret with the strong promise, “I will tell no one, upon my honour,” if he cannot retain it in his own bosom?
Such persons are not to be trusted twice. As soon as you discover your facts given under covenant of secrecy are blabbed to others, you say, “I shall not trust him again:” and very properly too. Of course he tells as a secret what you tell him as a secret; but if he cannot retain it, how can he expect others? ”

“ It is, indeed, strange how often, when some subtle move of statecraft is being made whereof secrecy is the very vital essence, though those that be in that secret keep their lips truly sealed, some inkling of what is going on seems by some mysterious intuition to be given to folk that have neither need of such knowledge, nor right nor title to it. ”

“ The whole doctrine as well as practice of secrecy is so perplexing and dangerous, that, next to him who is compelled to trust, I think him unhappy who is chosen to be trusted; for he is often involved in scruples without the liberty of calling in the help of any other understanding; he is frequently drawn into guilt, under the appearance of friendship and honesty ”

“ Secrecy involves a tension which, at the moment of revelation, finds its release. ”

“ Therefore set it down, that an habit of secrecy, is both politic and moral. ”

“ You know how I love secrecy. It is the only thing that can make modern life wonderful or mysterious to us. The commonest thing is delightful if one only hides it. ”

“ Secrecy sets barriers between men, but at the same time offers the seductive temptation to break through the barriers by gossip or confession. ”

“ In all secrets there is a kind of guilt, however beautiful or joyful they may be, or for what good end they may be set to serve. Secrecy means evasion, and evasion means a problem to the moral mind. ”

“ for doubt and secrecy are the lure of lures, and no new horror can be more terrible than the daily torture of the commonplace. ”

“ One of the objectionable features of all the associations of which we are writing is their secrecy. We do not say that secrecy is what is called an evil or sin in itself. Secrecy may sometimes be right and even necessary. ”

“ The secrecy which was once a weapon for kings is now its weapon, since it prints attacks and destroys, and whose was the brain that conceived or the hand that struck, no man knows. The privileges once helpful now serve the purposes of gain. ”

“ All those considerations which forbid individuals to shroud their actions in secrecy and darkness, and require them to be open, frank, and straightforward in their course, apply with equal or greater force to associations.
3. In the case of secret societies, the reasons for concealment set the impropriety of it in a still stronger light. So far from there being any necessity or special reason to justify habitual secrecy in their case, we believe the very design of their secrecy to be improper and sinful. ”

“ For the first of these, secrecy, it is indeed the virtue of a confessor; and assuredly the secret man heareth many confessions, for who will open himself to a blab or a babbler? But if a man be thought secret, it inviteth discovery, as the more close air sucketh in the more open; and, as in confession, the revealing is not for worldly use, but for the ease of a man's heart, so secret men come to the knowledge of many things in that kind; while men rather discharge their minds than impart their minds. In few words, mysteries are due to secrecy. ”

“ Secrecy, whenever resorted to for evil ends, is wrong. But may it not be resorted to for good ends? and is it not recognized as often wise and right in the Word of God? We answer in the affirmative. There is a certain degree of reserve, or secrecy, that should invest every individual. Our whole range of thought and feeling ought not to be promiscuously made known. There is a degree of secrecy necessary in the order, social intercourse, and discipline of the family. There is secrecy needed in dealing with faults and sins. ”

“ The psychological effects of secrecy on those who are kept in ignorance are not difficult to analyze. They follow normal processes and may be thus stated: Secrecy breeds suspicion; suspicion, doubt; doubt, distrust; and distrust produces lack of frankness, which is closely akin to secrecy. ”

“ Keep a Secret.—Anything revealed in confidence should be kept secret. There is no greater breach of good manners and Christian faith, than to reveal that which has been placed in the secrecy of your own bosom. ”

“ Recommending secrecy where a dozen of people are acquainted with the circumstance to be concealed, is only putting the truth in masquerade, for the story will be circulated under twenty different shapes. ”

“ Every relationship between two individuals or two groups will be characterized by the ratio of secrecy that is involved in it. Even when one of the parties does not notice the secret factor, yet the attitude of the concealer, and consequently the whole relationship, will be modified by it. ”

“ It is true, there be some affairs which require extreme secrecy, which will hardly go beyond one or two persons besides the king. Neither are those counsels unprosperous; for, besides the secrecy, they commonly go on constantly in one spirit of direction without distraction ”

“ Another evil connected with secrecy, as maintained by the associations the character of which is now under consideration, is the profane use of sacred things in ceremonies, celebrations, and processions. ”

“ Indeed these Salts are endowed with far more noble Virtues than we mentioned in the precedent Discourse; but the high Ingratitude of Men of this Age, permit us not to discover the same. For if you communicate your Secrets to those Men, from whom you cannot require a promise of Secrecy ”

“ As for talkers and futile persons, they are commonly vain and credulous withal. For he that talketh what he knoweth, will also talk what he knoweth not. Therefore set it down, that an habit of secrecy, is both politic and moral. ”

“ Can there be any ques- tion of legislative import which freemen should not be acquainted with ? What are you to expect when stewards of your household refuse to give account of their stewardship? Secrecy is necessary to design and a masque to treachery; honesty shrinks not from the public eye. ”

“ For when things are once come to the execution, there is no secrecy, comparable to celerity; ”

“ In the latter case life rests upon a thousand presuppositions which the individual can never trace back to their origins, and verify; but which he must accept upon faith and belief. ”

“ If there be error, it lies with the deceiver, not the deceived. And you, my sons and disciples, banish from your faces and your breasts every expression and every thought unworthy of your honest companion, and your upright sect. For remember, if to abhor falsehood and vice be noble, to distrust truth and innocence is mean. ”

“ May God grant you the spirit of truth to speak that which is holy and right before the Lord and not what is calumnious and defamatory, the offspring of the spirit of falsehood and error. I am writing without words of flattery, to prevent you sowing the seeds of detraction and scandal among your neighbours, and from the desire that you may abstain from such behaviour and do penance for the offences you have committed. ”

“ And this I am moved to give forth and send to thee, that thou mayest be satisfied; and all things tried and made manifest in the sight of all men; and that all rash judgment, and false supposition, which lodgeth in the hearts of many, may be confounded and brought to nought; and let it be left off, to cry out deceivers, and heresy, &c. and causing any to suffer on suspicion thereupon; but bring all things to light, and true judgment; that what is proved to be the Truth may be owned and not persecuted any more; for we are willing to be made manifest to all men ”

“ He shall dwell on high; his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.
Prov. XII, 17. He that speaketh truth, sheweth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit.
18. There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.
19. The lip of truth shall be established forever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.
20. Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil: but to the counselors of peace is joy.
Job XXVII, 4. My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit. ”

“ I do not mean to diminish the blame of the injurious and malicious sin, of the selfish and deliberate falsity; yet it seems to me, that the shortest way to check the darker forms of deceit is to set watch more scrupulous against those which have mingled, unregarded and unchastised, with the current of our life. Do not let us lie at all. Do not think of one falsity as harmless, and another as slight, and another as unintended. ”

“ The grand foundation of your good character must be Industry, fidelity to your employers, and an inviolable attachment to truth, both in words and deeds. To utter a falsehood to the prejudice of others, argues malice and baseness—to lie in excuse of one’s self, guilt and cowardice;—in both cases it evinces a design to deceive, with a view to benefit one’s self by the deceit;—besides, a liar is always in fear of being detected, and if once found out, he sinks into contempt, and is deservedly divested of all credit—all confidence—and all society. ”

“ Error is easy, confession galling; and stepping down from the censor's seat to share the mortification of the pillory, is at all times a peculiarly painful reverse; hence, powerful indeed must be the conviction which impels a man who prided himself on his legal astuteness, to come boldly into this sacred confessional of truth and justice and plead for absolution from a stupendous mistake. ”

“ Whether unmasked by others, or by myself, is it not equally true that I have been playing false, and am now punished for it? What do the world care for your having returned to truth? You have offended by deceiving them, and that is an offence which your repentance will not extenuate. ”

“ He walks by the rules of righteousness and truth, and scorns and abhors the gains of injustice and fraud. He reckons that that cannot be a good bargain, nor a saving one, which is made with a lie, and that he who wrongs his neighbour, though ever so plausibly, will prove, in the end, to have done the greatest injury to himself. ”

“ Its institutions vary with its years, and mark its growing wisdom; and none more so than its modes of investigating truth, and ascertaining guilt or innocence. In its nonage, when man was yet a fallible being, and doubted the accuracy of his own intellect, appeals were made to heaven in dark and doubtful cases of atrocious accusation. ”

“ But the accumulation and complex nature of almost all modern systems of law puzzle even justice herself, and often induce decisions by which truth falls in the streets and equity goes backwards. In the first ages of mankind, suspicion, deceit, and guile seem to have had a very limited influence. ”