Enquire within upon everything by Robert Kemp Philp

160. Scandal--Live it down.

Should envious tongues some malice frame, To soil and tarnish your good name, Live it down! Grow not disheartened; 'tis the lot Of all men, whether good or not: Live it down! *Him not in answer, but be calm; For silence yields a rapid balm: Live it down! Go not among your friends and say, Evil hath fallen on my way: Live it down! Far better thus yourself alone To suffer, than with friends bemoan The trouble that is all your own: Live it down! What though men _evil_ call your _good!_ So CHRIST Himself, misunderstood, Was nailed unto a cross of wood! And now shall you for lesser pain, Your inmost soul for ever stain, By rendering evil back again? Live it down!