Tell all the Truth but tell it slant — Circuit-Rider

Not all the truth should be told obliquely. What kind of truth has its success in Circuit? This poem asks us to find out that specific truth.

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant－1
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise

As Lightning to the Children eased 5
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind－
(F.1263/J.1129)
[1] Truth, slant:: (circuit-riders) tell all the truth of God but with distortion.
[2] Circuit:: a regular journey from place to place for certain events; a hint on circuit-rider, an itinerant preacher (OED 10). lies:: cheats.
[3] bright:: sparkling with wit, lively.
[3] infirm:: weak, not firm, in one's belief.
[4, 5] superb surprise, As Lightning:: the way circuit-riders preach.
[6] kind:: affectionate, fond.
[7] dazzle:: to bewilder or surprise with brilliancy or showiness.
[8] blind:: blind, lost in the preach by circuit-riders.

All the country is divided into districts, each of which has its circuit-rider, whose duty consists in visiting all the churches, congregations, assemblies and families of his district, and keeping up the spirit of fanaticism. ─ America and the Americans (1849)

The "circuit riders" pursue a plan, well adapted to increase their numbers, without adding to the amount of piety. The fact is, that almost every "circuit rider" is a methodist recruiting officer. ─ The Christian Advocate, Volume IX (1831)

Then come revivals, followed by convulsion, madness; — sermons of itinerant preachers, who insult the settled ministers, and describe the torments of Hell in such a way as to subject their hearers to fits of madness. The Methodist Whitefield came twice to America to revive this enthusiasm, bordering on delirium. ─ The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art (1853)