Who, say they, doth hear? And, Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off, saith David again, intimating the common manner of this practice. Calumny is like the plague, that walketh in darkness 1o. Hence appositely are the practisers thereof termed whisperers and backbiters: their heart suffers them not openly to avow, their conscience tells them they cannot fairly defend their practice. Again,

Seventhly, The consequent of this practice is commonly shameful disgrace, with an obligation to retract, and render satisfaction; for seldom doth calumny pass long without being detected and confuted'. He that walketh uprightly, walketh surely; but he that perverteth his ways shall be known: and, The lip of truth shall be established for ever; but a lying lip is but for a moment2, saith the great observer of things. And when the slander is disclosed, the slanderer is obliged to excuse (that is, to palliate one lie with another, if he can do it), or forced to recant, with much disgrace and extreme displeasure to himself; he is also many times constrained, with his loss and pain, to repair the mischief he hath done.

Eighthly, To this in likelihood the concernments of men, and the powers which guard justice, will forcibly bring him and certainly his conscience will bind him thereto; God will indispensably exact it from him. He can never have any sound quiet in his mind, he can never expect pardon from Heaven, without acknowledging his fault, repairing the wrong he hath done, restoring that good name of which he dispossessed his neighbour: for in this no less than in other cases conscience cannot be satisfied, remission will not be granted, except due 10 Ps. xci. 6.

9 Ps. lix. 7; ci. 5.

1 Ps. lxiii. 11.—"The mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped."

2 Prov. x. 9.

* Prov. xii. 19; (Prov. xxvi. 26.)—" Refrain your tongue from backbiting; for there is no word so secret that shall go for nought; and the mouth that slandereth, slayeth the soul."-Wisd. i. 11. delator habet quod dedit exitium.- Vide Tac. An. i. p. 45.

Et

restitution be performed: and of all restitutions this surely is the most difficult, most laborious, and most troublesome. It is nowise so hard to restore goods stolen or extorted, as to recover a good opinion lost, to wipe off aspersions cast on a man's name, to cure a wounded reputation: the most earnest and diligent endeavour can hardly ever effect this, or spread the plaster so far as the sore hath reached. The slanderer therefore doth engage himself into great straits, incurring an obligation to repair an almost irreparable mischief.

Ninthly, This practice doth also certainly revenge itself, imposing on its actor a perfect retaliation; a tooth for a tooth; an irrecoverable infamy to himself, for the infamy he causeth to others. Who will regard his fame, who will be concerned to excuse his faults, who so outrageously abuseth the reputation of others? He suffereth justly, he is paid in his own coin, will any man think, who doth hear him reproached *.

Tenthly, In fine, the slanderer (if he doth not by serious and sore repentance retract his practice) doth banish himself from heaven and happiness, doth expose himself to endless miseries and sorrows. For if none that maketh a lie shall enter into the heavenly city; if without those mansions of joy and bliss every one must eternally abide that loveth or maketh a lie; if, nãoɩ tois fevdéo, to all liars their portion is assigned in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; then assuredly

"He that diligently seeketh good, procureth favour; but he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him."-Prov. xi. 27; xxvi. 27. It was the punishment of slanderers in the Law:"Then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother."-Deut. xix. 19. "A false witness shall not be unpunished; and he that speaketh lies shall not escape."-Prov. xix. 5. "God shall destroy thee for ever, thou false tongue.”—Ps. lii. 4, 5. "Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord; but they that deal truly are his delight.”—Prov. xii. 22.

5 Rev. xxi. 27; xxii. 15; xxi. 8. It is one of those things which God especially doth abominate.-Prov. vi. 19; xii. 22. "A false witness shall perish."-Prov. xxi. 28.

the capital liar, the slanderer (who lieth most injuriously and mischievously), shall be far excluded from felicity, and thrust down into the depth of that miserable place. If, as St. Paul saith, no railer, or evil speaker, shall inherit the kingdom of God; how far thence shall they be removed, who without any truth or justice do speak ill of and reproach their neighbour? If for every ȧpyòv pnua, idle, or vain word we must render a strict account"; how much more shall we be severely reckoned with for this sort of words, so empty of truth and void of equity; words that are not only negatively vain, or useless, but positively vain, as false, and spoken to bad purpose? If slander perhaps here may evade detection, or escape deserved punishment; yet infallibly hereafter, at the dreadful day, it shall be disclosed, irreversibly condemned, inevitably persecuted with condign reward of utter shame and sorrow.

Is not he, then, he who, out of malignity, or vanity, to serve any design, or soothe any humour in himself or others, doth by committing this sin involve himself into all these great evils, both here and hereafter, a most desperate and deplorable fool?

Having thus described the nature of this sin, and declared the folly thereof, we need, I suppose, to say no more for dissuading it; especially to persons of a generous and honest mind, who cannot but scorn to debase and defile themselves by so mean and vile a practice; or to those who seriously do profess Christianity, that is, the religion which peculiarly above all others prescribeth constant truth, strictest justice, and highest charity.

I shall only add, that since our faculty of speech (wherein we do excel all other creatures) was given us, as in the first place to praise and glorify our Maker, so in the next to benefit and help our neighbour; as an instrument of mutual succour and delectation, of friendly commerce and pleasant converse together: for instructing and advising, comforting and cheering one another;

61 Cor. vi. 10; v. 11.

7

Matt. xii. 36.

it is an unnatural perverting, and an irrational abuse thereof, to employ it to the damage, disgrace, vexation, or wrong in any kind, of our brother. Better indeed had we been as brutes without its use, than we are, if so worse than brutishly we abuse it.

Finally, All these things being considered, we may, I think, reasonably conclude it most evidently true, that he which uttereth slander is a fool.

SERMON VI.

AGAINST RASH CENSURING AND JUDGING.

MATT. vii. 1.

"Judge not."

THESE words, being part of our Saviour's most divine Sermon upon the Mount, contain a very short precept, but of vast use and consequence; the observance whereof would much conduce to the good of the world, and to the private quiet of each man; it interdicting a practice, which commonly produceth very mischievous and troublesome effects; a practice never rare among men, but now very rife; when, with the general causes, which ever did and ever will in some measure dispose men thereto, some special ones do concur, that powerfully incline to it.

There are innate to men an unjust pride, emboldening them to take upon them beyond what belongeth to them, or doth become them; an excessive self-love, prompting them, as to flatter themselves in their own conceit, so to undervalue others, and from vilifying their neighbours, to seek commendation to themselves; an envious malignity, which ever lusteth to be pampered with finding or making faults; many corrupt affections, springing from fleshly nature, which draw or drive men to this practice; so that in all ages it hath been very common, and never any profession hath been so much invaded as that of the judge.

H