The Ninth Commandment
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
The former commandment provided for the security of every man's property, that they may suffer no wrong nor detriment in their goods: this which I have now read to you, provides for the preservation of their good name, which is a much dearer possession: for, a good name, says the Wise Man (Proverbs 22:1), is rather to be chosen than great riches. And therefore it ought to be kept by us, although not delicately and nicely; yet tenderly, and with respect. Whoever scorns fame, will soon prostitute virtue; and those who care not what others say, will shortly arrive to that impudence of sinning, as not to care what they themselves do. Indeed a good name is so excellent a blessing, that there is but one thing to be preferred before it, and that is a good conscience; when these two stand in competition, credit must give place to duty; and in this case, it is far better to lose our repute with men, than our acceptance and reward with God. It oftentimes so happens, through the ignorance and general corruption of mankind, that what is honest, and pure, and just, are not yet of good report among them. Piety is but affectation; strictness of life a peevish hypocrisy; the cross a scandal; Christ himself a wine-bibber, a friend of Publicans and Sinners, his doctrine heresy; and his miracles impostures: and if you happen upon any such perverse and harsh censurers, as too many such there are in all ages, who think it strange, as the Apostle speaks, that you run not with them into the same excess of riot; speaking evil of you; seek not by any base and sinful compliance to redeem their good opinion; but rather glory in the testimony of their railing, and account all their reviling speeches to be but so many votes for your blessedness. (Matthew 5:11) Blessed are you when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Never covet a good name by bad actions: for what will all the concurring applause of the whole world signify to you, if yet your conscience condemn you louder than they can extol you? This is but to have music at the door, when all the while there is chiding and brawling within. It is far better that others should wound your credit, than you your conscience. That is a wound which their tongues can never lick whole again. All the reputation your popular sinning can bring you, will be but like hanging bells at a horse's ears, when all the while his back is galled with his burden. Whoever will be a Christian, must resolve to go through bad report, as well as good; he should desire the one, but not anxiously refuse the other. And if any will bespatter him, let him be careful that it be only with their own dirt, and not with his; with their own malice, and not his miscarriages. And while he thus keeps his conscience clear, he may be assured that his credit shall be cleared up at that day, when all their unjust reproaches shall but add a crown and diadem of glory to his head.
But where a good name is consistent with a good conscience, we ought to prize and value it as one of the choicest of God's blessings in this world, and to use all lawful means to preserve it: for,
First, this will render a man more serviceable to God; and the fitter instrument to promote his honor and glory in the world. And therefore the Wise Man (Ecclesiastes 7:1) compares a good name to precious ointment; and in the comparison gives it the preference; for as precious ointment diffuses its fragrance through the room where it is poured forth, and affects all that are in it with its delightful scent; so do men's gifts, when they are perfumed with a good name, delight and attract others, and by a sweet and powerful charm allure them to imitate and practice those virtues which they see so recommendable. And therefore we find it the Apostle's care (2 Corinthians 6:3), to give no offense in any thing, that the ministry might not be blamed. Though it be our great folly to estimate men's counsels by their own practice; since a diseased physician may prescribe a wholesome medicine; yet so it comes to pass, whether through the curse of God, or the prejudice of men, that those who have lost their credit, have, together with it, lost all opportunities and advantages of doing good in the world: let their parts be never so flourishing, and their gifts never so eminent, yet if once this dead fly be gotten into this box of ointment, it will corrupt it, and render it unsavory to all. And the Devil has no such policy to make the gifts of those whom he fears might shake his kingdom unuseful, as either to tempt them to the commission of some infamous and scandalous sin; or to tempt others falsely to calumniate, and report such profligate crimes concerning them: for then he knows such a one is disarmed, and made unserviceable; and if he can but once blast the leaves, the fruit will seldom come to any maturity and perfection. And therefore as you desire to be serviceable to God in promoting his glory; and to the world, in promoting their good and benefit; which is the great end of our being, and the only thing worth living for; so endeavor by all wise and honest means, to keep up your good name. Be good, and appear to be so. Let your light so shine before men, that they seeing your good works, may glorify your Father which is in Heaven (Matthew 5:16).
Secondly, a good name, as it gives us advantage of doing good to others, so it lays an obligation upon us of being good ourselves: for if the world be so kindly mistaken, as to report well of us without any desert, yet this cannot but work upon us, if we have any ingenuity, and engage us to deserve it; so happily turn that which was praise into motive. Or if they give us but our due commendation, and our virtue justly challenges this fame; yet still it will engage us to do things worthy of ourselves, and worthy that common estimate that men put upon us, that we may not fall short of what we have been, or what they still repute us to be. This is a laudable ambition, which seeks by virtue to maintain that credit, which by virtue we have acquired. And doubtless when other arguments have been baffled by a temptation, this has been a sheet anchor to the soul, and has often held it in the greatest storms, when the wind and waves have beat most furiously against it. Should I consent to this sin, what a blot and dishonor should I get to myself! How should I be able to look good men in the face again! Would not this sin brand me for a hypocrite in their esteem? Would they ever look upon me, or receive me with affection after this fall? Should I not carry the disgrace, and scar of this wound visibly upon me to my grave? No, one sin shall never ruin all the comfort, and all the repute of so many years' piety: and I who have been so long noted and exemplary for holiness, will not by this one act make myself a scorn to the wicked, and a shame to the godly; and by those considerations, he rejects a temptation, that perhaps ran down all other considerations before it. But now, a man of a lost and desperate credit, sins impudently, without any such restraint upon him: he thinks it is but in vain for him to abstain from any wickedness; for whether he does, or not, people will still believe him guilty: his credit is so disfigured, and his name so infamous, that he thinks he cannot be worse than he is already reported; and so rubs his forehead, and outfaces censure, and with a brazen impudence cares not how wicked he is, nor how many knew him to be so.
Thus you have seen how cautious we ought to be in maintaining our own good name.
But this command requires us also to preserve the repute, and good name of others, as well as our own. And it forbids, first, the sin of lying. Secondly, detraction and slander. Thirdly, base soothing, and unworthy flattery.
First, this command prohibits lying. A sin, that comprehends under it all other violations of this precept: for slander and flattery are both of them lies, different only in manner and circumstance.
And as it is a sin large and comprehensive in its nature; so it is general and universal in its practice: we may well complain with the holy prophet, that truth is perished from the earth.
Here I shall first show you what a lie is: and then the heinousness and aggravation of this common sin.
First, a lie, according to Saint Augustine's definition of it, is a voluntary speaking of an untruth, with an intent to deceive. And therefore in a lie there must be these three ingredients.
- First, there must be the speaking of an untruth. - Secondly, it must be known to us to be an untruth, and a falsehood. And, - Thirdly, it must be with a will and intent to deceive him to whom we speak it, and to lead him into error. And, therefore,
First, parables, and figurative speeches are no lies: for neither as to the drift and scope of them, are they falsehoods; nor yet are they spoken with an intent to deceive, but rather to instruct the hearers; and so have neither the matter, nor the form of a lie. The Scripture abounds with these tropical expressions, which, although in the proper signification of the words, they cannot be verified of the things to which they are applied; yet do very fully agree to them in their figurative and transferred sense: thus Jotham's parable of trees choosing them a king, was aptly accommodated to that sense which he meant, and which those that heard him, well enough understood. And thus our Savior Christ calls himself a door; signifying by that metaphor, that by him alone we must enter into heaven and eternal life: a vine; signifying, that without our incision into him, and spiritual union to him, whereby we derive grace from his plenitude and fullness of grace, as the branches do sap and juice from the stock, we shall be cast out as withered and fruitless branches, fit for nothing but to be burned. Innumerable other metaphors are everywhere dispersed up and down in the Scriptures. And besides metaphors, the Scripture uses hyperboles. I shall only instance in that famous one (John 21, last verse): "Many other things Jesus did; which if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." This high expression the evangelist uses only to exaggerate the number of the miracles and remarkable passages of our Savior's life; and to signify to us, that he did very many other things, which are not upon record.
And sometimes the Scripture uses ironical taunts. Thus in that bitter sarcasm of Elijah to the priests of Baal (1 Kings 18:27), he mocked them, and said, "Cry aloud; for he is a God." Which kinds of ironical speeches are so far from being intended to create error in the minds of men, or to confirm them in it, that they are spoken on purpose to convince them of their errors, and to make them appear to be shameful and ridiculous; and therefore are no lies.
But here we must take this caution; that in using such figurative speeches, we ought so to circumstantiate them, that the hearers may easily perceive the drift and scope of our discourses; or at least may be assured that we intend some other meaning by them, than what the words do properly, and in themselves bear. Otherwise, though it may not be a lie in us, yet it may be an occasion of error and mistake in them.
Secondly, every falsehood is not a lie; for though it has the matter, yet it may want the form and complement to make it such: for many times men do speak and report that which is not true, which yet they themselves do believe to be true; and so are rather deceived, than deceivers; and perhaps are far from any intention of imposing upon the credulity of others. Such a one is not so much to be accused of lying, as of folly and rashness, in reporting that for truth, the certainty of which is not clear and evident to him.
Thirdly, a man may speak that which is true, and yet be a liar in so doing: as in these two cases:
1. When we report that to be a truth, which, although it be so, yet we believe it to be a falsehood, and report it with an intent to deceive those that hear us: or,
2. When we report the figurative words of another, leaving out those circumstances which might make them appear to be figurative. And therefore (Matthew 26:60), they are called false witnesses, which came in against Christ, and testified, that he said, he was able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days. In which, though there were many falsifications of the words of our Savior; yet had they reported the very words that he spoke, they had nevertheless been false witnesses; because by their testimony they wrested them to another sense than what Christ intended by them; for certainly he is a liar, who reports my words with a purpose to beget a wrong construction of them, as much as he who reports me to have spoken what I never said.
Fourthly, it is no lie to conceal part of the truth, when it is not expedient or necessary to be known. Thus (1 Samuel 16:2), God himself instructs Samuel, when he sent him to anoint David king over Israel, that he should answer, he came to sacrifice to the Lord; which was truth, and one end of his going into Bethlehem, though he had also another; which he prudently concealed.
Fifthly, a man may act contrary to what he before said, if the circumstances of the thing be altered, without being guilty of lying. We have frequent example of this in the Scripture. Thus (Genesis 19:2), the angels tell Lot, that they would not come into his house; but would abide in the street all night; yet upon his importunity and earnest entreaties, they went in with him. And thus Saint Peter, with some heat and vehemency of his humility, refused that Christ should wash his feet (John 13:3): "You shall never wash my feet:" but when he was instructed in the significance of this condescension of our Savior, not only permits, but entreats him to do it. So likewise in all things of such a nature, we may lawfully change our words, upon the change of our minds; and upon the inducement of some circumstances that were not known or considered by us, we may without the imputation of lying, do otherwise than we before resolved and declared: but this must be heedfully cautioned:
First, that the actions be not such as we are bound to perform by divine precept. Nor,
Secondly, such as we have bound ourselves to by the voluntary obligation of a vow made to God. Nor,
Thirdly, such as our not doing them, or doing otherwise than we have promised, should be hurtful or prejudicial to others: for if I have promised another that which is beneficial to him, however I may change my opinion; yet I must not change my purpose, but unless he will release me, or has forfeited the benefit of my promise, by failing in the conditions of it, I stand engaged to perform what I have plighted to him.
And thus you see what a lie is, and what is not a lie: the sum of all I shall contract into this description of it — a lie is a falsehood, either real, or supposed so by us, spoken purposely, and with an intention to deceive another. And therefore neither falsehoods, nor thought to be so, nor figurative speeches, nor truth partly concealed, nor the change of our mind and purposes, upon the changing and alteration of circumstances, can be chargeable with that foul and scandalous sin of lying.
Now lies are usually distinguished into three kinds: the jocular, officious, and pernicious lie.
First, there is a jocular lie; a lie framed to excite mirth and laughter, and deceive the hearer, only to please and divert him. This, though it may seem very harmless, to deceive men into mirth and recreation; yet truth is such an awful and severe thing, that it ought not to be contradicted; no, not in jest: and God reckons it up as a sin, against the Israelites (Hosea 7:3), that they made the king and princes glad, or merry, with their lies.
Secondly, there is an officious lie; which is told for another's benefit and advantage; and seems to make an abundant compensation for its falsehood, by its use and profit: but yet neither can this excuse it from being a sin; for since a lie is intrinsically evil in itself, let the advantage that accrues by it, be never so great, we ought not to shelter either ourselves, or others under that rotten refuge. That stated maxim holds universally true in all cases, We ought not to do evil, that good may come thereof. And therefore, although your own life, or your neighbor's depends upon it; indeed, put the case it were not only to save his life, but to save his soul, could you by this means most eminently advance the glory of God, or the general good and welfare of the church; yet you ought not to tell the least lie to promote these great and blessed ends. This the Apostle takes for granted (Romans 3:7). Which place, because it may seem at first glance, somewhat obscure, I shall briefly expound to you. If the truth of God has more abounded through my lie to his glory, why yet am I also judged as a sinner? The words, as they lie, seem to be favorable to such a beneficial lie: but if we consider the scope and drift of them, we shall see that they clearly condemn it. For the Apostle had in the foregoing verses taught, that the unrighteousness and sins of men did occasionally conduce to the manifestation of the justice and veracity of God, in fulfilling his threatenings upon them; against this position, he raises an objection: Verse 5 — If the unrighteousness of men commend, and illustrate the righteousness of God; how then can God be just, in taking vengeance on those sins by which he is glorified? To this the Apostle answers two ways.
First, he abhors the consequence (Verse 6): God forbid, that we should think him unjust, because he punishes those sins, which accidentally serve for the manifestation of his glory. For if God were unjust, how then should he judge the world?
Secondly, he answers by putting a like case, and giving a like instance (verse 7): If the truth of God has more abounded through my lie, why yet am I judged as a sinner? As if he should say: by the like reason, as you infer, that it would be unrighteous in God to punish those, who are the occasion of so much glory to him through their sins; by the like I might infer, that if by my lie I might glorify God, I were not to be accounted a sinner for lying. But this, says he (verse 8), is a most wicked consequence, and such as would justify the slanders of those, who report that we affirm it lawful, to do evil that good may come, whose damnation is just: that is, it is just with God to damn those, who slander us with such a gross untruth; and it is just with God to damn those, who hold so wicked and destructive a doctrine. So that you see nothing could be more expressly spoken against these officious lies, than what the Apostle here produces in this place. He asserts in the general, that we must not do evil that good may come thereof; and he instances in particular, that we must not lie, although the glory of God may be promoted by it.
Thirdly, there is a malicious and pernicious lie, a lie devised on purpose for the hurt and damage of my neighbor; which is the worst, and the most heinous sort of all, and has nothing that might excuse or extenuate it. It shows a heart brim-full of the bitterness of malice, when this passion works out at the mouth in slanderous reports, and false accusations. All lies are in themselves sinful; but this the vilest, and most abominable of all.
Now for the aggravations of this sin, consider:
First, it is a sin that makes you most like the Devil. The Devil is a spirit, and therefore gross carnal sins cannot correspond to his nature: his sins are more refined, and intellectual; such as are pride, and malice, deceit, and falsehood. (John 8:44) He is a liar, and the father of it. And the more of malice goes into the composition of any lie, the more nearly it resembles him. This is the firstborn of the Devil; the beginning of his strength; for by lies he prevailed over wretched man; and therefore is his darling and beloved sin, and the greatest instrument of promoting his kingdom. It is that which, in his own mouth, ruined all mankind in the gross; when he falsely suggested to our first parents, that they should be as gods, and that which he still puts into the hearts and mouths of others, to ruin and destroy their souls, and the souls of others (Acts 5:3). Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, says our Savior: and certainly when we speak a lie, we repeat only what he prompts and dictates to us. You never lie, but you speak aloud what the Devil whispered softly to you. The Old Serpent lies folded round in your heart, and we may hear him hissing in your voice: and therefore when God summoned all his heavenly attendance about him; and demanded who would persuade Ahab to go up, and fall at Ramoth-Gilead, an evil spirit, that had crowded in among them, steps forth, and undertakes the office, as his most natural employment, and that wherein he most of all delighted (1 Kings 22:22). I will go forth, and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. Every lie you tell, consider that the Devil sits upon your tongue, breathes falsehood into your heart, and forms the words and accents into deceit.
Secondly, consider, that it is a sin most contrary to the nature of God, who is truth itself; a sin that he hates and abominates. (Proverbs 6:17) These six things does the Lord hate; indeed, seven are an abomination to him; a proud look, a lying tongue, etc. And (Proverbs 12:22) lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. And therefore we have so many express commands given us against this sin. (Leviticus 19:11) You shall not deal falsely, nor lie one to another. (Colossians 3:9) Lie not one to another. (Ephesians 4:25) Therefore putting away lying, speak every man truth to his neighbor.
Thirdly, consider, that it is a sin that gives in a fearful evidence against us, that we belong to the Devil, and are his children: for he is the father of lies, and of liars: God's children will imitate their heavenly Father in his truth and veracity. And it is a very observable place (Isaiah 63:8): Surely, says God, they are my people, children that will not lie; so he was their Savior.
Fourthly, consider, how dreadfully God has threatened it with eternal death; scarce any one sin more expressly and particularly. (Revelation 21:27) Without, even in outer darkness, are dogs, and murderers, and idolaters, and whatever loves, or makes a lie.
Fifthly, a lie shows a most degenerate and cowardly fear of men, and a most daring contempt of the great God. Whoever lies, does it out of a base and sordid fear, lest some evil and inconvenience should come to him by declaring the truth. And this Montaigne, in his Essays, gives as the reason why the imputation of lying is the most reproachful ignominy that one man can lay upon another; and that which most passionately moves them to revenge; because, says he, to say a man lies, is to say, that he is audacious towards God, and a coward towards men.
Sixthly, mankind generally accounts it the most infamous and reproachful sin of all others: a liar loses all credit and reputation among men; and he who has made himself scandalous by lying, is not believed when he speaks truth. Indeed, it is so odious and foul a sin, that we find it generally esteemed worse than any other sin; and the avoiding of this, thought a good excuse for the commission of others: for when men are moved with some violent passion, they oftentimes resolve to do such things, which, when their passion is allayed, they must look upon as grievous sins; yet rather than be false to their word, and so censured for lying, they will venture to perpetrate. Thus Herod, for his oath's sake, beheaded John the Baptist. And the common excuse for rash and unwarrantable actions, is, I said I would do thus, or thus; and therefore I thought myself bound in honor to do it.
Seventhly, it is a sin that God will detect, and exposes those who are guilty of it, to shame and contempt. Proverbs 12:19: Lying lips are but for a moment. And when they are found out, as usually they are, by their own forgetfulness, and the interfering of their own speeches, how shameful will their sin be to them? And the only reward they shall have for it, is, that those who have accustomed themselves to lying, shall not be believed when they speak truth.
Thus much concerning that heinous and odious sin of lying.
There remains two other violations of this commandment: the one is, by slander and detraction; the other, by base flattery and soothing: and both these may respect either ourselves, or others. I shall first speak of that common sin of slander and detraction; a sin that is reigning and triumphant in this our age: and if I should likewise say in this place, I think I should not myself be guilty of it by that censure. Indeed slander and detraction seem somewhat to differ: for slander properly is a false imputation of vice; but detraction is a causeless, diminishing report of virtue. The one traduces us to be what indeed we are not; the other lessens what we really are; and both are highly injurious to our good name and reputation, the best and dearest of all our earthly possessions.
When a man's life and actions are so blameless and exemplary, that even malice itself is ashamed to vent its venom by base slanders, lest it should appear to be malice, and the reproach should light rather upon the reporters, than him whom they seek to defame; then it betakes itself to those little sly arts of nibbling at the edges of a man's credit, and clipping away the borders of his good name, that it may not pass so current in the world as before. Thus, when any are so just as to give others their due commendation either for learning, or wisdom, or piety, or any other perfection, either of grace, or of nature, you shall have those who lie in wait to cut off other men's esteem, if they see it so strongly fortified by the conspicuousness of it, and the general vote of the world, that they dare not attack the whole, then they lurkingly assault part of it; and what they cannot altogether deny, they will endeavor to diminish: 'Tis true, such a man is, as you say, learned and knowing; but withal, so knowing, as to know that too. He is wise, but his wisdom is rather politic, than generous; and all his designs are biased with self-ends. He is charitable; but his charity seems too indiscreet; or if such — if you did not proclaim his good works, he himself would. He is pious and devout indeed, poor man, after his way, and according to his knowledge. Thus by these blind hints, they endeavor either to find, or to make a flaw in another man's repute; well knowing that a cracked name, like a cracked bell, will not sound half so clear and loud in the ears of the world, as else it might.
Thus you see what slanders and detractions are. Now,
First, a man may be a self-slanderer, and a self-detracter; and such are those who traduce and defame themselves, and either assume to themselves those wickednesses they have not committed, or blameably conceal those gifts and excellencies they are endowed with, when they are called to discover them for the glory of God, and the public good. Some slander themselves out of hope of reward; when they suppose the crimes they boast of, may be accepted as services, by others. Thus, when Saul had slain himself, an Amalekite falsely reports to David that he had slain him, hoping to obtain a reward from him for dispatching his enemy. Sometimes men impiously boast of those sins which they never did, they never durst commit, merely out of a braving humor of vainglory, and that among their debauched companions they might gain the reputation of valiant and daring sinners. Others falsely accuse themselves of those sins of which they were never guilty, out of a despairing and dejected spirit. Thus many a poor soul that has labored under severe convictions, begins first to doubt, and then to conclude that he has certainly committed the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost; and in extreme anguish and horror cries Guilty, and confesses the indictment that is falsely drawn up against him by the calumny of the Devil, and his own black fears and melancholy. Sometimes men detract from themselves out of a lying and dissembled humility; making this kind of detraction only a bait for commendation; as knowing the ball will rebound back the farther to them, the harder they strike it from them. This is usually an artifice of proud and arrogant persons; and those who cannot endure to be contradicted in anything else, would be very loath you should yield to them in this. And lastly, others detract from themselves out of a too bashful modesty, or to avoid some troublesome and unpleasing employments which they are called to. Thus we find Moses (Exodus 4:10) making many excuses, that he was not eloquent, but of slow tongue, and a slow speech; and all because he was loath to undertake that difficult and dangerous charge of bringing out the children of Israel from the bondage of Egypt. All these kinds of self-slander and detraction are evil, and some of them most vile and abominable.
Secondly, there is a slandering of, and detracting from another, wronging him unjustly in his fame and reputation; which we ought tenderly to preserve and cherish. God and nature have entrusted us mutually with each other's good name. Your brother's credit is put as a precious depositum into your hands; and if you wickedly lavish it out, by spreading false rumors of him, or carelessly keep it, by suffering others to do so, when it is in your power to justify him, know assuredly that it will be strictly required of you: for in this respect every man is his brother's keeper.
Now this slandering of others, may be either in judicial process, or else in common and ordinary converse.
First, in judicial process; and then it is truly and properly false witnessing: when you rise up against your brother in judgment, and attest that which you know to be false and forged, or which you are not most infallibly assured to be true: and this sin is the more heinous and dreadful, upon the account of two aggravating circumstances that attend it.
First, since usually all actions in law and judgment concern either the person, or the estate of your brother, by a false witness you not only wrong him in his name and reputation, but in one of these, and so are not only a slanderer, but a thief or murderer. Proverbs 11:9: "An hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor." And by so much the more odious is your crime, in that you pervert the law, which was intended to be a fence and safeguard to every man's property, and turn it against itself, making it the instrument of your injustice and cruelty. The Psalmist (Psalm 52:2) compares Doeg's malicious tongue to a sharp razor; and certainly when you give a false testimony against your brother, your tongue is a sharp razor, and it not only wounds his credit, but cuts his throat.
Secondly, since usually all judicial proceedings exact from the witnesses a tremendous oath solemnly taken by the name of the great God of heaven; to give in a false testimony, is not only to be guilty of slander, but of perjury too. Indeed, and let me add one thing more to make it a most accumulated wickedness; such a false testimony is not only slander and perjury; but it is blasphemy too: for what else is it but to bring the most holy God, who is eternal truth, to confirm a falsehood, and a lie? What can be a higher affront to his most sacred majesty than this? For a sworn witness is therefore accepted, because he brings God in to be witness too. And will you not tremble, O wretch, to cite God to appear a witness to that, which a thousand witnesses within you (I mean your own conscience) do all depose to be false and forged; and so to transfer your injustice, and plunder, and bloody murder upon him, and shelter them all under the shadow of his veracity and faithfulness?
You see then how horrid an impiety this is. And yet how common, not only those who by this wicked means suffer wrong, but others, who are conversant in such judiciary trials, do too truly report. May it please God to put it into the hearts of our rulers to enact more severe and rigorous laws against those who are found guilty of it. It is sad to think, that whereas a thief shall be adjudged to death for stealing some petty inconsiderable matter, and perhaps too for the relief of his pressing necessities; yet two villains that have conspired together, by false accusations, and perjured testimonies, to take away a man's whole estate, or possibly his life, should for these far greater crimes, be sentenced to so easy a punishment, that only shame and reproach make up the severest part of it. Certainly, methinks, it were but just that the least they should suffer, should be a retaliation of their intended mischiefs; and that the same they designed against their brother, should be inflicted upon themselves, whether it be loss of life, or loss of goods and estate. It is but all equity that the conspirators and artificers of mischief, should perish by their own craft. And if this rigor and wholesome severity were but once used, we should not have so many oaths set out to hire, nor would any make it a trade to be a witness; but innocency would be secured under the protection of the laws, and the laws themselves be innocent of the ruin of many hundreds, who by this means fall into the snares of ungodly men. Of this one thing I am sure, that God himself thought it a most equitable law, when he thus provided for the safety of his people Israel (Deuteronomy 19:18-20): "If the witness be a false witness, and testify falsely against his brother, then shall you do to him as he had thought to do to his brother: so shall you put away the evil from among you; and those who remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you."
Secondly, there is a slandering of others in our common and ordinary conversation. And this is done two ways; either,
First, openly and avowedly, in their presence, and to their faces. And that is also two-fold.
Either by reviling and railing speeches. And thus Shimei barked at David (2 Samuel 16:7): "Come out, you bloody man, and you man of Belial." And I wish that our streets and houses did not, to their great disgrace and reproach, echo with such clamors; and that too many did not rake together all the dirty expressions their wit and malice will serve them to invent, only to throw into one another's faces. A sin, which as it is sordid and base in itself, so it chiefly reigns among those who are of a mean condition. But wherever it be found, it is a disparagement to human nature, a sin against civil society, and argues men guilty of much folly and brutishness; and I am sure, is a transgression of that express command of the Apostle (Ephesians 4:31-32): "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil-speaking, be put away from you, with all malice; and be kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you."
But then there is another way of open, avowed slander, and that is by bitter taunts, and sarcastical scoffs. And this is usually an applauded sin among the more refined sort of men, who take a pride and glory in exposing others, and making them ridiculous; thinking their own wit never looks so beautiful, as when it is dyed in others' blushes. But this is a most scurrilous, and offensive way, wherein certainly he has the most advantage, not who has most wit, but that has least modesty. These kind of tauntings, are sometimes such as the Apostle calls cruel mockings; and reckons them up as one part of those persecutions the primitive Christians endured (Hebrews 11:36): "Others had trial of cruel mockings."
As Nero, for his barbarous sport, wrapped up the Christians in beast skins; and then set dogs to worry them: so these disguise their brethren into false and antic shapes; and then fall upon them, and bait them.
Secondly, There is a more secret and sly conveyance of slander; and that is, by back-biting, whispering, and carrying up and down of tales, like those busy tongues (Jeremiah 20:10) that would gladly find, or make themselves some employment; saying, Report, and we will report: And so a false and slanderous rumor shall, like the River Nile, spread over the whole land, and yet the head of it be never known; it shall pass on to the indelible blot and infamy of your neighbor, and the first author of it lie hid, and concealed in the crowd, as some fishes will in the mud, which they themselves have stirred. Against this sort of men, Solomon, in his Book of Proverbs, is very severe; and there is no one wickedness, which that excellent compendium of wisdom and morality, does more inveigh against, than this of whispering about another man's disgrace (Proverbs 16:8). The words of a tale-bearer are as wounds, they go down into the inmost parts of the belly, And this he repeats again (Proverbs 26:22) intimating to us, that the wound such a tongue makes, is deep, but yet hid and secret, and therefore the more incurable. And (Proverbs 16:28), a whisperer separates chief friends. He is as it were the Devil's truchman, and interpreter between them both; and goes to one, and buzzes in his ear what such an one said of him, although perhaps it be altogether false; and when he has by this means got some angry and choleric speeches from him, goes and reports them back to the other; and so by his wicked breath blows up the coals of strife and dissension between them. And therefore the wise man tells us (Proverbs 26:20), Where no wood is, the fire goes out; so where there is no tale-bearer, the strife ceases. The Apostle cautions the Corinthians against this sin (2 Corinthians 12:20), I fear, lest when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, lest there be among you debates, envyings, strifes, back-bitings, whisperings, tumults; and he reckons it up among the black catalog of those crimes, for the which God gave up the heathen to a reprobate mind, to do things which are not convenient; being filled with all [reconstructed: unrighteousness], full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, back-biters, spiteful, inventors of evil things (Romans 1:29-30). Now one of the chief artifices of this sort of men, is to calumniate strenuously, according to that old maxim of the Devil; Calumniare fortiter, & aliquid adhoerebit, Slander stoutly, and somewhat will stick behind: For though the wound may possibly be healed, yet the scar will still remain, and be a blemish to a man's reputation as long as he lives.
But then again there is another kind of slander and detraction; and that is, when a man divulges those imperfections and faults, which are truly in his neighbor, without being called, or necessitated to do it: For sometimes truth itself may be a slander, when it is spoken with an evil design to the hurt and prejudice of another. Indeed if you be duly called to witness in judgment; or if it be in your own defense and vindication, when if you do not discover him that is guilty, you yourself may be supposed to be the person; or if the crime be such, as ought not to escape unpunished; or if he remain contumacious after more private admonition; in which case, our Savior commands us to tell the Church; or, lastly, when it is for the safety and security of another, who might else be wronged, should we conceal from him the mischiefs, which others intend him: In these cases, it is both lawful and expedient to make known the faults of your brother. But then be sure that you do it, not with any secret delight and exultation, that you have his credit to trample upon, to raise your own the higher; but with that true grief and sorrow of heart, that may evince to all the world, that nothing but conscience, and a sense of your duty, enforced you to publish his shame, which you should be willing to hide at the price of any thing, but sin, and your own shame. But alas, it is strange to consider the depravity of our nature, how we delight in other men's sins, and are secretly glad when their miscarriages give us an occasion to reproach and disgrace them. How many are big with such stuff, and go in pain till they have disburdened themselves into the ears of others! And some are such ill dissemblers of their joy, that they do it with open scorn and derision. Others are more artificially malicious, and with a deep sigh, and a downcast look, and a whining voice, and an affected slowness, whisper to one; Alas, Did you not hear of such a gross miscarriage by such an one? And then whisper the same thing to another, and a third; and when they have made it as public as they can, hypocritically desire every one to keep it secret; for that they would be loath their neighbor should come to any disgrace and trouble about it. Believe it, Sirs, this, though the matter you report be never so true, is nothing else but slander; because it is done to no good end, but only to feed your own malice; and, like flies, to lie sucking the galled backs and sores of others. And therefore we find that Doeg, though he told nothing but the truth (1 Samuel 22:9-10), Yet he is by David challenged as a liar and slanderer (Psalm 52).
And thus now you have seen what this sin of slander is.
I shall finish this subject, with giving you,
First, Some brief rules and directions, which through the grace of God, may be serviceable to keep you from this common sin. And then,
Secondly, Show you how you ought to demean yourselves under the lash of other men's slanderous tongues.
First, if you would keep yourself from being a slanderer of others, do not adduce yourself violently to any one party, or persuasion of men. For part-taking will beget prejudice, and prejudice is the jaundice of the soul, which represents other men, and their actions, in the color which our own disease puts upon them. And indeed, we have all generally such a good conceit of ourselves, that it is a very hard and difficult matter, to have a good esteem for others, who are not of our judgment, and of our way. And this makes us first very willing to hear some evil of them: for because we think that what we do is good, we cannot cordially think them good, who do not judge and act as we ourselves do; and so our minds are prepared to entertain reports against them from others, and then to spread them abroad ourselves. And I cannot but impute to this the great uncharitableness of our days, wherein love and brotherly kindness lie murdered under the violence of different persuasions, and different modes, and diverse ways of worshipping one and the same God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Hence all those lying rumors, and lying wonders, that one party invents to beat down the other. One party reports the other to be all profane, and superstitious; and the other reports its opposite to be all hypocritical and seditious, and both suffer from each other's envenomed tongues; and between both, truth suffers, and charity perishes, and is utterly lost. For shame, O Christians! Is this the way to promote God's cause, or Christ's kingdom? Does He or it stand in need of your lies? Will you speak wickedly for God, and talk deceitfully for him? Shall his honor be maintained by the devil's inventions? I shall not speak partially; but wherever the fault lies, there let this censure fall; that it is certainly a very strong presumption of a very weak and bad cause, when the refuge and support of it are lies.
Secondly, if you would not be guilty of slander, be not busy in other men's affairs; keep your eyes within doors, and your thoughts at home; inquire not what others say, nor what others do; but look to your own affairs, and guide them with discretion. You have work enough at home, within your own heart, and in your own house; and if you are careful to manage that well, you will scarce have either time or inclination to receive or divulge bad reports of others. And therefore the Apostle joins idleness, meddlesomeness, and tattling together (1 Timothy 5:13): They learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also, and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. They are idle, and yet busybodies; very idly busy; who, because they care not to employ their hands, set their tongues on work, and suffer them to walk through the world, abusing and lashing everyone they meet. A true description of a company of giddy flies in our times, that are always roving from house to house, and skipping about, now to this man's ear, and by and by to that, and buzzing reports of what ill they have heard, or observed of others.
Thirdly, take another rule; if you would not be guilty of slander, be frequent in reflecting upon your own miscarriages, or your proneness to fall into the same, or greater faults; when you hear or know of any foul and scandalous sin committed by another, look backwards upon your own life and actions. Can you find no blots in your copy? Is the whole course of your life fair written upon your conscience? If not, how can you with any shame and modesty upbraid your brother with his miscarriages, when you yourself have been guilty of the like, or greater? Or why, O hypocrite, do you behold the speck that is in your brother's eye, and see not the beam that is in your own? It seems to me our shame for our own sins should be a covering to our brother's; and when we ourselves are guilty, we should not be so malicious, nor foolish, as to reproach ourselves, by reproaching him; otherwise, to eclipse and darken his good name, is but as when the moon eclipses the sun, her own darkness and obscurity is made the more remarkable by it.
Or, if God by his restraining grace has kept you from those wickednesses into which he has suffered others to fall; yet then look inward, view and search your own heart, ransack over your corrupted nature; and there you will find those, indeed, and far greater abominations than those, like beds of twisted serpents, knotting and crawling within you; say with yourself, How can I reproach him who has but copied forth my own nature? How can I expose his infamy who has but done what I have much ado to keep myself from doing? Possibly the same temptation might have prevailed over me too, had God let it loose upon me. I owe my preservation, not to any difference that was between us, but only to the free and arbitrary grace of God: by this it is that I stand; and shall I reproach him for falling, who should also myself have fallen, were I not strongly upheld by another? Thus, I say, by reflecting on ourselves, we shall be withheld from being injurious in our censures, and in our reports of others; we shall hardly divulge their real miscarriages, much less accuse and slander them with false and forged ones. This is the Apostle's rule (Galatians 6:1): Brethren, if a man is overtaken in a fault, you who are spiritual, restore such a person in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted.
Fourthly, If you would not be guilty of slander, listen not to those who are slanderers and detractors. Lend not your ears to those who go about with tales and whispers whose idle business it is to tell news of this man and the other: For if these kinds of flies can but blow in your ears, the worms will certainly creep out at your mouths: For all discourse is kept up by exchange; and if he bring you one story, you will think it incivility not to repay him with another for it; and so they chat over the whole neighborhood; accuse this man, and condemn another, and suspect a third, and speak evil of all. I wish that the most of our conversation were not taken up this way, in recounting stories of what passed between such and such, when all is to no other end, but to bring an evil report upon them. Now if any such back-biters haunt you, who make it their trade to run up and down with tales and news, give them no countenance, listen not to their detractors; but rather sharply rebuke them, and silence their slanderous tongues; and this will either drive the slander from them, or the slanderer from you. Proverbs 25:23: The north-wind drives away rain; so does an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.
Fifthly, If you would not be slanderers of others, be not self-lovers; for self-love always causes envy; and envy, detraction. An envious man cannot endure another's praise; and therefore seeks all he can to blast it by false reports, and lying slanders; as if all that were detracted from another, were added to his own reputation. When his neighbor's fame begins to grow tall, and to spread about him, he then seeks what he can, to cut it down; because he thinks it hinders his prospect, and the world cannot take so fair a view of him as he desires; and therefore he is still hewing at it, sometimes with oblique, and sometimes with direct blows; sometimes striking at his parts, and sometimes at his piety; and if he can but make these fall in the esteem of the world, then he thinks none shall be so much respected and honored as himself. A man that is a self-lover, thinks all due to himself; all praise and commendation must run in his channel, or else it takes a wrong course, and he accounts just so much taken from him, as is ascribed to another: And this puts him upon this base art of detraction, that by depressing others, he may advance himself, and raise the structure of his own fame upon the ruins of his neighbor's. And therefore if you would not slander others, be sure do not too much admire yourself. For self-applause, and self-esteem is like a pike in a pond, that will eat up and devour all about it, that itself may thrive and grow upon them.
Sixthly, Be not too easy and facile to entertain suspicious and evil surmises against others. For if you begin to suspect evil of another, the next thing is to conclude it, and the next to report it. This suspicion is a strange shadow that every action of another will cast upon our minds; especially if we be beforehand a little disaffected towards them. Thus very dreams increased suspicion against Joseph in his brethren: And if once a man be out of esteem with us, let him then do what he will, be it however virtuous and commendable, suspicion will still be the interpreter. And where suspicion is the interpreter of men's actions, slander and detraction will be the gloss and comment upon them. Indeed suspicion is always too hasty in concluding; and many times our jealousies and distrusts upon very small occasions, prompt us to conclude that what we have thus surmised, is certainly come to pass; and so we take shadows for enemies, and report that confidently for truth, which yet we never saw acted, but only in our own fancies.
Now, notwithstanding that this sin of slander and detraction is so great and heinous; yet may it not be justly feared, that many place their whole religion in it, and think themselves so much the better, by how much the worse they think and report of other men? Do they not think it a piece of zeal and warmth for the worship and service of God, to cry down all as superstitious that do not worship him in their way? Do they not make it, if not a part, yet a sign of holiness, to be still finding faults, and crying out against others, to be censorious and clamorous? Such a sort of men are all lewd and profane; and such a sort are all rebellious, and hypocrites: And then to justify their censures, instance, possibly in two or three, of whom perhaps they know no more than the bare names: And what tends all this to, but mutual exasperation? Those that do not believe them, are exasperated against the reporters; and those who do believe them, are exasperated against the slandered: And as it tends to exasperation, so likewise it encourages and hardens many in their sins: For when they hear so much evil blazed abroad in the world; and few or none escape without having some foul blot rubbed upon him, and infamous crime reported of him, whether truly or falsely, they think that sin and wickedness is no such strange thing, and so embolden themselves to commit that which they hear is so common.
I beseech you therefore, O Christians, for the peace of the church, which else will continue sadly rent and divided; for the sake of Christianity, which else will be discredited and reviled; for your brethren's sake, who else will be discouraged or exasperated, be very cautious what reports you either receive, or make of others. Their good name is very precious; precious to God, when their blameless conversation deserves it; and precious to themselves; however, unless there be absolute necessity, and you be constrained to do it for the glory of God, and the good of others, divulge not their imperfections, though they be real, and in no case whatever feign or devise false rumors concerning them. Take heed lest if you bite and devour one another, you be not consumed one of another, and one with another.
These are the rules to keep you from being guilty of slander against others.
But now if any are guilty of raising an ill report against you, observe these following rules and directions, how you ought to demean yourselves in this case.
First, If the reproach they cast upon you, be true and deserved, though they perhaps have sinned in disclosing it to the world; yet make this use of it; go and disclose it in your most humble and penitent confessions to God; indeed, and if you are called to do so by due form of law, give glory to God by confessing it before men. Men possibly may upbraid you with it; but by this course God will forgive you without upbraiding you.
Secondly, if you are falsely charged with that which never was in your heart to do, yet improve this providence to stir you up to pray the more fervently that God would forever keep you from falling into that sin with which others slander you; so shall all their reproaches be thrown merely into the air, and fall at last heavy upon their own heads, while you rejoice in the whiteness and innocency of your own soul.
Thirdly, if any unjustly slander you, revenge not yourself upon them by slandering them again: I must confess this is a very hard lesson, and requires almost an angelical perfection to perform it well. We read in the Epistle of St. Jude, that when Michael and the Devil contended about the body of Moses, it is said, that the holy angel dared not bring a railing accusation against that wicked spirit; but only said, the Lord rebuke you. And so, when men of devilish spirits spue out their slanders, and broach all the malicious accusations that their father, the great Accuser, has ever suggested to them, return not slander for slander; for so the Devil would teach you to be a devil; but with all quietness and meekness desire of God to rebuke their lies and calumnies; and by all wise and prudent means vindicate yourself; clear up your integrity, and make it appear, that though the archers have shot at you, and sorely grieved you with their arrows, even bitter words; yet still your bow remains in its strength. What says the Apostle (2 Peter 3:9)? Render not evil for evil, or railing for railing. And indeed whoever does so, seeks only to heal a wound in his name, by making a much deeper one in his conscience.
Fourthly, when you are falsely aspersed and slandered, refer yourself, and appeal to the all-knowing God; retire into the peace and refuge of your own conscience, and there shall you find enough for their confutation, and your comfort. Know that a good name is in the power of every slanderous tongue to blast; but they cannot corrupt your conscience to vote with them. Possibly it is only the excellency and eminency of your grace that offends them; if so, glory in it; for the reproaches of wicked men are the best testimonials that can be given of an excellent and singular Christian. In a strict and holy conversation there is that contradiction to the loose, profane of the world, as at once both convinces, and vexes them; reproves, and provokes them. And if you do thus reproach them by your life, wonder not at it, if they again reproach you by their lying slanders. Be not too solicitous how they esteem of you: it is miserable to live upon the reports and opinions of others; let us not much reckon what they say; but what reports our own consciences make; and if a storm of obloquy and reproaches, railings and slanders do at any time patter upon you, how sweet is it to retire inwards to the calm innocency of our own hearts? There are a thousand witnesses will tell us we have not deserved them. How comfortable is it to remit our cause to God, and to leave our vindication to him, for whose cause we suffer reproach? Thus Jeremiah appeals to God (Jeremiah 20:10, 12). I heard the defaming of many; report, say they, and we will report it: but, O Lord of Hosts, you that try the righteous, and see the reins and the heart; to you have I opened my cause. Thus, if while wicked men are maliciously conspiring how to blot and sully our names, we can but keep our consciences clear; what need we much trouble ourselves how the wind blows abroad, since we are harbored under the retreat of a peaceable heart? They may possibly persuade others to believe their calumnies; but God who searches the heart and conscience, knows that we are injured; and he is hastening on a day wherein he will clear up our righteousness; and then the testimony of a good conscience shall put ten thousand slanderers to silence.
And thus I have spoken of this second sin, of slander and detraction.
The third sin against this commandment, is base flattery and soothing; which is a quite opposite extreme to the other, as both are opposite to truth.
Now this is either self-flattery, or the flattering of others.
First, there is a self-flattery. And indeed every man is (as Plutarch well observed it,) his own greatest flatterer; and however empty and defective we may be, yet we are all apt to love ourselves, perhaps without a rival, and to be puffed up with a vain conceit of our own imaginary perfections, to applaud and commend ourselves in our own thoughts and fancies, and to think that we excel all others in what we have; and what we have not, we despise as nothing worth. From this abundance of a vain heart, break out arrogant boastings of ourselves, contemning of others, a presumptuous intruding ourselves into those employments and functions which we are no way able to manage. Learn therefore, O Christian, to take the just measure of yourself. Let it not be too scanty; for that will make you pusillanimous and cowardly; and through an extreme of modesty, render you unserviceable to God and the world. But rather let it be too scanty, than too large: for this will make you proud, and arrogant, and undertaking; and by exercising yourself in things too high for you, you will but spoil whatever you rashly and overweeningly venture upon. If you are at any time called, or necessitated to speak of yourself, let it rather be less than the truth, than more: for the tongue is of itself very apt to be lavish, when it has so sweet and pleasing a theme, as a man's own praise. Take the advice of Solomon (Proverbs 27:2). Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.
Secondly, there is a sinful flattering of others; and that, either by an immoderate extolling of their virtues; or what is worse, by a wicked commendation even of their very vices. This is a sin most odious to God, who has threatened to cut off all flattering lips (Psalms 12:2). But especially it is most detestable in ministers, whose very office and function it is to reprove men for their sins: if they shall daub with untempered mortar, and sew pillows under men's elbows, crying, Peace, Peace, when there is no peace to the wicked, only that they may lull them asleep in their security, they do but betray their souls; and the blood of them God will certainly require at their hands.
Thus much for the Ninth Commandment.