in tlie barrel. We shall not need these things long; we shall carry nothing out of the world with us but our winding-sheet ;
if we have but enough to bear out our charges to heaven, it is sufficient.
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• OF THE NINTH COMMANDMENT.
ExoD. XX. 16. Thou shalt not hear false witness against thy neighbour.
THE tongue which at first was made to be an organ of God's praise, is now become an instrument of unrighteousness. This commandment binds the tongue to its good behaviour. God hath set two fences to keep in the tongue, — the teeth and lips ; and this commandment is a third fence set about it, that it should not break forth into evil ; " Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." This commandment hath a ])roliibitory, and a mandatory part ; the first is set down in plain words, the other is clearly implied.
1. The prohibitory part of the command- ment, or, what it forbids in general. It for- bids any thing which may tend to the dis- paragement or prejudice of our neighbour. More particularly, two things are forbidden in this commandment, \st. Slandering. 2d. False witness.
l.<f/. Slandering our neighbour. Tliis is a sin against the- ninth commandment. The scorpion carries his poison in his tail ; the slanderer carries his poison in his tongue. Slandering is to report things of others un- justly. Ps. XXXV. 11., " They laid things to my charge which I knew not." It is usual to bring in a Christian beheaded of his good name ; they raised a slander of Paul, that he should preach, men might do evil, that good might come of it, Rom. iii. 8., " We be slanderously reported ; and as some affirm that we say, let us do evil, that good may come." Eminency is commonly blasted by slander. Holiness itself is no shield from slander. The lamb's innocency will not preserve it from the wolf. Christ was the most innocent upon earth, yet was reported to be a friend of sinners; John Baptist was a man of a holy austere life, yet they said of him, " he hath a devil," Mat. xi. 18. The scripture calls slandering, gmiting with the tongue, Jer. xviii. 18.,
" Come, and let us smite him with the tongue." You may smite another and never touch him. Majora sunt iinguce vulnera quam gladii, Aug, The wounds of the tongue no physician can heal ; and to pre- tend friendship to a man, yet slander him, is most odious. St. Hierom speaks thus : " The Arian faction made a show of kind- ness ; they kissed my hands, but slandered me, and sought my life." And, as it is a sin against this commandment, to raise a false report of another, so it is a sin to re- ceive a false report before we have examin- ed it, Ps. XV. 1., " Lord, who shall dwell in thy holy hill ?" (^iiis ad ccelum ? v. 3., " He that backbiteth not, nor taketh up a re- proach against his neighbour." We must not only not raise a false I'eport, but not take it up. He that raiseth a slander, carries the devil in his tongue ; and lie tliat receives it, carries the devil in his ear.
2d. The second thing forbidden in this commandment, is false witness. Here three sins are condemned : 1. Speaking. 2. Wit- nessing. 3. Swearing that which is false contra proximum.
1. Speaking that which is false, Prov. xii. 22., " Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord." To lie, is to speak that which one knows to be an untruth. There is nothing more contrary to God than a lie. The Holy Ghost is called the " Spirit of Truth." 1 John iv. 5, 6. Lying is a sin that doth not go alone ; it ushers in other sins ; Absalom told his father a lie, that he was going to pay his vow at Hebron, 2 Sam. xv. 7., and this lie was a preface to his treason. Where there is a lie in the tongue, it shows the devil is in the heart, Acts v. 3., " Why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie?" Lying is such a sin as unfits men for civil society. How can you converse or bargain with him that you cannot trust a word he saith ? Tiiis
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OF THE NINTH COMMANDiMENT.
is a sin which highly provokes God. Ana- nias and Sapphira were struck dead for tel- ling a lie, Acts v. 5. The furnace of hell is heated for liars, Rev. xxii. 15., " Without are sorcerers, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." O abhor this sin ! Quicqtdd dlxerisjustum putes^ Hierom. When thou speakest, let thy word be as authentic as thy oath. Imitate God who is the pattern of truth. Pythagoras ' being asked what made men like God ? answered. Cum vere hquunter, — when they speak truth. It is made the character of a man that shall go to heaven, Ps. xv. 2., " He speaketh the truth in his heart."
2. That which is condemned in the com- mandment is, witnessing that which is false ; " thou shalt not bear false witness." (1.) There is a bearing of false witness for another. (2.) A bearing false witness a- gainst another.