[1.] You hazard the repute of your own sincerity : James i. 16, ' If a man seems to be religious, and bridles not his tongue, that man's religion is in vain.' Such men, that are seldom at home, seldom look to the state of their own hearts. Alas ! if they were acquainted with themselves, or their own failings, they would see themselves the worst people in the world. Paul can see himself worse than Judas — I am ' the chief of sinners ' — because he hath a greater feeling of his own case. Now, he that is much in judging is seldom within. If a man had a catalogue of his own faults, he would not be so ready to blast others, but say, ' I am the chief of sinners.' Hypocrites have nothing in them but empty shows and appearances. It is a cheap zeal to let fly (and yet this is the religion of a great many) at the miscarriages and faults of others. No ; you should rather study your own.
[2.] You rob them of a most precious treasure ; for if that of Solomon be true, Pro v. xxii. 1, ' A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches ; ' they are the worst thieves that rob a man of his good name. A thief that pilfers and steals anything from you, he is ashamed when found ; and should not you be ashamed, that rob a man of a more excellent treasure ?
[3.] You offend God, and draw public hatred upon yourselves ; for censurers are always looked upon as the pests of the world. It is the devil's business, his proper work ; he is called ' the accuser of the brethren,' Ptev. xii. 10. The devil doth not commit adultery, break the Sabbath, dishonour parents ; but he will slander, and accuse, and speak evil. The other are not commandments suited to his nature, but this is a commandment that may suit with angelical nature. We are not to accuse another wrongfully.
Object. But must we in no case, you will say, speak evil of others ? I answer —
Sol. 1. Be sure that it be not a downright slander. Now, it is hard to avoid that. If the evil you speak be without cause, then it is against truth ; if it be for a light and slender cause, then it is against charity ; if it be for things indifterent, or for lesser failings, the indis- cretions and weaknesses of Christians, all this is against that charity that should pass especially between the disciples of Christ : James iv. 11, ' Speak not evil of one another, brethren.' It is worse in Christians always to be whispering and speaking evil one of another ; you gratify the triumphs of hell. In things doubtful, you should judge the best :
VeR. 39.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX, 421
in things hidden and secret, we cannot take cognisance of them, and we know not the aims and intents of the. heart ; that is God's work, 1 Cor. iv. 5 ; and it is the devil's work, when the practice be good and fair, to suspect them of hypocrisy. Besides, too, if tl\ere be some grievous fault, you do not know what were their temptat.ions, how it may be alleviated by the temptation; still you must 'consider your- selves, lest you also be tempted,' Gal. yi. 1 ; and you do not know whether they have repented of it. The devil is a slanderer. Why ? He doth accuse the children of God of what they are guilty of, and they give him too much cause to accuse them. Ay ! but after re- pentance, after they are justified by God, and quitted by the grace of God ; so he is a slanderer. So after they have repented, you are insist- ing on those faults ; it is a great evil.
SSL 2. Speak not o/him, but to him. When men are absent it is not fit they should be judged, for then they are not able to make a defence ; then it is backbiting. Wlien you thus speak of them, you exchange a duty for a sin, admonition for reproach. It is an un- questionable duty to admonish one another, but it is an unquestionable sin to speak evil one of another.
Sol. 3. If of him, it should be done with tenderness and grief ; when they are incorrigible, when they are like to pervert others and dis- honour the gospel, or for the manifest glory of God. Oh ! if we would but lay restraints upon ourselves in this kind, and never speak of others, but when manifestly the glory of God calls for it. And then it should be with grief: Phil. iii. 19, ' Of whom I have told you often, and now weeping,' saitli the apostle. There are a crew of heretics — it is supposed he means the Gnostics — filthy and impure persons, that had debauched the gospel to a licentious life ; yet the apostle speaks of them weeping ; and therefore we should be very tender of speaking of them. Not out of idleness and for want of other talk ; that is tattle, forbidden in many places of scripture ; not out of hatred and revenge, for that is malice ; there may be malice where the thing you speak is truth ; not to please others, that is flattery. But if ever you speak of them (and it should be with these cautions), out of zeal for the glory of God and the good of the church. If men did consider what restraints are laid upon them, they would not so easily fall upon censuring, reproaching, and speaking evil of others. This to those that devise slanders and reproaches.