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ledge, enlighten them with his own wisdom, and finally, reward them with everlafting happiness.

ON EVIL-SPEAKING.

S E. R MON

JAMES IV. II.

XXVI.

Speak not evil one of another.

IT is an invariable truth, and as fuch hath been univerfally acknowledged, that thofe things which have power to be most serviceable, have alfo the power of being most pernicious; a truth never perhaps more apparent, than in that illuftrious privilege which fo eminently diftinguifheth man from the inferior part of the creation, the privilege of communicating our fentiments to each other, by that amazing faculty of fpeech which God hath graciously bestowed upon us. To make it ferve meaner and for other purposes than those for which it was originally defigned, will doubtlefs fubject its ungrateful poffeffor to the divine difpleasure. It were better, as an eminent writer observes, to have been born deftitute of fpeech or reafon, than to make use of those noble gifts of Providence to each others deftruction. The tongue, fays the Apostle St.

R

James,

James, is a world of wickedness; it defileth the whole body, and fetteth on fire the courfe of nature: therewith bless we God the Father, and therewith curfe we men, which are made after the fimilitude of God. St. James, we may obferve, reproaches men for their folly and ingratitude, and deems them, what they moft certainly are, both impious and abfurd, to adore their Maker one moment, and in the next abuse and vilify his creatures; to pretend refpect and honour for the original, and at the fame time fhew fo much hatred and contempt for the copy and refemblance of him. Thefe things, fays the Apoftle, ought not to be; they ought not, and yet they are, and perhaps ever will be fo: whilft there are men in the world, there will be calumniators; and whilft virtue and merit fubfift, there will be tongues to defame and leffen them.

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Paffions for the most part, like habits, modes, and customs, shift and vary with a variable world, but evil-speaking is a vice that will be always in fashion. Some difeafes affect fome bodies and ages only; fome plants and trees thrive but in that foil which is peculiar to their natures; but this difeafe affects every conftitution, this weed fprouts up in every clime, and flourishes in every foil. It is indeed a vice which all men readily and univerfally condemn, and yet which almost all men do as readily and as univerfally practife: a crime, in fhort, which deferves the heartieft cenfure from all the lovers of truth, and the warmest resentment from all the friends of virtue, as it is deftructive of the precepts, and

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abfolutely in oppofition to the practice of our holy religion, and the divine Author of it; who came down to bring peace upon earth, and good-will towards men, that peace which the evil-fpeaker deftroys, and that good-will which he is a ftranger to, and which, as he is himself incapable of feeling, he is perpetually endeavouring to banish from the breafts of others.

Such is the hard lot of mankind, that the most valuable of our poffeffions is the most eafily fnatched from us, and with the greatest difficulty recovered: that beauty which fickness impairs, health may reftore; and thofe riches which fortune deprives us of, fhe often repays with intereft; whilft our reputation, if once loft, either by our folly, or through the malice and wickedness of others, is fcarce ever to be regained. A good name, as the wife man fayeth, is like precious ointment, and one dead fly in it fpoileth the whole box. The poifon of flander seldom finds an antidote, and the wounds of honour never clofe. Lofs of character is ever attended with this peculiar miffortune, that it is not always even in the power of him who ftole, to reftore it: the calumny may wander where the recantation cannot : the found may be gone forth into all parts, and the report unto the ends of the world: the arrow of the flanderer cannot be recalled, and falfehood may travel too fast, for truth ever to overtake her.

When we confider how much the welfare and profperity of men depends on their good name; however little virtue in this degene.

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rate age is either loved or rewarded; yet notwithstanding, even the femblance of it is treated with honour and refpect: when we confider, at the fame time, how many there are amongst us whofe integrity perhaps is all their wealth, whofe credit and character is all their guard and fupport, we cannot wonder all should be fo tenacious of that which all are fo nearly concerned in, and which it is fo much their intereft to preserve.

It is not to be imagined that men would ever tamely fuffer their lives and properties to be endangered, and the well-being of fociety undermined, without the strongest refentment. Self-prefervation, therefore, long fince taught them, by falutary laws, to guard against the impiety of those who by falfe tef timony should endeavour to defraud and injure their neighbour; and accordingly we find in all ages and nations, that fpecies of evilfpeaking which adds impiety to falíehood, and rifes to the heinous guilt of perjury, hath ever been fubjected to its deferved punishment by the laws of the community. But as this is a branch of the vice under our confideration, which few, it is to be hoped, are abandoned enough to practife, I fhall not at prefent dwell upon it, but proceed to the other fpecies of it, perhaps equally deftructive of the peace and happiness of mankind, though, for reafons fufficiently obvious, they do not fall within the reach of human judicature.

And amongst thefe cruel deftroyers of every thing that is good and virtuous, flander ftands

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foremosft in the lift: a bold and daring adverfary, that attacks all without mercy and without diftinétion, and depends (not without too good foundation) on a credulous and idle world for that belief and support which it fo often meets with. When indeed we call to mind how greedily every idle tale is devoured, and with how much pleasure those are heard who propagate falfe reports, we cannot fo much wonder at the number of voluntary labourers in the fervice of calumny; credit of this kind is easily gained amongst the weak and inconfiderate, the foolish, and the vicious, which form perhaps the greatest part of man

kind.

Still more frequent and more fatal is the malignancy of this evil when the coward lies concealed, and cannot be called upon to fupport his affertions; the peftilence that walketh in darkness is more to be feared than the arrow which flieth at noon-day.

There is not a truer obfervation than that thofe only are capable of praifing virtue who do themselves practise it; whilft, on the other hand, the lowest and most abandoned of men can cenfure the faults, and deride the weakneffes of the moft exalted beings. How often do the best and nobleft characters fall a facrifice to the lowest and most contemptible! how often hath a worthlefs and infignificant creature, without one good quality to recommend him, by artful infinuations and malicious falfehood, ruined the peace and undermined the happiness of a whole innocent and virtuous family!

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