:w6 An Expojition upon the hrjl, ·openly and avowedly, in their Prefence, and to their Fam. And rbar is alfo Twofold. Either by Reviling and Railing Speeches. And thus Shitui bark'd at D<~vitl, 2 Sam. 16. 7· Come 0/.41 ihoNBioody Man~ andthou .Man of Belia!. And 1 wifh thar our Streets and Houf~:;s did not, to their great Difgraceand Reproach, eccho with fuch Clamours: and that too many did not rake together all the Dirty Expreffions thei r Wit and Ma: lice will ferve th~m to invent only to throw into one another's Faces. ASin whicb as ic is ford id and bafe in itfelf, fo it chiefly reigns among rhofe who are of a Mean Condilion. But wherefoever it be found it is a Difparagement ro HumJne Nature a Sin .agllinft Civil Society, and argues Men guilty of much Folly and Bruci!hnefs ~ and lam fure is a Tranfgceffion of that Exprefs Command of tho Apo(\le, Epb. 4 : 3 1, 31. Let all Bttterntjs, and Wrath, and .Al!gtr, and Clamour, and Eviljpeaki11a be ptll away from you, with all lHalice; and be ye kind one to another, tendtr·htarud' forgiving one another, even as Godfor Chrijl's Sake hatb forgiven } f!U. ' Hut then there is anorher Way of open, avowed, Slandt:r, and ~hat is by Bitter Taunrs, and SarcafticalScoffs. And this is ufua!ly an Applauded Sin among rhe more Refined Son of Men, who take a Pride and Glory in expofing others, and making them ridiculous, thinking their own Wirnever looksfo beautiful as when it is dyed in orhers Bluthes. But this is a moft Scurrilous and Offenfive Way, wherein certainly he h:nh the moft Advantage; not who bath moft Wit, but that bath lcafi Modclly. There Kind ofTaunrings are fometimes fuch astbeApoftlecallsCruel Mockings, and reckons them up as one Part of thofe Perfecutions the Primitive Chriftiaos endur~d, Heb. 1 1 . 36. Others bad Trial of Cruel Mockingt. As Nero fur hi• Barbarous Sport wrapp'd up the Chriftians in Beafts Skins, and then fee Dogs eo wotty them; fo thefe difguife their Brethren into falfe aod Antick Shapes, and then fall upon them. and bait them. • Secondly ) There is a more Secret and Sly Conveyance of Slander, and that is by Backbiting, Wbifpecing, and carrying up and down of Tales; like thole Bulio To~gues, ]er. 20. ro. t_hat would filin find, or make themfelves fome Employmenr, faymg, report, and we vull report: And fo a Falfeand Slanderous Rumourfhall,like the:: River NiiJ~s , fpread over the whole Land) and yet the Head of it bo never known; it tball pafs on to the Indelible Blot and Infamy of thy Neighbour, and the Fir(! iluthot of it lye hid, and concealed in the Croud, as fome Fi!hes will in the Mud which they rhemfelves have fiirred. Againft this-Son of Men Solomon in His Book cf Proverbs is vety fevere::; and there is no one Wickednefs which that Excellent Compendi· urn of Wifdom ant!J;!oralicy doch more inveigh againfi than this of Whifpering about another M~n s"Difgrace, Prov.J6. 8. TheWords of a TaJe.bearer arc tu Wound!, they go down into the imnojt Parts of the Belly: And rh is be repears again, Cbap. 26. 22. intimating to us, that the Wound fuch a Tongue malc;es is deep, but yet hid and fecrer, and therefore the more incurable. And Prov. 16. 28. A Wbifpcrer Jeparates Chief Friends. He is as it were the Devil's Truchman and Interpreter between them both, and goes o one) and buzzetb in his Eat what fuch aa one faid of him, altho~ perhaps it be altogether talfe, and when be bath by this Means got fome Angry and Cholerick Speeches nom him, goes and reports them back to the other, and fo by his Wicked Breath blows up theCoalsofSttifc and Ditfention between them. And therefore the Wife M~n tells us, Prov. 26. 20. Where no Wood is the Fire goetb out, fo VJhere there is no Tale-bearer tbe Strife ccafeth. The Apofitc cautions the Grinthians againft this Sin, 2 Cor. 12. 20. I fear, Jefl when I come I jball not find youfucb '!f 1 would, left there be atnong you Debates, Envying, Strifes, Backbitings, Whifpcrings, T t~lllNIU; and he reckons it up among the Black Catalogue of thofe Crimes, for the whi&h Godgave up the Heathen to a Reprobate Mind, UJ do Things wbicb arc not convcni~ ent, being jilledwitb alllJnrigbteoujneft,jull of Envy, !llurtlcr, Debate, Dcccir, Moltg· nity, Whifperers; Backbiters, Dtjpigbtful, lnvcnters of Evil Tbmgs, Rom. J. 29, 30. Now one of the Chief Artifices of tbis Sort of Men is to ·calumniate firenuoufly, ac· carding to that Old Maxim of the Devil, Cahtmniare fort iter, fJ aliquid adh.erebit, Slander fto.utly and fomewhatwill ftick behind; for though the Wound may poffi· bly be bealod, yet the Scar will ftill remain, and be a Blemilh to a Man'sReputati· on as long as he lives. · But then again there is another Kind of Slander and Detraaion, and that i& when a Man divulgeth thofe lmperfeaions and Faults which are truly in his Neigh·. bour without being called or gecelfitated to do it: For fo~cimes Truth itfelt · · · - · ·- -· - ·- -- -- ---- ·· ·· - · - · may
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