them and not without great force and straining and if any thing be fitly said in that kind it doth hardly relish with most men But in the way of Invective the Invention of men is a plentiful and never-failing Spring And this kind of Wit is not more easie than it is acceptable It is greedily entertained and greatly applauded and every man is glad to hear others abused not considering how soon it may come to his own turn to lie down and make sport for others To speak evil of others is almost become the general entertainment of all Companies And the great and serious business of most Meetings and Visits after the necessary Ceremonies and Complements are over is to sit down and backbite all the World 'T is the Sawce of Conversation and all Discourse is counted but flat and dull which hath not something of picquancy and sharpness in it against some body For men generally love rather to hear evil of others than good and are secretly pleas'd with ill reports and drink them in with greediness and delight Though at the same time they have so much Justice as to hate those that propagate them and so much Wit as to conclude that these very persons will do the same for them in another Place and Company But especially if it concerns one of another Party and that differs from us in matters of Religion in this Case all Parties seem to be agreed that they do God great service in blasting the reputation of their Adversaries And though they all pretend to be Christians and the Disciples of Him who taught nothing but kindness and meekness and charity yet it is strange to see with what a savage and murderous disposition they will flie at one another's Reputation and tear it in pieces And whatever other Scruples they may have they make none to bespatter one another in the most bitter and slanderous manner But if they hear any good of their Adversaries with what nicety and caution do they receive it how many objections do they raise against it and with what coldness do they at last admit it It is very well say they if it be true I shall be glad to hear it confirm'd I never heard so much good of him before You are a good man your self but have a care you be not deceived Nay it is well if to balance the matter and set things even they do not clap some infirmity and fault into the other Scale that so the Enemy may not go off with flying Colours But on the other side every man is a good and substantial Author of an ill Report I do not apply this to any one sort of men though all are to blame in this way Iliacos intra muros peccatur extra To speak impartially the Zealots of all Parties have got a scurvy trick of lying for the Truth But of all sorts of People I have observed the Priests and Bigots of the Church of Rome to be the ablest in this way and to have the strongest Faith for a lusty Falshood and Calumny Others will bandy a false Report and toss it from one hand to another but I never knew any that would so hug a Lye and be so very fond of it They seem to be described by St. John in that expression in the Revelation whosoever loveth and maketh a lye Another shrewd sign that ill-nature lies at the root of this Vice is that we easily forget the good that is said of others and seldom make mention of it but the contrary sticks with us and lies uppermost in our memories and is ready to come out upon all occasions And which is yet more ill-natur'd and unjust many times when we do not believe it our selves we tell it to others with this charitable Caution that we hope it is not true But in the mean time we give it our Pass and venture it to take its fortune to be believed or not according to the charity of those into whose hands it comes Secondly Another Cause of the commonness of this Vice is that many are so bad themselves in one kind or other For to think and speak ill of others is not only a bad thing but a sign of a bad man Our B. Saviour speaking of the evil of the last days gives this as the reason of the great decay of Charity among men because iniquity shall abound the Love of many shall wax cold When men are bad themselves they are glad of any opportunity to censure others and are always apt to suspect that evil of other men which they know by themselves They cannot have a good opinion of themselves and therefore are very unwilling to have so of any body else and for this reason they endeavour to bring men to a level hoping it will be some justification of them if they can but render others as bad as themselves Thirdly Another source of this Vice is Malice and Revenge When men are in heat and Passion they do not consider what is true but what is spiteful and mischievous and speak evil of others in revenge of some injury which they have received from them And when they are blinded by their Passions they lay about them madly and at a venture not much caring whether the evil they speak be true or not Nay many are so Devilish as to invent and raise false Reports on purpose to blast mens Reputation This is a Diabolical temper and therefore St. James tells us that the slanderous Tongue is set on fire of Hell And the Devil hath his very Name from Calumny and false accusation and it is his Nature too for he is always ready to stir up and foment this evil spirit among men Nay the Scripture tells us that he hath the malice and impudence to accuse good men before God as he did Job charging him with Hypocrisie to God himself Who he knows does know the hearts of all the children of men Fourthly Another Cause of evil-speaking is Envy Men look with an evil eye upon the good that is in others and think that their Reputation obscures them and that their commendable qualities do stand in their light and therefore they do what they can to cast a cloud over them that the bright shining of their Vertues may not scorch them This makes them greedily to entertain and industriously to publish any thing that may serve to that purpose thereby to raise themselves upon the Ruins of other mens Reputation And therefore assoon as they have got an ill Report of any good man by the end to work they presently go to send it abroad by the first Post For the string is always ready upon their Bow to let fly this Arrow with an incredible swiftness through City and Countrey for fear the innocent man's justification should overtake it Fifthly Another Cause of evil speaking is Impertinence and Curiosity an itch of talking and medling in the affairs of other Men which do no wise concern them Some persons
THE Archbishop of CANTERBURY's SERMON BEFORE THE KING and QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL February the 25 th 1693 4. Being the first Sunday in Lent A SERMON Preached before the KING and QUEEN AT WHITE-HALL February the 25 th 1693 4. Being the first Sunday in Lent By JOHN Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Published by Their Majesties Special Command LONDON Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhil and William Rogers at the Sun in Fleetstreet MDCXCIV A SERMON Preached before the KING and QUEEN TITUS III. 2. To speak evil of no man GENERAL Persuasives to Repentance and a good Life and Invectives against Sin and wickedness at large are certainly of good use to recommend Religion and Virtue and to expose the deformity and danger of a Vicious course But it must be acknowledged on the other hand that these general Discourses do not so immediately tend to reform the Lives of men Because they fall among the Croud but do not touch the Consciences of particular Persons in so sensible and awakening a manner as when we treat of particular Duties and Sins and endeavour to put men upon the practice of the one and to reclaim them from the other by proper Arguments taken from the Word of God and from the nature of particular Virtues and Vices The general way is as if a Physician instead of applying particular Remedies to the Distemper of his Patient should entertain him with a long discourse of Diseases in general and of the pleasure and advantages of Health and earnestly persuade him to be well without taking his particular Disease into consideration and prescribing Remedies for it But if we would effectually reform men we must take to task the great and common disorders of their Lives and represent their faults to them in such a manner as may convince them of the evil and danger of them and put them upon the endeavour of a cure And to this end I have pitched upon one of the common and reigning Vices of the Age Calumny and evil-speaking by which men contract so much guilt to themselves and create so much trouble to others And from which it is to be feared few or none are wholly free For who is he saith the Son of Sirach that hath not offended with his tongue In many things saith St. James we offend all And if any man offend not in word the same is a perfect man But how few have attain'd to this perfection And yet unless we do endeavour after it and in some good measure attain it all our pretence to Religion is vain so the same Apostle tells us If any man among you seemeth to be religious and bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his own heart that man's Religion is vain For the more distinct handling of this Argument I shall reduce my Discourse to these Five Heads First I shall consider the nature of this Vice and wherein it consists Secondly I shall consider the due extent of this Prohibition to speak evil of no man Thirdly I shall shew the evil of this practice both in the Causes and Effects of it Fourthly I shall add some further Considerations to dissuade men from it Fifthly I shall give some Rules and Directions for the prevention and cure of it I. I shall consider what this Sin or Vice of evil-speaking here forbidden by the Apostle is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to defame and slander any man not to hurt his reputation as the Etymology of the word doth import So that this Vice consists in saying things of others which tend to their disparagement and reproach to the taking away or lessening of their reputation and good Name And this whether the things said be true or not If they be false and we know it then it is downright Calumny and if we do not know it but take it upon the report of others it is however a Slander and so much the more injurious because really groundless and undeserved If the thing be true and we know it to be so yet it is a defamation and tends to the prejudice of our neighbour's reputation And it is a fault to say the evil of others which is true unless there be some good reason for it besides Because it is contrary to that charity and goodness which Christianity requires to divulge the faults of others though they be really guilty of them without necessity or some other very good reason for it Again it is evil-speaking and the Vice condemn'd in the Text whether we be the first Authors of an ill Report or relate it from others because the man that is evil spoken of is equally defam'd either way Again whether we speak evil of a man to his face or behind his back The former way indeed seems to be the more generous but yet is a great Fault and that which we call reviling The latter is more mean and base and that which we properly call Slander or backbiting And lastly whether it be done directly and in express terms or more obscurely and by way of oblique insinuation whether by way of downright reproach or with some crafty preface of commendation For so it have the effect to defame the manner of address does not much alter the case The one may be more dextrous but is not one jot less faulty For many times the deepest Wounds are given by these smoother and more artificial ways of Slander as by asking questions Have you not heard so and so of such a man I say no more I only ask the question Or by general intimations that they are loth to say what they have heard of such a one are very sorry for it and do not at all believe it if you will believe them And this many times without telling the thing but leaving you in the dark to suspect the worst These and such like Arts though they may seem to be tenderer and gentler ways of using mens reputation yet in truth they are the most malicious and effectual methods of Slander because they insinuate something that is much worse than is said and yet are very apt to create in unwary men a strong belief of something that is very bad though they know not what it is So that it matters not in what fashion a Slander is dress'd up if it tend to defame a man and to diminish his Reputation it is the Sin forbidden in the Text. II. We will consider the extent of this Prohibition to speak evil of no man and the due bounds and limitations of it For it is not to be understood absolutely to forbid us to say any thing concerning others that is bad This in some cases may be necessary and our duty and in several cases very fit and reasonable The Question is in what Cases by the general Rules of Scripture and right Reason we are warranted to say the evil of others that is true In general we are not to do this without great reason and necessity as
for the prevention of some great evil or the procuring of some considerable good to our selves or others And this I take to be the meaning of that advice of the Son of Sirach whether it be to a friend or a foe talk not of other mens lives and if thou canst without offence reveal them not that is if without hurt to any body thou canst conceal them divulge them not But because this may not be direction sufficient I shall instance in some of the principal Cases wherein men are warranted to speak evil of others and yet in so doing do not offend against this Prohibition in the Text. First It is not only lawful but very commendable and many times our duty to do this in order to the probable amendment of the person of whom evil is spoken In such a case we may tell a man of his faults privately or where it may not be so fit for us to use that boldness and freedom we may reveal his faults to one who is more fit and proper to reprove him and will probably make no other use of this discovery but in order to his amendment And this is so far from being a breach of charity that it is one of the best testimonies of it For perhaps the party may not be guilty of what hath been reported of him and then it is a kindness to give him the opportunity of vindicating himself Or if he be guilty perhaps being privately told of it he may reform In this Case the Son of Sirach adviseth to reveal mens faults Admonish a friend says he it may be he hath not done it and if he have done it that he do it no more admonish a friend it may be he hath not said it and if he have that he speak it not again admonish a friend for many times it is a slander and believe not every tale But then we must take care that this be done out of kindness and that nothing of our own passion be mingled with it and that under pretence of reproving and reforming men we do not reproach and revile them and tell them of their faults in such a manner as if we did it to shew our authority rather than our charity It requires a great deal of address and gentle application so to manage the business of Reproof as not to irritate and exasperate the person whom we reprove instead of curing him Secondly This likewise is not only lawful but our duty when we are legally called to bear witness concerning the fault and crime of another A good man would not be an accuser unless the publick good or the prevention of some great evil should require it And then the plain reason of the thing will sufficiently justify a voluntary accusation otherwise it hath always among well-manner'd People been esteemed very odious for a man to be officious in this kind and a forward Informer concerning the misdemeanours of others Magistrates may sometimes think it fit to give encouragement to such persons and to set one bad man to catch another because such men are fittest for such dirty work But they can never inwardly approve them nor will they ever make them their friends and confidents But when a man is call'd to give testimony in this kind in obedience to the Laws and out of reverence to the Oath taken in such Cases he is so far from deserving blame for so doing that it would be an unpardonable fault in him to conceal the truth or any part of it Thirdly It is lawful to publish the faults of others in our own necessary defence and vindication When a man cannot conceal another's faults without betraying his own innocency no charity requires a man to suffer himself to be defamed to save the reputation of another man Charity begins at home and though a man had never so much goodness he would first secure his own good name and then be concern'd for other men's We are to love our neighbour as our selves so that the love of our selves is the Rule and measure of our love to our neighbour And therefore first otherwise it could not be Rule And it would be very well for the World if our charity would rise thus high and no man would hurt another man's reputation but where his own is in real danger Fourthly This also is lawful for caution and warning to a third person that is in danger to be infected by the company or ill example of another or may be greatly prejudiced by reposing too much confidence in him having no knowledge or suspicion of his bad qualities But even in this case we ought to take great care that the ill character we give of any man be spread no further than is necessary to the good end we designed in it Besides these more obvious and remarkable Cases this Prohibition doth not I think hinder but that in ordinary conversation men may mention that ill of others which is already made as publick as it well can be Or that one friend may not in freedom speak to another of the miscarriage of a third person where he is secure no ill use will be made of it and that it will go no further to his prejudice Provided always that we take no delight in hearing or speaking ill of others And the less we do it though without any malice or design of harm still the better because this shews that we do not feed upon ill reports and take pleasure in them These are the usual Cases in which it may be necessary for us to speak evil of other men And these are so evidently reasonable that the Prohibition in the Text cannot with reason be extended to them And if no man would allow himself to say any thing to the prejudice of another man's good name but in these and the like Cases the tongues of men would be very innocent and the World would be very quiet I proceed in the IIId place to consider the evil of this Practice both in the Causes and the Consequences of it First We will consider the Causes of it And it commonly springs from one or more of these evil Roots First One of the deepest and most common Causes of evil-speaking is ill-nature and cruelty of disposition And by a general mistake ill nature passeth for Wit as Cunning doth for Wisdom though in truth they are nothing akin to one another but as far distant as Vice and Virtue And there is no greater evidence of the bad temper of Mankind than the general proneness of men to this Vice For as our Saviour says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh And therefore men do commonly incline to the censorious and uncharitable side which shews Human nature to be strangely distorted from its original rectitude and innocency The Wit of man doth more naturally vent it self in Satyr and censure than in praise and Panegyrick When men set themselves to commend it comes hardly from