they are characterised in the Scriptures. A ferpent will bite; and a babbler is no betThe words of a talebearer are wounds.

ter.

A talebearer revealeth fecrets. He that repeateth a matter feparateth very friends. Where no wood is, the fire goeth out: fo, where there is no talebearer, the ftrife ceafeth (d). Hear the pofitive commands of God. Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people. Let none of you fuffer as a bufy-body in other men's matters. Study to be quiet, and do your own bufinefs (e). The conftant object of Jefus Christ was to be employed about that great bufinefs for which his Father had sent him into the world. Let it be your conftant object to attend to that momentous concern, for which our Father who is in heaven hath fent you into the world. Repeat not the proceedings or the purposes of your neighbour, except in such a manner as may tend to edification. The Lord bateth him that foweth difcord among brethren. For every idle word that men fhall Speak they shall give account in the day of judgement (f).

(d) Eccl. x. 11. Prov. xi. 13. xvii. 9. xviii. 18. xxvi. 20. (e) Lev. xix. 16. 1 Pet. iv. 15. I Theff. iv. II.

(f) Prov. vi. 16-19:

Matth. xii. 36.

S3

VII. We

VII. We are now to confider thofe offences, which fall under the general defcription of deceit.

Of thefe the most prominent is open falfehood. It is by the bands of truth that fociety is held together. It is in fincerity and truth that we are to ferve God. The liar deftroys the foundation of all confidence whether in the public dealings of men one with another, or in the retirement of domeftic life. The evils which the violation of truth produces are fo manifeft; the dif ficulty of guarding against its effects is fo great; and men, with whatever indifference they behold their neighbour's fin as committed againft God, are fo quick to condemn it when prejudicial to themselves ; that he who is notoriously guilty of lying is held in general abhorrence: and even thofe who abandon themselves to other branches of wickedness, and fcarcely prétend to pay regard to religion, are folicitous to maintain a character for veracity, and resent the imputation of a lie as the groffeft of injuries. But the opinions of men concerning offences against men are of little importance, when compared with the estimation in which breaches of the divine law are viewed by Almighty God, God

God is a God of truth. He requires truth in the inward parts, in the heart. Every departure from truth he marks as a fin against Himself. Ye shall not deal falfely, nor lie, one to another: I am the Lord (g).

The falfehood, however, of the lips frequently fhews itself in the form of flander. The obnoxious individual who could not be injured or deceived by an open breach of truth, may be overwhelmed by the artifices of fecret calumny. Evil reports may be raised and privately 'diffufed concerning him reports, which while their author lies concealed, may execute their office abroad in open day; and haftening from lip to lip, from door to door, from circle to circle, may undermine his good name, defeat his honeft undertakings, blight his reasonable hopes, inflame his antient adversaries, embody a new hoft of foes, and poison the minds of his nearest friends with fufpicion and diftruft. Slander is but a more refined, and therefore more mifchievous, mode of lying. Are you then furprised at the decifion of the wise king: He that bideth hatred with lying lips, and be that uttereth a flander, is a fool (h)? Well

(g) Lev. xix. 11, 12.

(b) Prov, x. 18.

may he be pronounced memorable for folly, who remembereth not that the words of his lips are recorded against the day of retribution. Do you wonder at the declarations of the Pfalmift, that whofo privily flandereth his neighbour shall be cut off: that if any man would dwell in the presence of the Moft High, he must be one who backbiteth not with his tongue, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour (i)? Is not the language of the New Teftament on this fubject in full agreement with that of the Old? Does not St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans, name backbiters among the greatest offenders? Does not he exprefsly warn the Corinthians against backbiting as a great offence? Does not he pointedly exprefs both to Timothy and Titus the finfulness of falfe accufers (k)?

What were the engines of fin by which ruin was brought upon mankind? An open falfehood, and a disguised flander. An open falfehood: for the devil unequivocally averred, that man fhould not die, though he fhould eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree. A difguifed flander: for

(k) Rom. i. 30. 2 Cor. xii. 20.

(i) Pf. ci. 5 xv. 3. 2 Tim. iii. 3. Titus, ii. 3...

the

the infinuating tempter imputed to God other motives than the true one, motives even of jealousy and felfifhnefs, for prohibiting man from eating of it. Hence the devil is pronounced by our Saviour to be a liar; and the father of lies. Hence too the Jews, as liars, are pronounced the children of the devil. As the imitators, the flaves, the children of the devil, all liars, whether they deal in open falfehood or in lurking flander, are objects of deteftation to Almighty God. A lying tongue the Lord hateth: lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. All liars shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimStone (1).

There is yet another garb which deceit wears, that of flattery. To flatter is to afcribe to another that praise to which you. do not believe him to be entitled: or to convey to him in any manner tinctured with infincerity the applaufe which you apprehend him to deferve. In the first cafe, the flattery is direct lying in the fecond, it is hypocrify. The flatterer exaggerates the excellence of the perfons whom he purposes to conciliate; know

(1) Pro. vi. 17. xii. 22. Rev. xxi, 8.