hou deceitful tongue:" and, "A man,"
saith the wise man, "that beareth false witness against his
neighbour is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow;" that is, he is
a complicated instrument of all mischiefs; he smiteth and bruiseth
like a maul, he cutteth and pierceth like a sword, he thus doth hurt
near at hand; and at a distance he woundeth like a sharp arrow; it
is hard anywhere to evade him, or to get out of his reach. "Many,"
saith another wise man, the imitator of Solomon, "have fallen by the
edge of the sword, but not so many as have fallen by the tongue.
Well is he that is defended from it, and hath not passed through the
venom thereof; who hath not drawn the yoke thereof, nor hath been
bound in its bands. For the yoke thereof is a yoke of iron, and the
bands thereof are bands of brass. The death thereof is an evil
death, the grave were better than it." Incurable are the wounds
which the slanderer inflicteth, irreparable the damages which he
causeth, indelible the marks which he leaveth. "No balsam can heal
the biting of a sycophant;" no thread can stitch up a good name torn
by calumnious defamation; no soap is able to cleanse from the stains
aspersed by a foul mouth. Aliquid adhaerebit; somewhat always of
suspicion and ill opinion will stick in the minds of those who have
given ear to slander. So extremely opposite is this practice unto
the queen of virtues, Charity. Its property indeed is to "believe
all things," that is, all things for the best, and to the advantage
of our neighbour; not so much as to suspect any evil of him without
unavoidably manifest cause; how much more not to devise any
falsehood against him! It "covereth" all things, studiously
conniving at real defects, and concealing assured miscarriages: how
much more not divulging imaginary or false scandals! It disposeth
to seek and further any the least good concerning him: how much
more will it hinder committing grievous outrage upon his dearest
good name!

Again, all injustice is abominable; to do any sort of wrong is a
heinous crime; that crime which of all most immediately tendeth to
the dissolution of society, and disturbance of human life; which God
therefore doth most loathe, and men have reason especially to
detest. And of this the slanderer is most deeply guilty. "A
witness of Belial scorneth judgment, and the mouth of the wicked
devoureth iniquity," saith the wise man. He is indeed, a