SERM. itself be rooted out of our hearts: whatever iffueth from XVI. it cannot be otherwise than very bad; it must be a poifonous breath that exhaleth from that foul source.

We must not be provoked thereto by any revengeful difpofition, or rancorous fpleen, in regard to any injuries or difcourtefies received. For, as we muft not revenge ourselves, or render evil in any other way; fo particularly not in this, which is commonly the special inftance ex1 Pet. iii. 9. pressly prohibited. Render not evil for evil, faith St. Peter, nor railing for railing; but contrariwife blefs, or speak Matt. v. 44. well: and, Bless them, faith our Lord, which curfe you; Rom. xii. Blefs, faith St. Paul, and curfe not.

14.

Deut. xxv.

3.

We must not alfo do it out of contempt: for we are not to flight our brethren in our hearts. No man really (confidering what he is, whence he came, how he is reHe that is lated, what he is capable of) can be despicable. Extreme void of wif- naughtiness is indeed contemptible; but the unhappy perfpifeth his fon that is engaged therein is rather to be pitied than neighbour. Prov. xi. 12. defpifed. However, charity bindeth us to stifle con

dom de

temptuous motions of heart, and not to vent them in vilifying expreffion. Particularly, it is a barbarous practice out of contempt to reproach persons for natural imperfections, for meannefs of condition, for unlucky disasters, for any involuntary defects: this being indeed to reproach mankind, unto which fuch things are incident; to reproach Providence, from the disposal whereof they do Prov.xvii.5. proceed. Whofo mocketh the poor despiseth his Maker, faith the Wife Man: and the fame may be faid of him that reproachfully mocketh him that is dull in parts, deformed in body, weak in health or ftrength, or defective in any fuch way.

Likewise we muft not speak ill out of envy; because others do excel us in any good quality, or exceed us in fortune. To harbour this base and ugly difpofition in our minds is unworthy of a man, who should delight in all good springing up anywhere, and befalling any man, naturally allied unto him; it is most unworthy of a Chriftian, who fhould tender his brother's good as his own,

and rejoice with thofe that rejoice. From thence to be SERM. drawn to caft reproach upon any man is horrible and hei- XVI. nous wickedness.

Rom. xii.

Neither should we ever ufe reproach as a means of 15. compaffing any defign we do affect or aim at: it is an unwarrantable engine of raifing us to wealth, dignity, or repute. To grow by the diminution, to rife by the depreffion, to fhine by the eclipfe of others, to build a fortune upon the ruins of our neighbour's reputation, is that which no honourable mind can affect, no honest man will endeavour. Our own wit, courage, and industry, managed with God's affiftance and bleffing, are sufficient, and only lawful inftruments of profecuting honest enterprises; we need not, we must not instead of them employ our neighbour's disgrace: no worldly good is worth purchafing at such a rate, no project worth achieving by fuch foul ways.

Neither should we out of malignity, to cherish or gratify ill humour, use this practice. It is obfervable of some perfons, that not out of any formed displeasure, grudge, or particular difaffection, nor out of any particular defign, but merely out of a xaxondela, an ill difpofition, springing up from nature, or contracted by use, they are apt to carp at any action, and with sharp reproach to bite any man that comes in their way, thereby feeding and foothing that evil inclination. But as this inhuman and currifh humour fhould be corrected and extirpated from our hearts, fo fhould the iffues thereof at our mouths be ftopped: the befpattering our neighbour's good name fhould never afford any fatisfaction or delight unto us.

Nor out of wantonness should we speak ill, for our divertisement or sport. For our neighbour's reputation is too great and precious a thing to be played with, or offered up to sport; we are very foolish in fo difvaluing it, very naughty in fo mifufing it. Our wits are very barren, our brains are ill furnished with store of knowledge, if we can find no other matter of conversation.

Nor out of negligence and inadvertency should we fputter out reproachful speech; fhooting ill words at

SERM. rovers, or not regarding who stands in our way. Among XVI. all temerities this is one of the most noxious, and therefore very culpable.

14.

In fine, we should never fpeak concerning our neighbour from any other principle than charity, or to any other intent but what is charitable; fuch as tendeth to 1 Cor. xvi. his good, or at leaft is confiftent therewith. Let all your things, faith St. Paul, be done in charity: and words are moft of the things we do concerning our neighbour, wherein we may express charity. In all our fpeeches therefore touching him, we should plainly fhew that we have a care of his reputation, that we tender his interest, that we even defire his content and repose. Even when reafon and need do fo require, that we should disclose and reprehend his faults, we may, we fhould, by the manner and scope of our fpeech, fignify thus much. Which rule, were it observed, if we should never speak ill otherwise than out of charity, furely most ill-speaking would be cut off; moft, I fear, of our tattling about others, much of our goffipping would be marred.

xvi. 24.

Indeed, so far from bitter or four our language should Prov.xv.26. be, that it ought to be sweet and pleasant; so far from rough and harsh, that it should be courteous and obliging; so far from fignifying wrath, ill-will, contempt, or animofity, that it should exprefs tender affection, good esteem, fincere refpect toward our brethren; and be apt to produce the like in them toward us: the sense of them should be grateful to the heart; the very found and acRom.xv. 2. cent of them fhould be delightful to the ear. Every one 1 Cor. x. 33. should please his neighbour for his good to edification. Our Col. iv. 6. words fhould always be ev xápit, with grace, feafoned with

falt; they fhould have the grace of courtesy, they should be seasoned with the falt of difcretion, fo as to be sweet and favoury to the hearers P. Commonly ill language is a certain fign of inward enmity and ill-will. Good-will is wont to shew itself in good terms; it clotheth even its

▸ Charitas-cum arguit mitis eft, cum blanditur fimplex eft: pie folet fævire, fine dolo mulcere; patienter novit irafci, humiliter indignari. S. Bern. Ep. ii.

grief handsomely, and its displeasure carrieth favour in its SER M. face; its rigour is civil and gentle, tempered with pity XVI. for the faults and errors which it difliketh, with the defire of their amendment and recovery whom it reprehendeth. It would inflict no more evil than is neceffary; it would cure its neighbour's disease without exasperating his patience, troubling his modefty, or impairing his credit. As it always judgeth candidly, fo it never condemneth extremely.

II. But fo much for the explication of this precept, and the directive part of our discourse. I shall now briefly propound fome inducements to the obfervance thereof.

Marcell.

1. Let us confider, that nothing more than railing and reviling is oppofite to the nature, and inconfiftent with the tenor of our religion 9; the which, as even a heathen did observe of it, nil nifi justum fuadet, et lene, doth re- Ammian. commend nothing but what is very juft and mild: which propoundeth the practices of charity, meekness, patience, peaceableness, moderation, equity, alacrity or good humour, as its principal laws, and declareth them the chief fruits of the divine Spirit and grace: which chargeth us to curb and compose all our paffions; more particularly to restrain and repress anger, animofity, envy, malice, and fuch like difpofitions, as the fruits of carnality and corrupt luft: which consequently drieth up all the sources, or dammeth up the fluices of bad language. As it doth above all things oblige us to bear no ill-will in our hearts, 1 Pet. iv. 8. so it chargeth us to vent none with our mouths.

2. It is therefore often expressly condemned and prohibited as evil. It is the property of the wicked, a cha

racter of those who work iniquity, to whet their tongues Pfal. Ixiv.3. like a fword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows,

even bitter words.

¶ Lingua Chriftum confeffa non fit maledica, non turbulenta, non convi, tiis et litibus perftrepens audiatur. Cypr. de Unit. Eccl.

Convitiis et maledictis quæfo vos abftinete; quia neque maledici regnum Dei confequentur ; et lingua quæ Chriftum confeffa eft, incolumis et pura cum fuo honore fervanda eft. Cypr. Ep. vii.

SERM. 3. No practice hath more fevere punishments deXVI. nounced to it than this. The railer (and it is indeed a

very proper and fit punishment for him, he being exceedingly bad company) is to be banished out of all good fo1 Cor. v.11.ciety; thereto St. Paul adjudgeth him: I have, faith he, now written unto you, not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with fuch an one not to eat. Ye fee what company the railer hath in the text, and with what a crew of people he is coupled but no good company he is allowed otherwhere; every good Chriftian fhould avoid him as a blot, and a peft of conversation: and finally he is fure to be excluded from the bleffed fociety above in heaven '; for 1 Cor.vi.10. neither thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners hall inherit the kingdom of God: and, Rev. xxii. Without (without the heavenly city) are dogs, faith St. John in his Revelation, that is, those chiefly who out of currish spite or malignity do frowardly bark at their neighbours, or cruelly bite them with reproachful language.

15.

4. If we look upon fuch language in its own nature, what is it but a fymptom of a foul, a weak, a difordered and distempered mind? It is the fmoke of inward rage and malice: it is a ftream that cannot iffue from a fweet fpring it is a ftorm that cannot blufter out of a Prov.xv.26. calm region. The words of the pure are pleasant words, as the Wife Man faith.

5. This practice doth plainly fignify low fpirit, ill breeding, and bad manners; and thence misbecometh any wise, any honest, any honourable perfon. It agreeth to children, who are unapt and unaccustomed to deal in matters confiderable, to fquabble; to women of meaneft rank, (apt by nature, or custom, to be transported with paffion,) to scold. In our modern languages it is termed

Hinc intelligere poffumus quam gravis fit et perniciofa maledictio, quando, etiamfi alia bona adfuerint, fola excludit a cœlo. Salv. de Guber. Dei, lib. iii.