Το his fellow-creatures, it is his undoubted duty to conquer Every man has a right to be thought and spoken of according to his real character. Consequently, whoever, by any means, direct or indirect, is the occasion of his neighbour's being worse thought, or spoken of than he deserves, is guilty of injuring his neighbour; and all injurious treatment of a fellow-creature is contrary to rectitude, and inconsistent with the love we ought to have for our neighbour, which ought to be equal to that with which one loves himself. The most atrocious injury against our neighbour's reputation is, false witness before a judge. The laws of several nations have condemned the guilty of this crime to suffer the same punishment, to which the law exposed the person sworn against. But I know no punishment too severe for a crime of so black a nature, and which draws along with it such horrid consequences. To take the eternal God of truth to witness to a known falsehood; to defeat the very intention of an oath, which is often the only possible means for the discovery of truth; to render all human testimony suspicious; to stop the course of justice, and open a door to all manner of iniquity and violence; to blast the character of an innocent person in the most public manner, and in the manner the most effectual for ruining it, as being the most likely to gain belief to his prejudice; to violate his property, perhaps to reduce himself and his family to beggary; or to be the cause of passing upon him a sentence of death for what he never was capable of committing; to take a false oath against a person before a court is to be guilty of such black and complicated crimes as these: And for this our law inflicts a punishment, which a little money given the constable, makes almost no punishment! To spread a false report against any person, is contrary to the love we ought to have for our neighbour, and to justice, whether it be known to be such, or invented for the 4 purpose by the publisher, or whether it be a mere surmise or suspicion. To invent a lie, or propagate a known falsehood, to the prejudice of any person's character, is taking up the office of Satan himself who is styled in Scripture the Accuser. But, that even insinuations, and whispers, or nods and shrugs, by which an innocent character may be blasted or ruined, are wicked and cruel, every man's conscience will tell him, if he will put it to himself, how he should like to be so used, or reflect upon the uneasiness it gave him, if ever he suffered in the same manner. If by sneering and ridicule, upon an innocent infirmity a person may be laughed out of the respect and esteem, which every worthy character deserves, it is evident, that such wantonly mischievous mirth is highly unjustifiable. The cruelty of all practices, which tend to lessen the reputation of an innocent person, appears plainly from the value of reputation; which is always dear to great and wor thy minds; and the loss of which is in some cases peculiarly fatal. The characters of a clergyman, a governor of youth, a trader, or a virgin, are more delicate than those of other persons. And whoever is capable of wan tonly attacking such characters, must be wholly void of sentiment for his fellow-creatures. There is a peculiarity in the vice we are now treating of, which renders this more atrocious, than that of invading our neighbour's property. It is, that often the injured person is robbed of what is to him of inestimable worth, and the cruel spoiler not enriched by the rapine. For the defamer commonly reaps neither profit, honour, nor pleas ure, unless the indulgence of malice can be called a pleasure,-which, if it is, Satan must be a very happy being. The defamer is as much more infamous than the open railer, as the dark assassin is more to be dreaded than the fair challenger. And the defamer and assassin resemble one another, in that the wounds which both give, prove often incurable. Reader, if thou makest it thy practice to divert thyself with mischief, or to strive to build thyself an ill-founded reputation upon the ruins of thy neighbour's, or thinkest, by undermining him, to get thyself into the advantages he now enjoys; remember I have told thee there will be no triumph hereafter, when thou comest to be judged for thy idle words. The ill-gotten advantages, thou mayest reap from thy base treachery to thy brother, if thou shouldest be successful, which is seldom the case, will bring a curse along with them, a canker-worm, that will destroy both them and thee. And take notice, no malicious, envious, or cruel disposition will find any admittance into the seats of future bliss. If thou thinkest to be hereafter a companion of angels and spirits of good men, resolve in time to form thy mind to universal benevolence. Learn to consider even the abandoned offender as still a human creature, the production of the same goodness which made thyself; as not yet out of the reach of the Divine Grace, and therefore not to be given up as absolutely irrecoverable, and if recoverable, again a fit object for thy love; for thy Maker's love. Do not therefore dare in thy mind to hate or despise, nor in thy conversation to reflect, but with pity and humanity, upon even the real vices of thy fellow-creature, much less to blacken his unspotted reputation. The day will come, when thou shalt stand before the same judgment seat with him. He is not thy creature, but God's. Leave him to God. Is a fellow-creature guilty of a fault? So art thou. It is no part of thy duty to inquire into his faults, or to lay them open to others, unless to prevent the mischief thou knowest he is preparing to do another. If thou art not sure of a superior good to be gained by discovering thy neighbour's faults, why shouldest thou take upon thee the character of an informer? If thy neighbour is really guilty, why shouldest thou be ambitious of the office of an executioner, or delight in lashing offenders? If thou hast been so wicked as basely to stab the reputation of thy innocent fellow-creature, I charge thee, as thou lovest thy soul, that thou endeavour to heal up the wound thou hast made.-Take care, that every single person, be the number ever so great, whose ear thou hast abused, be set right with respect to the character of the innocent. If those, whose minds thou hast poisoned, have communicated the venom to others, be sure to trace the wicked lie, the spawn of thy own foul tongue, through all its doublings, and destroy it, that it may spread its deadly influence no farther. Take shame to thyself, and do justice to innocence. Thou hadst better suffer shame now, than hereafter before God, angels, and men. It is plainly contrary to the benevolent affection we ought to have for our fellow-creature, to put him to any pain or distress of body, as by beating, wounding, or maiming, unless in self-defence, when unjustly attacked; in lawful war; or in case of his having deserved corporal correction, and if we are authorised by a just law to inflict, or cause it to be inflicted upon him. If it be contrary to the affection we ought to have for our neighbour, to put him to bodily pain needlessly, or unjustly, it is much more so, to deprive him of life, unless he has forfeited it according to law. This injury is so much the more atrocious, as it is irreparable. And it seems to me very much to be doubted, whether human authority ought in reason to be extended to the pardon of the murder of the innocent. Scripture is express, "that he who sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." There seems to be in this crime somewhat peculiarly offensive to Heaven, in that the Divine Providence does so often, by most striking and wonderful interpositions, bring the authors of it to light in a manner different from what happens in other cases. For, of the numbers, who lose their lives by violence, it is remarkable, that there are few instances of the murderer's escaping. That in so great and wicked a city as London, for example, there should not every year be many people missing, being made away with secretly, and the authors of their death never found, is very remarkable. We find that often the sagacity of dogs, and other animals, and even inanimate things, have been the occasion of bringing this foul crime to light. But the most common means of the discovery of bloody deeds has been conscience, which acting the part of a torturer, has forced the tongue, through extremity of anguish, to disclose the secret, which no other but itself could bring to light. It being by pride and passion, that men are incited to break loose upon one another in acts of violence, it is plain that the best method of preventing our falling into them is, by subduing those fatal passions, which transport us beyond the power and use of reason. And if nothing tends more to enflame every passion, than the use of strong liquors, how cautious ought we to be of indulging the maddening draught, which may drive us upon extravagances, we could not in our cooler hours believe ourselves capable of? Cruelty, even to the brute creation, is altogether unjustifiable, much more to our fellow-creatures. Nor can any thinking person believe it possible, that a mind disposed to barbarity, or insensible of the miseries of our fellow-beings, can be at all fit for a future state, in which goodness is to prevail. A wise man will dread the beginning of quarrels. For no one knows where a quarrel, once begun, may end. None of us knows how much of the evil spirit is either in himself or in his adversary. And he, who begins, is in conscience answerable for all the consequences. Nor was there ever a falling out without folly, at least on one side, if not on both. Were one sure the worst that was to happen would be the ruffling of his own or his neighbour's temper, or the discomposing of their spirits, even that cannot be without guilt. And is an empire of consequence enough to make any thinking man offend God, and endanger his or his neighbour's soul? Tremble, reader, at the thought of being suddenly snatched away, (as nothing is more common than sudden death) and sent into the world of spirits, hot from a contest with a fellow-creature, and fellow-christian. Hurting our neighbour's health by tempting him to be guilty of intemperance, is as really contrary to that affection we ought to have for him, as wounding, or poisoning him. It is no more an alleviation of the guilt of seducing him into debauchery, that it may not cut him off in less than several years, (which is likewise more than can be certainly affirmed) than it is less murder to poison in the Italian manner, than with a dose of arsenic. But to lead a fellow-creature into a course of debauchery is, as above observed, poisoning both soul and body at once. To grieve, afflict, or terrify a fellow-creature needlessly, or unjustly, is injuring him as to his soul. And the anguish of the mind being more severely felt than bodily pain the inflicting the former upon an innocent person is a greater act of cruelty. It is therefore shocking to think how one half of mankind sport with the anguish of the |