SOME of the pithiest and profoundest proverbs are shot from God’s quiver against the sin of slander. Take, for example, in one bundle, the passage in the 26th chapter of the Book of Proverbs, from the 18th verse to the close:—”As a madman, who casteth firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, Am not I in sport? Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out; so, where there is no tale-bearer, the strife ceaseth. As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. The words of a tale-bearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a potsherd covered with silver dross. He that hateth, dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him. When he speaketh fair, believe him not; for there are seven abominations in his heart. Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation. Whoso diggeth a pit, shall fall therein; and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him. A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it, and a flattering mouth worketh ruin.”
The wickedness and mischief here so pungently described, spring very much from simply listening to scandal, and then repeating it. “A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips, and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue.” Next after this extraordinary definition of a wicked doer and liar, one of the profoundest, pithiest, and most comprehensive proverbial truths is this, that a lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it. Let a man set a lie a-going against his neighbour, or let him take up such a lie and indorse it, and the more it injures his neighbour, the more cruelly and causelessly it maligns and tortures him, the more will the man committing this injury, hate him that endures it. Let any person launch a calumny, or freight it when launched, and he will begin forthwith to hate the slandered man, especially if he knows the story to be untrue and very injurious. In proportion as the mischief injures his neighbour, the slanderer will hate him. Slander has this pre-eminence over every other form of malice and wickedness; it kindles a deeper fire of depravity and malignity in the soul of the liar.
And if his neighbour, thus cruelly slandered and wounded, takes up the calumny and pursues it, and endeavours to defend himself against it, the slanderer will begin to think himself injured by such pursuit, will resent the defence as a personal violence, and may perhaps accuse the slandered man of abuse and malice and bitterness, because he pronounces the calumny a calumny, and seeks and produces the evidence to prove it such. A man who before was perfect friendly to another, may become his enemy, just simply by injuring him, may begin to hate him, just because he has done him wrong. This is one of the dread mysteries of depravity in our fallen nature, one of the proofs of a heart indeed set on fire of hell. And the mischief that the slanderer thus inflicts upon his own character, as well as the misery he may cause to the slandered man, is one of the reasons why God’s wrath is made to burn with such intensity against this sin.
The code of law in the Old Testament, and of love in the New, is marked in this respect. One of the greatest proofs of high civilization and purity in any country is the worth of reputation, and the care with which, by law and religion, a man’s character is protected from assault. God put it in His decalogue, thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. And He added, “If a false witness rise up against any man, to testify against him that which is wrong, then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges which shall be in those days, and the judges shall make diligent inquisition, and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother, then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother; and those that remain shall hear and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you.”
Hearsay could never be alleged in excuse for propagating or bearing witness to a calumny. Neither was one witness alone sufficient, much less a pretended witness who had only caught up the reverberation of the other’s report. It was set down by divine inspiration as one mark of a truly upright and good man, that he not only backbiteth not with his tongue nor doeth evil to his neighbour, but taketh not up a reproach against his neighbour. He receiveth it not, he doth not indorse it, nor bring it into his habitation as a guest. He will not stoop to take it up, if he meet it in the street; he will not be guilty of taking it up, in the sense of spreading it, reporting it, as a hearsay which he believes.
And if he sets his hand in writing, or in print, along with others, to a reproach thus wickedly taken up, it is as an unrighteous witness, much more deliberately, and therefore much more sinfully, with much greater guilt, both in the sight of God and man, than if he had merely given to the calumny a circulation with the tongue. No language can tell the misery that may be inflicted on an innocent and harmless victim in either way. How many households have been filled with misery and mourning all through life, how many hearts crushed with irremediable ruin and anguish, how many fair prospects blighted, and hopes of usefulness and happiness destroyed. And the author and reporter of the calumny is himself the assassin of the character, and the robber and the murderer of the slandered victim of his wickedness. Every pain the slandered man has to bear, every sharp pang that enters into his soul, the slanderer gives the stab. Every pecuniary loss that ensues, the slanderer is the highway robber; and as death is sometimes the result of a calumny, the slanderer in that case is the murderer.—C. B. Cheever, D.D.