Scandal by Newman Hall, D. D.

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Aug 17, 1882

Scandal.

By Newman Hall, D. D.

THERE is perhaps no sin more prevalent among professors of religion, and less recognized as sinful, than speaking evil of others. There are many persons who would not for the world steal a dollar, or tell a downright lie, or carry on Sunday trade, or give up church-going, who yet make a habit of talking scandal. This, sometimes, is even dignified with a religious semblance. Some evidently consider that Sunday talk is discussing religious people. If Parson This or Deacon That is put under the microscope, and his defects, real or supposed, pointed out; if the misdoings of another sect or a rival congregation are descanted on, this is religious conversation. It may be the worst abuse of the tongue. How much less opposed to the association of Sunday, how much less irreligious, it would be to discuss the markets and the harvest, or even the theater and the ball-room, than thus to offend against the charity which is the very essence of true Christianity. St. Paul tells us that we may read the Bible in its original tongues, and preach it in all the languages of the world, and possess the most profound knowledge of theology, and expound it with angelic eloquence, and be the instrument of doing more good in converting sinners than if we healed the sick, and raised the dead, and in ostentatious benevolence give all our property to the poor, and in the enthusiasm of zeal give our body to the stake; and yet that, if destitute of charity, all this would profit us nothing. And of charity he says that it "thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity," and "beareth all things" or covereth over all things. It takes no pleasure in hearing or talking of the fancied or real faults of others. Elsewhere he says: "Let all bitterness and evil-speaking be put away from you, with all malice." St. James says: "Speak not evil one of another." And the Old Testament also describes the righteous man as one who "lifteth not up a reproach against his neighbor."

The most malignant kind of evil-speaking is inventing the slander; but, as Isaac Barrow says, there is not much difference between the great devil who makes it, and the little imps who circulate it. Says one: "I don't bear false witness; I only tell what I've heard." But how do you know it is not false? How seldom they who spread an evil report take any pains to investigate its truth. It may be false; and, if so, you are bearing false witness. Be sure before you repeat a charge that it is true. Once uttered, you cannot recall it. He to whom you tell it, tells others. If you find out you were mistaken, you are unable to correct the mistaken views you have given to others. And, even if we know the accusation is true, we ought not to publish it, unless to do more good than by concealing it. Before repeating an evil report, we should ask: "Does charity prompt me? Am I seeking the good of others?" If it is not a painful duty, is it not a pleasurable sin?

Yes, there are people who evidently take pleasure in spreading evil reports. Is it from a wanton exercise of power? They love to be the cause of excitement and wonder in others. They pretend to prevent mischief by enjoining their auditors not to tell anybody. Is not this because they wish to secure the monopoly of being the first to tell it themselves? Often this practice arises from envy. The rich, the wise, the good are rendered less superior to ourselves, when some evil is said of them. So by slander they are brought down more to our level. Sometimes it arises from hatred and revenge. This is a cowardly method of retaliation. Sometimes it arises from pride. There is a secret self-laudation in finding fault with another. The scandal-monger seems to say: "How much better I am!" Some seem to think that there is a fixed amount of merit and of praise in the world; and so the more they deprive others of it, the more they reserve to themselves.

How hypocritical is the sorrow of the evil speaker! He prefaces his scandal with: "I've been dreadfully shocked to hear such and such things. I'm very, very grieved to have to tell you so and so." But how often beneath this mask there is a "rejoicing in iniquity." There is positive satisfaction, there is an exultation, ill-concealed, at the inconsistencies and disgrace of an enemy, of a rival, of any one who has stood high in the estimation of others. The evil-speaker should bear in mind that, whether the person maligned be guilty or innocent, the speaker condemns himself as lacking that charity without which he is nothing.

A friend of the writer, just dead, would never tolerate evil-speaking in his presence, always saying: "Don't take the judge's chair." Another, when evil is spoken against another, says: "Go on. I'm ready to hear. Only remember, I shall go at once to the person, and tell him all you say of him." Another used to exclaim: "Stop the trial till we send for the accused, and hear what he has to say for himself." Utterly opposed to this love of scandal is the charity which thinketh no evil. It delights in goodness, looks for it, and prompt to recognize every sign of it, and heartily commends it to others. As a mother, because she loves her child, is loth to accept as true any accusation brought against it, but is prompt to believe whatever is said in the child's praise; so charity to our neighbor will lead us to believe all things in his favor, so far as it is possible, and even, in the absence of evidence, to "hope all things." As greedy vultures pouncing down on a putrid carcass, as filthy flies buzzing round a stinking dirt-heap, are the gossips who, with evident relish, utter detraction or listen to it. As the lark, which soars and sings only in the light, as bees, which are attracted only by the flowers that exhale sweetness, so are the possessors of that charity which thinketh no evil, but rejoiceth in the truth.—Newman Hall, D. D.