Slander by Jos. CLARKE

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 8, 1870

Slander.

By Jos. CLARKE

“He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth slander, is a fool.” Prov. 10:18.

Who can tell the amount of injury done by the tongue of slander? Sometimes, in our courts, heavy damages are assessed against the slanderer; but oh! if we were all compelled to pay in dollars and cents the full amount of damage done by our unsanctified tongues, how many would be bankrupt, and how few would be clear of expense!

It is a serious, a solemn, thought, that this evil exists to so general an extent; that so many hearts harbor the fiend of discord and bitterness.

How many of us are clear in this matter? Who can say, I am clear in this respect? Is this evil so great as to constitute a crime in the common statute, and can we regard it lightly in ourselves? God forbid.

Shall church discipline descend to the level of common slander by brethren's dwelling upon each other's failings, in the absence of the offender? Sometimes it may be necessary to speak out in this matter; but is it not too common to speak of and discuss the sins of those whom we meet, with complacency?

Is it not hypocrisy of the basest kind, is it not slanderous, to talk out boldly upon matters we are not fully informed about?

Would we all like to take oath before a jury, to the truth of all our assertions and statements made in confidence to each other, concerning those whom we profess to love and esteem?

A person lately called to witness before a jury in a case of slander, was surprised that, in the prospect of an oath, he had no evidence at all, where before his heart was full of arguments against the accused party. How many church trials would adjourn sine die if the witnesses were all sworn before testifying?

Jos. CLARKE.