The wise man has observed respecting it, "He that uttereth a slander is a fool" (Prov. x. 18); and its folly is obvious in many ways. A slanderer of any man's good name, is more despised than even the common plunderer. Sterne writes, "To pass an ill-natured reflection upon an undesigning action; to invent, or, which is equally bad, to propagate a vexatious report without colour and grounds; to plunder an innocent man of his character and good name—a jewel which perhaps he has starved himself to purchase, and probably would hazard his life to secure; to rob him, at the same time, of his happiness and peace of mind, perhaps his bread, the bread, may be, of a virtuous family; and all this, as Solomon says of the madman, who casteth about fire-brands, arrows, and death, 'Am I not in sport?—all this out of wantonness, and oftener from worse motives; the whole appears such a complication of badness as requires no words or warmth of fancy to aggravate."
The slanderer is looked upon as a common enemy; and hence, if we would find a welcome in society, the best way is to keep "our tongue from evil, and our lips from speaking guile."
"Slander is indeed folly" for we never see those who are wise in the truth of the Word indulge in it. "A rightcous man hateth lying." The slanderer banishes himself from all good society; and even when he speaks the truth, so much is he distrusted, that the truth itself is hardly credited if it proceed from him. And if it be a truth that "whosoever loveth and maketh a lie, shall net enter into the holy city," how supremely foolish must that man be who is guilty of slander, of bearing false witness against his neighbour!
