He that bideth hatred with lying lips, and be that uttereth a flander, is a fool (b)? Well may he be pronounced memorable for folly, who remembereth not that the words of his lips are recorded against the day of retribution. Do you wonder at the declarations of the Pfalmift, that whofe privily flandereth his neighbour shall be cut off: that if any man would dwell in the presence of the Moft High, he must be one who backbiteth not with his tongue, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour (i)? Is not the language of the New Testament on this fubject in full agreement with that of the Old? Does not St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans, name backbiters among the greatest offenders? Does not he expressly warn the Corinthians against backbiting as a great offence? Does not he pointedly express both to Timothy and Titus the finfulefs of falfe accufers (k)?

An

What were the engines of fin by which ruin was brought upon mankind? open falfehood and a difguifed flander. An open falfehood: for the devil unequivocally averred, that man fhould not die, though he should eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree. A disguised flander; for

(b) Prov. x. 18. (i) Pf. ci. 5. xv. 3. () Rom. i. 30. 2 Cor. xii, 20. 2 Tim. iii. 3. Titus, ii. 3.

the infinuating temper imputed to God other motives than the true one, motives even of jealoufy and felfifhnefs, for prohibiting man from eating of it. Hence the devil is pronounced by our Saviour to be a liar, and the father of lies. Hence too the Jews, as liars, are pronounced the children of the devil. As the imitators, the flaves, the children of the devil, all liars, whether they deal in open falsehood or in lurking flander, are objects of detestation to Almighty God. A lying tongue the Lord hateth: lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. All liars fhall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimStone (1).

There is yet another garb which deceit wears, that of flattery. In this garb you veil deceit, when you ascribe to another that praise to which you do not believe him tò be entitled: or convey to him in any manner tinctured with infincerity the applause which you apprehend him to deserve. In the first cafe, the flattery is direct lying: in the second, if not in the first also, it is hypocrify. The flatterer exaggerates the excellence of the perfons whom he purposes

) Prov. vi. 17. xii. 22. Rev. xxi. 8.

to

to conciliate; knowingly represents them as more virtuous, or more powerful, or more wife, or more useful, or more valued, than he deems to be the fact: approaches them with looks and geftures of ftudied complaifance; addreffes them with an affumed air of humility, admiration or attachment; and hesitates not, for the fake of forwarding his own selfish designs, to fawn upon their humours, to encourage their prejudices, to affect their opinions, to aggravate their refentments, to flander any object of their dif like, or even to panegyrize and stimulate their vices. He utters fmooth words to deceive. The words of his mouth will be smoother than butter when war is in his heart; his words will be fofter than oil, when they are intended to act as drawn swords. Hẹ Speaks vanity with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart doth he fpeak. But his doom is already on record: All flattering lips the Lord fhall cut off (m).

My brethren: you affirm yourselves to be the difciples of Chrift Jefus. Look then to your pattern. He did no fin, neither was guile found in his mouth. If you would love life, and fee good days:

refrain your tongue from evil, and your lips that they speak no guile. Of those who are defcribed in the book of Revelations as redeemed from among men, the firft-fruits unto God and the Lamb, one characteristic is, that in their mouth was found no guile. And in the fame portentous book the world is repeatedly forewarned that whosoever loveth and maketh a lie, shall not enter into the New Jerufalem, the kingdom of the Lord Jesus.

VIII. Let me, in the next place, call upon you to unite in detefting all fins of the tongue which are violations of modefty.

On a fubject fo difgufting I fhall not enlarge. But I must folemnly deliver to you the testimony of the Scriptures against every one who is guilty of fuch offences. Indecent converfation is stigmatised in Holy Writ by the name of filthiness. Put off all filthy communication out of your mouth. Let not filthiness once be named among you (n). There is indeed no fin which is more odious in its nature, more expreffive of a depraved and polluted heart. Let not

any one imagine that the offence is diminished in the fight of God, when the licentious meaning is obfcured by ambiguous language, or lurks under diftant allufions. God looks into the bofom, and fees all its abominations. Chrift hath called you unto holinefs. You are required to be holy, as he was holy; pure, as he was pure. A true Chriftian will not only watch over his lips, that they may not inadvertently overstep the bounds of delicacy, nor approach fo near to them as to be in danger of trefpaffing: but he will fhun and difcountenance all difcourfe, which leads to temptation. It is a fhame, faith the Apostle, to speak of fuch things as are done in fecret by the wicked. No unclean perfon bath any inheritance in the kingdom of Chrift and of God (o).

IX. I close the gloomy catalogue of fins of the tongue with one, which in prefumption exceeds all others, profaneness.

This fin comprehends every irreverent expreffion concerning the Deity, his titles, his attributes, his providence, his revelation, his judgements. Sometimes it exercises it

(e) Eph. v. 5. 12.