Page:Sermons by John-Baptist Massillon.djvu/107

 pretext of  zeal;  that  the  same  charity,  which,  in  piety,  makes  us hate  sinners,  makes  us  likewise  cover  the  multitude  of  their  faults: — last truth.

Part I. — The  tongue,  says  the  apostle  James,  is  a  devouring fire, a  world  of  iniquity,  an  unruly  evil,  full  of  deadly  poison. And, behold,  what  I  would  have  applied  to  the  tongue  of  the  evil-speaker,  had  I  undertaken  to  give  you  a  just  and  natural  idea  of all  the  enormity  of  this  vice, — I  would  have  said,  that  the  tongue  of the  slanderer  is  a  devouring  fire,  which  tarnishes  whatever  it touches;  which  exercises  its  fury  on  the  good  grain,  equally  as  on the  chaff;  on  the  profane,  as  on  the  sacred;  which  wherever  it passes,  leaves  only  desolation  and  ruin;  digs  even  into  the  bowels of the  earth,  and  fixes  itself  on  things  the  most  hidden;  turns  into vile ashes,  what,  only  a  moment  before,  had  appeared  to  us  so  precious and  brilliant;  acts  with  more  violence  and  danger  than  ever, in the  time  when  it  was  apparently  smothered  up  and  almost  extinct; which  blackens  what  it  cannot  consume,  and  sometimes sparkles and  delights  before  it  destroys. I would  have  told  you, that evil-speaking  is  an  assemblage  of  iniquity;  a  secret  pride, which discovers  to  us  the  mote  in  our  brother's  eye,  but  hides  the beam which  is  in  our  own;  a  mean  envy,  which,  hurt  at  the  talents or prosperity  of  others,  makes  them  the  subject  of  its  censures, and studies  to  dim  the  splendour  of  whatever  outshines  itself;  a disguised  hatred,  which  sheds,  in  its  speeches,  the  hidden  venom of the  heart;  an  unworthy  duplicity,  which  praises  to  the  face,  and tears to  pieces  behind  the  back;  a  shameful  levity,  which  has  no command  over  itself  or  words,  and  often  sacrifices  both  fortune and comfort  to  the  imprudence  of  an  amusing  conversation;  a delicate  barbarity,  which  goes  to  pierce  your  absent  brother; a scandal,  where  you  become  a  subject  of  shame  and  sin  to  those who listen  to  you;  an  injustice,  where  you  ravish  from  your brother what  is  dearest  to  him. I would  have  said,  that  slander is a  restless  evil,  which  disturbs  society,  spreads  dissension  through cities and  countries,  disunites  the  strictest  friendships,  is  the source of  hatred  and  revenge,  fills,  wherever  it  enters,  with  disturbances and  confusion,  and  every  where  is  an  enemy  to  peace, comfort, and  Christian  good-breeding. Lastly, I  would  have  added, that it  is  an  evil  full  of  deadly  poison;  whatever  flows  from  it  is infected,  and  poisons  whatever  it  approaches;  that  even  its  praises are empoisoned,  its  applauses  malicious,  its  silence  criminal,  its gestures, motions,  and  looks,  have  all  their  venom,  and  spread  it each  in  their  way.

Behold, what  in  this  Discourse  it  would  have  been  my  duty, more at  large,  to  have  exposed  to  your  view,  had  I  not  proposed only to  paint  to  you  the  vileness  of  the  vice,  which  I  am  now going to  combat;  but,  as  I  have  already  said,  these  are  only  general invectives,  which  none  apply  to  themselves. The more  odious the vice  is  represented,  the  less  do  you  perceive  yourselves  concerned in  it;    and  though   you  acknowledge  the  principle,  you