SERMON VII. Of the Nature and Extent of falfe PROV. xxiv. 28, 29. Be not a Witness against thy Neighbour without Cause, and deceive not with thy Lips: Say not, I will do to Him, as He hath done to Me; I will render to the man according to his Works. T HERE is nothing generally SER M. chofen than great Riches, and loving Fa- L 4 Efteem کا میرا SERM. Efteem of wife and good men, is the VII. greatest of all Temporal Encouragements to Virtue; and it is a Mark of an abandoned Spirit, to have no Regard to it. One cafe indeed there is, wherein the opinion of the World is not to be regarded: Which is, when the Circumftances of things are fuch, that the adhering to Truth and Virtue will neceffarily expofe a man to the Reproaches of ill men, and to the mistaken Cenfures of Many alfo who perhaps otherwife are good. In This Matt ii 11 Cafe, Blessed are ye, fays our Saviour, when men shall revile you, and perfecute you, and fhall fay all manner of evil against you falfely for my fake: Rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for great is your Reward in Heaven; For so perfecuted they the Prophets which were before you. But in all other cafes, Reputation or a good Name is justly to be valued. It is what the wifest and best men, have always been very tender of preferving in themselves; and what good Chriftians ought therefore to make great Confcience of taking wrongfully from Others. In fome Inftances, a clear reputation has been efteemed more valu able able even than Life itself; and, in many SER M. circumstances, defpoiling men of their VII. good name, is in effect the fame thing as defrauding them of their Property. So much reputation, is always fo much Power; and according to mens Efteem and Credit in the World, fo much proportionably is their Influence and the Weight they have in it. For the fame reasons therefore, that we are obliged not to injure our Neighbour in his Perfon or Property; for the fame reasons ought we to be very tender, of his good name and reputation: Always having a juft Regard to Truth and Charity, and to the Benefit and Advantage of the Publick. Be not a Witness against thy Neighbour without Caufe, and deceive not with thy Lips: Say not, I will do to Him, as He has done to Me; I will render to the man according to bis Works. WHO is meant by our Neighbour, in This and all other Precepts of the like nature; our Saviour has explained to us in his Parable of the good Samaritan. Where, by declaring Him to be the afflicted man's Neighbour, who, though a Stranger, though SER M. though a Foreigner, though of a different VII. Sect and Party from him both in religion and polity, yet affifted and faved him in a time of extreme diftrefs; he fhows us that our Neighbours, in the Sense of the divine Precepts, are not Thofe only who dwell near us, or with whom we chance to have particular Acquaintance, or who are of the fame Sect or Denomination with ourselves; but whosoever among all Mankind we have any Concern with ; whomsoever it happens at any time to be in our Power either to injure or do kindnefs to; in a word, whosoever can in any respect become the better or the worse, or receive any Hurt or any Benefit, by our Behaviour towards them. This is the meaning of the word, Neighbour, in Scripture-language, and in the religious estimation of things and in This fense it is to be understood in the Text, and in all other moral exhortations; Be not a Witnefs against thy Neighbour without caufe, and deceive not with thy Lips. : THE word which we here render, deceive; fignifies, in the original, any damage, any inconvenience, brought upon a man man in the way of flander, calumny, SER M. back-biting, or any other injurious man- VII. ner of representing him. The fenfe of the expreffion is the fame as in That Other Paffage in the fame book, ch. xxvi. 18; As a mad-man who cafteth Firebrands, arrows, and death; fo is the man that deceiveth his Neighbour, (that is, who revileth, defameth, or leads his Neighbour into Any Mifchief,) and faith, Am not I in sport? THE Meaning of the particular Phrases in the Text, being thus explained; I fhall, in the following Difcourfe, First, fet forth the Nature and Extent of the Sin here forbidden; together with the proper limitation of the Cafes and Circumstances, to which it does or does not extend. And Secondly, I fhall alledge the suitable Reafons and Motives, which ought to influence our Practice in this matter. Be not a Witness against thy Neighbour without caufe, and deceive not with thy Lips: Say not, I will do to Him, as He has done to Me; I will render to the man according to his Works. 1. First; |