Slanderers.
I. THERE ARE SUCH PEOPLE. David had to do with many of them—Doeg, Cush, Ziba, etc. And such ever haunt the precincts of courts. And they exist still. Note their characteristics.
1. They are not men who merely speak evil of their fellow men. No good man likes to do this. But sometimes it has to be done—in giving evidence in courts of law; for the sake of vindicating or warning others. Our Lord spoke evil of the scribes and Pharisees. But he did so because, not only was his witness true, but it was necessary to be given, for the people at large were deceived by them. And he spoke freely before their face, and never because of mere personal dislike and antipathy, though he could not but have felt that, but for the sake of the many whom they were leading astray. And he affirmed only what he knew to be true. When, then, we have to speak evil of another, let us speak only as Christ did—faithfully, openly, and for the sake of others rather than our own sake. Such evil speaking is not slander.
2. What, then, is slander? It is the speaking evil on hearsay rather than proof, or on half knowledge; it is generally cowardly, "backbiting" Psalms 15:1-5. calls it. The man would be ashamed to say it openly. The motive is malignant—seeking to do evil, or, if not that, there is a culpable carelessness as to the truth, which is almost as bad. This is what the psalmist seems to mean when he says, "Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing."
II. GREAT IS THE EVIL THAT THEY DO.
1. Often to the victim of their slander. (See Edna Lyall's 'Autobiography of a Slander.') Cf. Shakespeare, 'Othello'—
"Who steals my purse steals trash …
But he that filches from me my good name,
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed."
There are men in every rank of life whose whole career has been blighted by some cruel slander, which, often carelessly rather than maliciously, has been set going.
2. To the hearer of them. A shadow has come over your intercourse with the slandered one; confidence is destroyed or much shaken; you are drawn nearer to that mad state of mind which led David to say, "All men are liars." You don't know whom to trust.
3. To the slanderer himself most of all. If it has been spoken carelessly, as it so often is, and he comes to know of the evil he has wrought, it will be a lifelong regret to him. If it has been done out of malice, then he has done not a little to harden his conscience, to sear it as with a red-hot iron. Furthermore, he has incurred the anger of God, to whom slander is abhorrent (Psalms 5:6), and one of whose chief commands is, "Thou shalt not bear false witness," etc. And he loses his own self-respect; he carries about with him the consciousness of his crime and shame, and, when found out, as he is all but sure to be, he is the object of the merited scorn of his fellow men.
III. HOW TO DEAL WITH THEM. "Him will I cut off," says our text.
1. No doubt David would deal with such men in the ruthless, despotic way of an Eastern king. There would be but short shrift for such with him.
2. And so God will deal with them, unless they repent.
3. And so, in principle, should we deal with them. Be stern with the man who brings the slander; shun the company of such; warn others against him; compel the man to say openly what he has said in secret.
4. Such stern treatment necessary, for we are all prone to this sin. A burning coal thrown out in the road soon becomes dead; but cast it into a heap of straw, and then what conflagration ensues! The first pictures the fate of a good report of your neighbour—nothing comes of it. The second pictures the fate of an evil report—how that spreads fast and far! And slander is destructive of all brotherhood and confidence between man and Imam It flagrantly violates our Lord's golden rule, "Do unto others as you would," etc.
CONCLUSION.
1. Are you the victim of slander? Pray for your enemy, and forgive him; then go and tell him of his fault.
2. All are in danger of this sin. Therefore seek to have your heart filled with love; let the mind be in you which was also in Christ, then slander will become impossible to you.—S.C.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK