The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1903-04-10
TH0U SHALT NOT BEAR FALSEsNlT.
NESS AGAINST THY HBIGHB0R.
TA Sermon by Rev. C. w. Boyd. in St
Paul's Episcopal Church, Nov. 231
l <S. -Ex. Xx, 49, q

a sermon ny Kew. T.. w. Boyd, IN st
Paurs Episcopal Church. Nov. 231 '5
The commandments Of the Deca>
logue are negative in form, but posi-
tive Id scope. Our Lord gave their
true Interpretation when he said,
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart and soul, and mind,
and thy neighbor as thy self. On these
two commandments hang all the law
and the prophets" We take this
ninth commandment to cover all sins
against ones neighbor committed by
the tongue, and they are manifold.
The sin Of slander is at once The
most deadly, and the most common.
That is the reason why throughout
scripture, in the Mosaic law, the
Psalms, the Proverbs, the prophetic
books, and in almost every Epistle Of
the New Testament it is persued with
such energy Of multiplied and scath-
ing denunciation.
Here is0ne description of slauder.
ers 3, 900 years ago; "There is no faith.
fulness in their mouth; their inward
part is very wickedness; their throat
is an open sepulchre, with their tom
gues they have used deceit; their
mouth is full Of curaing and bitter.
ness. Destruction and misery are in
their ways Here is another 2, 900
years old; Course the whisperer and
doubletongued, for such have destroy
ed many that were at peace. The
st, oke of the whip maketh marks in
the flesh, but the stroke of the tongues
breaketh the bones. Many have fallen
by the sword, but rot 80 many as
have fallen by the tongue" And here
is another written nearly 1900 years
ago b. the brother of our Lord. "The
tongue is fire.; the world of iniquity
among our members is the tongue,
which deiilelh the whole body, and
setteth on FIRE the wheel Of nature,
and is set On FIRE Of hell. It is rest.
less evil full of deadly poison"
Let us glance at some of the offenses
against the 9th commandment. I do
not speak with any hope of stemming
the mighty wave of maglignity, which
like tire tide on the coast Of Lanca-
shire, are a;ways shallow yet just high
enough to drown; but I wish I could
show to all Christians whom these
words reach, how absolutely unchris.
tian and anti-christian is every form
of this sin Of false witness against our
neighbor; how it is a sin of hell, and
turns earth into hell, and browns
every soul which delights therein in de-
struction aud perdition. St. John in
vision, saw that those who loved lie,
equally with those who made it, were
excluded from the Holy City.
Our attention is first drawn to call
umny and SANDER. It is one Of the
most insidio 8, basest and universal of
crimes; insidious because it can start
from nothing, and its first whisper.
ings are unperceiYed by its victim;
base because the generally diffused
nature of the offense makes it possible
for the perpetrator to strike his neigh
bor in the da k, and escape unpunish.
ed; universal because wherever the
unregenerate human heart is found
the slanderous tongues busy. Slander
allies man with the serpent and the
desil. The very name.devil-diab.
olos- used throughout scripture means
,auicrpr Two qualitiaa waich rive
,llnUlse - alauder, envy al pride,
ag7 ihpiaU95 laie;Qi uf h,;Malt 5..sure.
sHony ilauselqcs The slauderl-s
"a ti. i'1obnt 'Risiopl give Il zir req.
e.lh,il the fsaukucss vi Wilkins;
Let us lie in wait for the righteous.
because he is not for our turn, and is
clean contrary to our doings; he up
braideth US and objecteth to our infa.
N.Y." Each ration in turn fails
to see that this hatred Of the good by
the bad, evincing self by savage
deeds or singing words, is part of the
normal history of the world. This de-
probation, this holding up to con-
tempt and ridicule by railers is part of
the tribute which vice pays to virtue.
In old days men murdered the prop.
hets and shed the innocent bloc d, in
these they slay by slander. In all ages,
cJuics, worldings, envious rivals, and
those who hate the righteous, sharpen
their tongues like razor, to wound
the honest regulations of those they
count their enemies. It is a significant
fact that the great and good of all
ages have been pursued with vitupera-
ton ond SANDER. Moses, David, the
prophets, one and all were Yilified
This spirit Of vituperation said of
John the Baptist that he had devil;
it called the Lord Jesus himself
glutton,oa wine-bibber, deceiver,
Samaritan, tailor, and u demoniac;
it flung its poisonous robe over the
life and career of St Paul; throughout
the Pagan world, it made the name
Of christian synonym Of malefactor;
it drove St. Jerome from Rome; it
still raves against the names of Martin
Luther. and Oliver Cromwell; it al
msst broke the gentle heart of Tillot-
son; IN the form Of party spite it in
cessantly as,ailed the names Of Fred
ric Maurice, Charles Kingley, and
Archbishop TAFT; and vexed with re
ligious malignity the very death bed
Of Arthur Stanley. In these days, as
in all days man is hardly worth his
can hardly be said to have
taken brave and open stand in the