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does what in him lies to destroy all the securities of society, to undermine the very basis of its constitution, and to reduce it to a state of pitiable and wretched barbarism. If even among men of the world every species of untruth is considered despicable and degrading, O how high should be the standard of veracity and sincerity among the disciples of that Divine Master, "in whose lips was found no guile !" My Christian brethren,

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speak ye every one truth to his neighbor ;"-truth without subter

fuge and without equivocation ;-truth which will bear the scrutiny of conscience; yes, and of that Searcher of the heart, "whose eyes are as a flame of fire."

These abuses include

2. All that is inconsistent with the feelings of Christian kindness and charity.

On this head I offer, without apology, the forcible and pungent remarks of Dr. Chalmers:-" It is a fault to speak evil one of another, but the essence of the fault lies in the want of that charity which thinketh no evil. Had the heart been filled with this principle, no such bad thing as slander would have come out of it.-The forms of evil speaking, however, break out into manifold varieties. There is the resentful outcry. There is the manly and indignant disapproval. There is the invective of vulgar malignity. There is the poignancy of satirical remark. There is the

giddiness of mere volatility, which spreads its entertaining levities over a gay and light-hearted party. These are all so many transgressions of one and the same duty: and you can easily conceive an enlightened Christian sitting in judgment over them all, and taking hold of the right principle upon which he would condemn them all; and which, if brought to bear with efficacy on the consciences of the dif ferent offenders, would not merely silence the passionate evil-speaker out of his outrageous exclamations, and restrain the malignant evil-speaker from his deliberate thrusts at the reputation of the absent; but would rebuke the humorous evil-speaker out of his fanciful and amusing

sketches, and the gossiping evilspeaker out of his tiresome and neverending narratives."

To this vivid and pointed specification by the Christian preacher, allow me to add a sentence or two from the pen of a French moralist; appealing, it is confessed, to principles of an inferior order, yet such as are well calculated to produce effect:-"He of whom you delight to speak evil, may become acquainted with what you have said; and he will be your enemy or, if he remain in ignorance of it, you will still have to reproach yourself with the meanness of attacking one who had no opportunity of defending himself. If scandal is to be secret, it is the crime of a coward;

if it is to become known, it is the crime of a madman."

The abuses to be avoided include3. All that is inconsistent with the utmost delicacy and purity.

Hear the inspired writer of the Epistle to the Ephesians:-"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient:" or rather, which are not to be tolerated; being highly offensive to God, and highly injurious to man. From the import of the terms employed in the original, the Apostle is supposed to advert here, to artfully turned expressions, in which more is meant than meets the ear, and more than the modest ear could tolerate;

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