3. He that backbiteth not with histongue. After the
positive comes the negative. There is a sinful way of backbiting with the heart
when we think too hardly of a neighbor, but it is the tongue which does the
mischief. The tongue is not steel, but it cuts, and its wounds are very hard to
heal. Nor doeth evil to his neighbor. Loving our neighbor as ourselves
will make us jealous of his good name, careful not to injure his estate, or by
ill example to corrupt his character. Nor taketh up a reproach against hisneighbor. He is a fool if not a knave who picks up stolen goods and harbors
them; in slander as well as robbery, the receiver is as bad as the thief. If
there were no gratified hearers of ill reports, there would be an end of the
trade of spreading them. “Show that man out!” we would say of a drunkard; yet it
is very questionable whether his unmannerly behavior will do us as much mischief
as the tale-bearer’s insinuating story. Our Lord spoke evil of no one, but
breathed a prayer for his foes; we must be like him, or we shall never be with
him.
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