6. And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity. His visits of sympathy are visitations of mockery. It is wretched to
have spies haunting one’s bedroom, calling in pretense of kindness, but with
malice in their hearts. Hypocritical talk is always fulsome and sickening to
honest people, but especially to suffering saints. Our divine Lord had much of
this from the false hearts that watched his words. His heart gathereth iniquity to itself. From the purest words and deeds malice can gather
groundwork for calumnious report. It is perfectly marvelous how spite spins
webs out of no materials whatever. It is no small trial to have base people
around you lying in wait for every word which they may pervert to evil. The
Master whom we serve was constantly subject to this affliction. When he goeth abroad, he telleth it. He is no sooner out of the house than he outs
with his lie, and this against a sick man whom he called to see as a friend.
How far abroad people will go to publish their slanders! A little fault is made
much of; a slip of the tongue is a libel, a mistake a crime, and if a word can
bear two meanings the worse is always fathered upon it. It is base to strike a
man when he is down, yet such is the meanness of mankind towards a Christian
hero should he for a while chance to be under a cloud.
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