Psalms 15:3

He that backbiteth not with his tongue.

How may detraction be best prevented or cured

The abuses of the tongue are many, one whereof is the malignity of it. A man can scarce come into any company but his ears shall be filled with censures, detractions, reproaches; party against party, person against person. Doctrine: It is the duty, and must be the care, of every true Christian not to take up a reproach against his neighbour.

I. Explain the point.

1. Who is my neighbour? It is the peculiarity of the Gospel that every man is made my neighbour. Augustine says, “Every man is a neighbour to any other man.” Kimchi says, “He is called my neighbour with whom I have any business.”

2. What is a reproach?

(1) It is nothing else but an evil report, or an evil speech, unduly uttered concerning another. A report is evil in two ways--when it is evil in itself, a false report, and when it is evil to a man’s neighbour, when your speech tends to your neighbour’s disparagement and defamation.

(2) When a man publisheth a neighbour’s secret infirmities or sins.

(3) When a man aggravates the real or supposed faults of his neighbour either in opinion or practice. Men often censure others for things indifferent and of small moment, as, for example, in their habits and garbs.

3. What is it to take up a reproach against a man’s neighbour? It is a defective manner of expression, and therefore is diversely supplied, but especially and most reasonably two ways--when he takes it up into his mouth, and is the first raiser of the reproach, or the spreader and promoter of it; and when he takes it into his ear. This he may do when he quietly permits it, and gives no check to it; when he hears a reproach greedily, and with delight; and when he easily believes a reproach.

II. The proof of the doctrine. This shall consist in the representation of the sinfulness and injury of this practice of censuring, backbiting, and reproaching of others.

1. It is injurious to God. As an invasion of God’s prerogative: a manifest breach of His laws. It is against particular and express Scriptures; against the fundamental law of love and charity; against the “royal law” of Christ; against the great law of maintaining peace among men; against the great command laid upon all Christians, of excelling other men: it is a sin against the whole design and scope of the Scriptures; it is a great injury to God, because it is a confederacy with God’s greatest enemy, the devil.

2. It is an injury done to thyself. Hereby thou dost contract guilt, the worst of all evils. Hereby thou dost expel or weaken that excellent grace of love, that necessary and fundamental grace, that sweet and amiable grace. Hereby thou dost lay a foundation for thy own reproach.

3. It is a great injury to the person whom thou dost censure and reproach. Thou dost rob him of the best treasure he hath in the world. Hereby thou dost disenable him from getting good, both as to his outward and as to his inward man. Hereby thou dost hinder him from doing of good in the world.

4. It is a great injury to other men. Thou corruptest others by thy example. Thou art a disturber of human society. Thou art a great enemy to the Church of God.

Two questions--

1. May I not speak evil of another person when it is true? A man may be faulty in so doing. A man may speak evil of another person when necessity requires it. If you will speak evil of others, do it in the right method. In doubtful cases silence is the safest way.

2. If the man I speak against is an enemy of God and His people? Well to remember there is much sinful zeal in the world and in the Church. Con-eider how easy a mistake is in this case, and how dangerous. And you must not go out of your way to meet with God’s enemies.

Application:

1. Lamentation for the gross neglect of this duty, or the frequent commission of this sin.

2. Take heed that you be not found guilty of this sin.

3. Avoid the causes of this sin. Take heed of uncharitableness, in all its kinds and degrees. Take heed of loquacity and multitude of words. Take heed of pragmaticalness, which is when men are inquisitive and busy about other men’s matters. Take heed of man-pleasing.

4. Learn the government of your tongues. (Matthew Poole, A. M.)

The good man no backbiter

“He that backbiteth not with his tongue.” That is an extraordinary expression! To bite with the tongue! But the word is even more expressive still. The backbiter is one who walks along the way for the purpose of spying out another’s defects. He then takes the products of his ugly search and presses them into his social intercourse, and endows his words with teeth that are coated with venom. The companion of the Lord paces the common way with quite a different purpose. He, too, spies about, but not with the eyes of the cynic, but with the eyes of a friend, and “his words are a fountain of life.” (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)

Venomous speech

We saw in the museum at Venice an instrument with which one of the old Italian tyrants was accustomed to shoot poisoned needles at the objects of his wanton malignity; we thought of gossips, backbiters, and secret slanderers, and wished that their mischievous devices might come to a speedy end. Their weapons of innuendo, shrug, and whisper appear to be as insignificant as needles, but the venom which they instill is deadly to many a reputation. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Slander avoided

1. Slander. All reproachful, opprobrious, and vile speech of or to our brethren is condemned; and that speech which, uttered in their absence, tendeth to their disgrace, discredit, or defamation. This evil is against the law of charity. Satan is the author of slander. See his words to Eve. St. James, speaking of slander, said the tongue was full of deadly poison. This sin is in sundry ways committed. Diogenes, being asked, what beast bit sorest, answered, “Among wild beasts, the slanderer; but among tame beasts, the flatterer.”

(1) When anything is falsely said of us, and we are charged with matters that are untrue.

(2) When men, by vehemency of words, aggravate and amplify the infirmities and light offences of men.

(3) When men blaze abroad the secret sins and infirmities of their brethren.

(4) When we deprave the good deeds and well doing of men.

(5) When, by our manner of speaking, we leave a surmise and suspicion in the hearts of the hearers.

(6) When we report truly the faults of men, yet not for love to the truth, but for envy to the persons. The chief causes of slandering seem to be these: Love of yourselves. Malice towards others. Desire of revenge. Hope of commodity. Study to please.

2. Injury. Men do injury and evil unto other men chiefly in four ways: in body, in goods, in rights and privileges, in name and estimation.

3. Receiving and believing false reports against brethren. Men should not be too light of belief. They are often even pleased with false reports.

4. Flattering the wicked. To hate the wicked and favour the just is a point of equity.

5. Breaking promises. This is usual in the wicked. (R. Turnbull.)

The backbiter

The backbiter is so called because, like the dog, he steals behind those in whom he wishes to flesh his teeth, deals in innuendoes, insinuations, evil surmisings, significant shrugs and looks, words meaning one thing in their literal sense and altogether another thing from the tone in which they are uttered, and so destroys a good name that no open assault could have affected. In this way the weak often overwhelm the strong; the vilest the most pure. The blow from behind and in the dark accomplishes its work of ruin before danger is even suspected. The truly good man, however, will assail no man’s good name. If he cannot speak good of another he will say nothing. He thinks, and justly too, that he has no more right to injure another’s character, than he has to injure his health; to destroy another’s good name, than he has to destroy his life. If he discover a neighbour’s faults he does not noise them abroad, but tries to conceal them; and so, if he discovers his neighbour’s necessities, he does what he can to relieve them. Moreover, be taketh not “up a reproach against his neighbour”; that is, either he will not originate a reproach, or he will not listen to one. The willing listener is as bad as the tale bearer. If there were none to listen to the tale of scandal, there would be none to start it, and none to repeat it; the slanderous ear is as detestable as the slanderous tongue. (David Caldwell, A. M.)

Nor doeth evil to his neighbour.--

The good man no evil-doer

“Nor doeth evil to his neighbour.” I think we are still in the region of speech, and the Psalmist is still describing the influence of destructive conversation. To do evil in one’s speech is to spoil one’s neighbour; to break him to pieces. We have preserved the equivalent of the Psalmist’s phrase down to our own time. We still speak of “picking a person to pieces.” This is precisely the significance of the original word. There is a conversation which mercilessly engages in the exercise of spoliation; breaking up the reputation of another, and leaving it like the bones of some poor bird which has been picked to pieces by a destructive hawk. The speech of the companion of the Lord is quite otherwise. It ever seeks to construct and strengthen. “Let no speech proceed out of your mouth but what is edifying.” (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)

Detraction

From the day that Adam fell, thorns and thistles, with other noxious plants, have sprung up to vex and molest the sinner. As travellers wending their way through some dismal swamp, let us pause a moment on the way and pull up one of these weeds and examine it for our instruction. We may have it in our own garden plot; who knows? The weed we speak of is--Detraction.

I. It is owe of a class of sins. There are many of them, such as slander, calumny, defamation, revilings, aspersions, vilifications, and libel. All these are worse in some respects than detraction; they are coarser, uglier, bigger weeds. Calumny involves deliberate false statement. The defamer publishes his unfriendly message to the world. The libeler writes down and prints, and so puts before the eyes of a thousand readers in lasting form, the expressions of his malignity. And they who revile and asperse give us the idea of common scolds and scatterers of mud and offal, and show meanly themselves for the very manner of their work. But the act of the detractor is different from all these. It needs not lies nor aught which is essential to the others.

II. What, then, is it? It is a taking something away, a kind of petty minute robbery. It consists in depreciating and disparaging others, It is made up of slurs and innuendoes, of hints and gestures; and is often clad in graceful and witty garb. But it is very villainous. For with all our weakness and faults there is some good in everybody which is very precious to its possessor. Now the Lord sees this, however little it be, and makes the most of it. But detraction makes the least of it it can.

III. The causes of this sin.

1. Personal interest. People think there is something to be gained by it.

2. Envy. They cannot endure the prosperity or happiness of others. What evil it works in all public affairs. It is the crying scandal of our day. And in business, men use it to supplant their rivals and to advance themselves. The envious detractor is moved thereto by his bad temper and also by the pleasure, which he ought to be ashamed of,--the pleasure which people take in hearing of the misfortunes of others. Who is not conscious of this pleasure, vile as it is? But

3. Vanity is the chief motive of detraction. Reputation for wit is gained in such easy way by it, and a vain, weak person cannot resist the temptation. Nobody would listen to him on any other subject, but let him open his lips with some wretched gossip or scandal, and all listen. What punishment is too severe for this? It is the pest of society; but as for reform, it is all but impossible. Habit, and rivalry, and lack of high aim maintain it. But we have need greatly to fear if we be guilty of it. (Morgan Dix.)

Nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.

Evil speaking not to be listened to

“Nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.” Then we are not only forbidden to speak evil, we are forbidden to listen to it. We are not only forbidden to cast a slander, we are forbidden to take it up when another has hurled it. To repeat a thing is to incur guilt quite as much as if we originated it. I think that one of the great needs of our day is the grace of sanctified hearing. How much the Master made of the responsibility of possessing ears! “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” “Take heed how ye hear.” There is a discriminating way of listening. There is a listening which encourages the speaker of slander, and there is a closing of the ears which reduces the slanderer to silence. There would be much less evil speaking if there was much less evil listening. The evil speaker yearns for the reward of attention and applause. If these are withheld he will soon tire of his nefarious trade. The companion of the Lord listens for commendations, eulogies, and repeats them to others. He likes to hear a good thing of somebody, and he sings it again into the ears of somebody else. (J. H. Jowett, M. A.)

The law of the lip

I. The nature of slander.

1. The origination of an evil report concerning our neighbour.

2. The circulation of an evil report invented by others.

3. The listening to such a report. Giving it the sanction of our ear.

II. The evil of slander. What mighty unhappiness it causeth.

1. It demoralises the slanderer.

2. It demoralises the person to whom the slander is related.

3. It wrongs the party slandered.

III. The cure for slander. It is a most difficult thing to rule the tongue, and refrain from evil-speaking. What is the grand cure for all sins of the lip? He “speaketh the truth in his heart.” The heart must be changed, enlightened, exalted. Out of a pure fountain flows a pure stream. (W. L. Watkinson.)