that our ideas of duty are never taken from the ground- work of religion; that we never enter into the spirit to decide upon the letter; and that few people ascend to the principle to clear up the doubts which corruption forms on the detail of the consequences.
Now, to apply this maxim to my subject: what are the rules in the gospel which constitute slander a crime to the disciples of Jesus Christ? In the first place, it is the precept of Christian humility, which, as it ought to establish in us a profound contempt of ourselves, and to open our eyes on the endless multitude of our own wants, should at the same time shut our eyes on those of our brethren. In the second place, it is the duty of charity; that charity so recommended in the gospel; the grand precept of the law, which covers the faults it cannot correct, excuses those it cannot cover, delights not in evil, and with difficulty believes, because it never wishes it to happen. Lastly, it is the inviolable rule of justice, which, never permitting us to do to others what we would not have done to ourselves, condemns whatever goes beyond these equitable bounds. Now, the scandalous discourses which turn upon those faults which you term public, essentially wound these three rules: judge, then, of their innocency.
First. They wound the precept of Christian humility. Indeed, my dear hearer, were you feelingly touched with your own wants, says a holy father; were your own sin incessantly before your eyes, like the penitent David, you would find neither sufficient leisure nor attention to remark the faults of your brethren. The more they were public, the more would you in secret thank the Lord for averting from you that scandal; the more would you feel your gratitude awakened, when you considered, that, though fallen perhaps into the same errors, he hath not permitted them to be proclaimed from the house-tops, like those of your brother; that he hath left in obscurity your deeds of darkness; that he hath covered them, as I may say, with his wings; and that, in the eyes of men, he hath preserved for you an honour and an innocence which you have so often forfeited before him: you would tremble, while saying to yourself, that perhaps he hath spared your confusion in this world, only to render it more bitter and more durable in the next.
Such is the disposition of Christian humility toward the public disgraces of our brethren. We should often speak of them to ourselves, but almost never to others. Thus, when the Scribes and Pharisees presented to our Saviour the woman caught in adultery, and eagerly pressed him to give his judgment, though the guilt of the sinner was public, Jesus Christ kept a profound silence; and to their insidious and pressing entreaties to explain himself, he simply answered, " He that is without sin amongst you, let him first cast a stone at her;" as if he thereby meant to make them understand that sinners like them were little entitled to condemn, with so high a hand, the crime of that woman; and that to acquire the right of casting a single stone at her, it was necessary the individual should himself be free from reproach. And behold my brethren, what I
