Answ. 1. The main doubt is when you have a call to speak it, which is answered after, part iv. at large.
2. You may not so easily believe and report evil of another as good.
3. You must not believe ill of another any further than evidence doth constrain you; yet you may believe it according to the degree of evidence or credibility; and make use of the report for just caution or for good; but not to defame another, upon uncertainty, or without a call.
4. The sin of receiving and spreading false reports of others upon hearsay, is now so common among those that do profess sobriety and religion, that all men should take heed of it in all company, as they would do of the plague in an infectious time. And now it is so notorious that false news and slanders of others are so common, neither good men's words, nor common fame, will allow you (or excuse you) to believe or report any evil of another, till you are able to prove that it is your duty; but all christians should join in lamenting and reproving this common uncharitable sin.
Tit. 4. Special Directions against Idle Talk, and Babbling.
Direct. I. Understand well what is idle talk; for many take that to be vain which is not, and many take not that to be vain which is. I shall therefore open this before I go any further.
What is not idle talk.
The judgment of infidels and impious men here are of little regard. 1. Some of them think prayer to be but vain words, because God knoweth our wants and hearts, Job xxii. 2,3, and our service is not profitable to him: as if he had bid us "seek him in vain," Isa. xlv. 19.[521] These I have elsewhere confuted. 2. Others think frequent preaching vain, and say as the infidels of Paul, Acts xvii. 18, "What will this babbler say;" and as Pharaoh, Exod. v. 9, "Let them not regard vain words;" but God saith, Deut. xxxii. 46, 47, "Set your hearts to all the words which I testify among you——for it is not a vain thing for you, because it is your life." 3. Some carnal wretches think all vain in God's service, which is spiritual, and which they understand not, or which is above the reach of a fleshly mind.[522] 4. And some think all vain in preaching, conference, writing, or prayer, which is long. But Christ spake no vain words when he "prayed all night," Luke vi. 12. Nor are we bid to pray in vain, when we are bid "pray continually, instantly, and importunately," 1 Thess. v. 17; Acts vi. 4; Luke xviii. 1, 2. Nor did Paul speak idly when he preached till midnight, Acts xx. Godliness is not vain "which is profitable to all things," 1 Tim. iv. 8. Indeed as to their own salvation the wicked may make our preaching vain; but the word of God returneth not empty. The oblations of the disobedient are vain, Isa. i. 13, and the "prayer of the wicked, abominable to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is his delight," Prov. xv. 8. 5. Some think all preaching vain, of that which they know already, whereas they have most need to hear of that, lest they condemn themselves by sinning against their knowledge, 2 Pet. i. 12, 13; Rom. xiv. 22. 6. Some think it vain if the same things be often preached on, or repeated, (see Phil. iii. 1,) though yet they never received and obeyed them; or if the same words be oft repeated in prayer, though it be not from emptiness or affectation but fervency, Mark xiv. 39; Psal. cxxxvi.; cxix. 7. Unbelievers think our boasting in God is vain, 2 Kings xviii. 20; Isa. xlix. 4, 5. 8. And some malicious adversaries charge it on ministers as preaching in vain, whenever the hearers are not converted. See Heb. iv. 2; Gal. v. 2; iii. 4; iv. 11; Isa. liii. 1.
On the other side many that are godly mistake in thinking, 1. That all talk is vain which is not of absolute necessity to some great use and end.[523] 2. And that all mirth and pleasant discourse is vain. Whereas the Holy Ghost saith, Prov. xvii. 22, "A merry heart doth good like a medicine, but a broken spirit drieth the bones." Prov. xv. 13, "A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance; but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken." Gen. xxvi. 8, King Abimelech saw Isaac sporting with Rebekah his wife: laughing, (as the Hebrew is,) or playing, (as the Chaldee, and Samaritan, and Septuagint,) or jesting (as the Syriac, Arabic, and vulgar Latin).
Observe these qualifications, and your mirth and sporting talk will not be idle. 1. Let it be such and so much as is useful to maintain that cheerfulness of mind and alacrity of spirits, which is profitable to your health and duty; for if bodily recreations be lawful, then tongue recreations are lawful when they are accommodate to their end. 2. Let your speech be savoury, seasoned with salt, and not corrupt and rotten communication: jest not with filthiness or sin. 3. Let it be harmless to others: make not yourselves merry with the sins or miseries of other men. Jest not to their wrong. 4. Let it be seasonable, and not when another frame of mind is more convenient, nor when graver or weightier discourse should take place. 5. Let it be moderate and not excessive, either wasting time in vain, or tending to habituate the mind of the speakers or hearers to levity, or to estrange them from things that should be preferred. 6. See that all your mirth and speech be sanctified by a holy end; that your intent in all be to whet your spirits and cheer up and fit yourselves for the service of God, as you do in eating and drinking, and all other things. 7. And mix (with cautelous reverence) some serious things, that the end and use be not forgotten, and your mirth may not be altogether as empty and fruitless as that of the unsanctified is. Sporting, pleasant, and recreating talk is not vain, but lawful upon these conditions. 8. Still remembering that the most holy and profitable discourse must be most pleasant to us, and we must not, through a weariness of it, divert to carnal mirth, as more desirable, but only to natural honest mirth as a necessary concomitant to exhilarate the spirits.[524]