1. SPEAK _evil of no man_, says the great apostle; as plain a command as _Thou shalt do no murder_. But who even among Christians regards this command? Yea, how few are there, that so much as understand it? What is _evil-speaking_? It is not, (as some suppose) the same with lying or slandering. All a man says, may be as true as the bible; and yet the saying of it is evil-speaking. For evil speaking is neither more nor less, than speaking evil of an absent person: relating something evil which was really done or said, by one that is not present when it is related. Suppose, having seen a man drunk or heard him curse or swear, I tell this when he is absent, it is evil-speaking. In our language this is also by an extremely proper name termed _backbiting_. Nor is there any material difference between this, and what we usually stile _tale-bearing_. If the tale be delivered in a soft and quiet manner, (perhaps with expressions of good-will to the person, and of hope, that thing may not be quite so bad) then we call it _whispering_. But in what manner it be done, the things is the same; the same in substance if not in circumstance. Still it is evil-speaking; still this command, _Speak evil of no man_, is trampled under foot, if we relate to another the fault of a third person, when he is not present to answer for himself. 2. And how extremely common is this sin, among all orders and degrees of men? How do high and low, rich and poor, wise and foolish, learned and unlearned, run into it continually? Persons who differ from each other in all things else, nevertheless agree in this. How few are there that can testify before God, “I am clear in this matter: I have always set a watch before my mouth, and kept the door of my lips?” What conversation do you hear, of any considerable length, whereof evil-speaking is not one ingredient? And that, even among persons, who in the general have the fear of God before their eyes, and do really desire to have a conscience void of offence toward God and toward man.