Slander

28 Wednesday Sep 2022

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling

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Biblical Counseling, Slander

I am working on something new about Slander. Here is a draft of a chapter:

The Fact of Slander

Did God actually say?

-The Serpent

The first recorded words of any creature are found in Genesis 3:1, “Did God actually say ….” And so, the like the trouble at the beginning of a movie, the plot of history was set into motion.

All our history begins with slander. It’s right there in the Book. And so, it is strange that we fail to understand its danger. It comes so easily to us, that often it seems invisible. Therefore, our first task will be dig it up and drag this slimy beast into the light and look upon its glistening, hideous form.

God create the earth, the sun and moon, the stars also. God created a universe of unimaginable beauty which stretches out in space and time beyond all comprehension. We assign numbers to the years and the numbers to the distance which those with knowledge have sought to calculate, but those number cannot mean anything real to us. We can understand a mile, a year. But who knows what it means to say millions of miles, which can get us to the Sun. But what if you merely wished to go to the nearest star beyond the sun Alpha Centuri, which (I am reliably informed) lies 4.37 light years away. A light year being 5.88 trillion miles. Do the math, it’s a big number. But it means nothing real. What is a trillion in reality? There are more than 3,000,000 seconds in a year. A billion is a thousand million. So, it would take nearly 32 years to reach a billion seconds. A trillion is a thousand billions.

The universe is unimaginably large. And everywhere we look, it is drawn with colors and shapes which make the most ragged galaxy torn to shreds by an unseen vortex of gravity a sight of beauty.

Yet, we do not live among the stars. We live on earth. And earth once was a place unimaginable perfection. God planted a garden, the Garden. Water flowed always into this place, drawing from the fount of Eden itself. The Garden must have been a profusion of beauty and well of delight. The ground which now grows rank with thorns then blossomed with fruit.

Look where you will and there was life and hope and peace and joy.

And we were not alone. Our parents lived with that perfect person we flatter ourselves to be, to deserve. There they stood, the image of the very God who laid out the stars in their course, shining with the glory of that God. There were our parents in a world which displayed in every place the glory of God without hint of sin or judgment.

Yet, that world for all its beauty is not ours today. We no longer live in that Garden, even though the recollection of that Garden continues to haunt our world. The memory is there, in dust, persisting. Even Death Valley, that blistering gouge which runs through the desert beneath the mountains and on the edge of the Great Basin, even that land of rock and merciless sun contains a memory of Eden. When the rain comes after a decade of absence, the valley floods with flowers, yellow and white and purple and red raised upon green stalks pushing through the sand and rock, making a stand for a few, too few days.

But death returns, the flowers wilt in the sun, the stalks crumble, and again there are miles upon miles of crushed rock in every direction.

We are no longer there. But the memory of that world persists in our imagination just as it does in the ground. Why else do we long for a world we have never seen? We are we shocked when we hear of death, when what is more certain than death? Why are we stumbled to learn that the entire universe is becoming unwound, when all that we know from experience is that all vain, all is futile, all is always coming undone.

Why do we look for love in a world which turns most easily to hate? Why do we wish so badly to be remembered, when we ourselves forget a friend who has merely moved to another city? Why do we look for friendship on a world where even Jesus was betrayed?

Why did God put eternity in our hearts? Eccl. 3:11.

How did we suffer such loss? To fall from the universe being our dominion, to creatures who are felled by a virus we cannot see? A scratch can kill us with infection. A fall can break our bones. How did creatures made to display the image of God turn so quickly to image our bitter, selfish fears and lusts?

What did we do to suffer such loss. What crime could upend the very creation? What act, what words could institute a reign of confusion, a world so upside down that even the “just and righteous” Job would complain

The arrows of the Almighty are in me

My spirit drinks their poison

The terrors of God are arrayed against me.

Job 6:4.

Adam you will say, and so we lay blame. But Adam had already sought to foist his guilt onto our mother Eve. And Eve in turn pointed to the Serpent. What then did this Serpent do? Surely, he performed some extraordinary action.

He talked.

The only thing the Serpent did was talked.

Something in those words packed enough power to upend the order of creation. Something in those were the lever which moved the seemingly unmovable good and happiness of the Garden. Think of this: the sorrow of all history began here. When we stand near a bed and hear the wheezing gaping for air of someone we love not gaining another breath, that sorrow began here.

Why? How did this set all our sorrow into motion? Why does the wicked live a life of ease and the child who does not good or bad dies in the arms of his mother?

The Serpent spoke.

Parade every evil, every loss, ever tear, every sleepless night of anxious watch, every horror, every soul crushing depression, every prisoner, every betrayal, every crime, every every every grief.

At end of King Lear, the foolish king has come to see that he understood the world all wrong; that he had believed the lies told by his daughters and had believed a lie about his sweet Cordelia, when he holds his daughter who has died because he believed a lie, he says

No, no, no life?
Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life,
And thou no breath at all? Thou ’lt come no more,
Never, never, never, never, never.—

There is a lie in the heart of sorrow. There is a seed which grew into the hideous beast of human suffering. Ask the slave from where comes his sorrow. Ask the kidnap victim from where comes her fear. Ask the child who father lies dead in the rubble of battle, a bullet in his head, where comes your life without his care?

What we always hope to do is to turn our face from looking at these things. But for now, grab ahold of your own sorrows, your own fears, and ask firmly, where did all these monsters come from? What pit spewed this rancid mess upon life?

And then ask why do I still sometimes hear the murmuring song of Eden? How can life be such a mix of sorrow and hope? If Eden is true then whence comes this pain? Here is the event”

3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ²And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” ⁴But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. ⁷Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

Genesis 3:1–7. What in this story starts the ball rolling downhill? Slander. The first recorded words of any creature a simple slander,

Did God actually say

We will get to his slander of God, but the Serpent begins with the slander of Adam. Slander is a simple shiv that goes between the ribs of friendship and separates the bonds of love.

God had told Adam, before Eve had been given to the world, that one tree was to be God’s alone and that Adam was not to eat from it. Adam must have told Eve out of his love for her and his obedience to God. She knows the command and repeats it to the Serpent.

And so the Serpent’s first words are, Look at that man, Adam. Is he telling you the truth? Did God really tell him about this tree? Can you really trust him? He lied to you. Eve puts a protest, but it is too late. She has listened.

Slander is a vicious thing. Should it enter the ear, it will slide into the heart. You cannot stop it. Like a malignant parasite it will fasten on your thoughts and suck dry the lifeblood of your home. It will burrow into the recesses of your mind, it grotesque claws, and blind eyes will see a way to unnerve your friendships.

It is a thief so subtle that it will steal the treasures of a lifetime, and you will fill the thief’s sack and his slobbering jaws beg for more. Mesmerized you will say to him, “Take my wife, my child, my husband, my cousin, my father, my mother, my friend, my job, my trust, my hope, take all of my love and all that I have spent my life building, take them all for you know best.” We will exchange the truth for a lie, we will empty our soul of all friends to satisfy a slander.

Oh, and slander is a clever devil. It begins here, wearing the badge of simple desire for truth. The Devil did not begin, God lied. The Devil began, Did God really say? Did Adam really get this straight? The con does not begin with send me all your money. The con always begins with trust me.

The door having been cracked on, slander marches on. Eve repeats to the Serpent the command she heard, but it is changed. The command was not eat, but she adds, “nor touch.” Perhaps that simple addition was not Eve thinking hard thoughts of God, but it does signal a shift. A brick has been displaced even if the tower has not yet fallen.

But there is something even worse which has taken place: Eve listened. Eve is considering the words of the Serpent.

Had Eve stuffed her ears and rejected the Serpent she would have been safe. Like Joseph, she should have darted from temptations presence. But she did not. And when temptation makes its way past the door, the damage is underway:

¹²Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. ¹³Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. ¹⁴But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. ¹⁵Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

James 1:12–15. When slander slides into the heart it sets up its desire, and that desire now leads you along.

Think of it: You have heard a rumor, you have been asked a question, you begin to distrust. How that distrust eats at you. The poison of those first words will rot out friendships, ruin marriages, destroy homes.

The poison of the Serpent’s first words have destroyed our world.

The Serpent moves from the subtly of questioning to the outright slander of lies:

You will not surely die.

You think you can hear the slander and digest the slander and live out the slander and you will be unhurt. Slander certainly cannot hurt you, by just hearing. Jesus draws a bright line from the Devils lies to the murder of humanity:

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

John 8:44. To be a liar and to be a murderer: there is slander. It is the murder of another. It is nothing less.

The Serpent says you will not die. And so the Devil murders Eve. And Eve and then Adam turn the knife upon themselves and murder themselves and cast themselves away from their dearest friend and benefactor, the God who made them.

You have lost a friend. You know those who have lost friends. You have believed untruths about others. You have spoken untruths about others. You have not been careful with the reputation of others, when you listened to something spoken from cruelty (even when spoken to be just or right or helpful or whatever other miserable excuse you concoct). When you listened, you had blood on your hands. When you spoke, you had innocent blood on your hands.

When Adam took from Eve and ate, he believed the slander of God and killed himself. This archetypal sin is etched into our hearts always too quick to bend to sin.

Slander: what should I do?

27 Tuesday Sep 2022

Posted by memoirandremains in Uncategorized

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Cotton Mather, Slander

Cotton Mather introduces the question of how to live with slander:

“The Case is What should good men do when they are evil spoken of?

“Or, What should be the conduct of a Christian when defamations are order for him to exercise his Christianity.

“Upon this general case of all good men, the First Thing that I would propose is this: Let then the defamed Christian set himself immediately to consider, what his carriage ought now to be.”

If someone strikes you, you feel pain and easily feel anger. When someone steals your name and ruins your relationships perhaps even ending your employment, the immediate emotional state is most likely to be fear and or anger.

But Mather says we must think: what should I do?

Z zd That *should* bears a great deal of weight. It requires consideration. How is this should measured? What rule or standard explains what must happen?

The Wonderful Combat, Sermon 1.3

26 Tuesday Apr 2022

Posted by memoirandremains in Lancelot Andrewes

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Lancelot Andrewes, Sermon 1, Slander, The Wonderful Combat

Text:

Then Jesus. This is the description of the entry into the temptation, and it contains (as a weighty [important] history) many circumstances importing [concerning] great matters, which may be reduced to 7. branches or heads[1].

First, the two champions[2] 1. Christ, and 2. Satan.

3. The leader of Jesus into the lists, who is said to be the holy Ghost.

4. The end, which was the conflict itself, that is, to be tempted.

5. The day of the battel, expressed under the word Then:

6. The lists[3] themselves, that is, the wilderness.

7. Christ his preparation to it, that is, his fasting

I. [The First Champion, Christ]

First, for the party defendant, Christ, who (as God)[4] give food to every living creature, Psal. 136. 25. and (as God and man) with five loaves & two fishes fed 5000, besides women and children, Matt. 14. 11.

He that is said to be the very meat [food, not animal tissue alone] itself, whereby we live eternally, John. 6.[5] He is here said to be hungry.[6]

He, before whom thousand thousands are said to minister, & 10000. thousands are said to stand before him, Dan. 7. 10[7] has here for his companions the wild beasts: for so saith Mark. chap 1. 13.

He, to whom the Angels minister, vers. 11. is here assailed with devil, which offer unto him matter of great indignity;

and the indignity which he suffered, leads us to the consideration of the grievousness of our sins, & of the greatness of his love, both which are measured by the greatness of those things he suffered for us; as that he was cast out from among the company of Angels (for so Mark 1:12. hath it) into the Desert, to be a companion of beasts, and so led forth to be tempted; where he suffered in his body hunger, in his soul temptation: what is it else, but a proclaiming of his great love toward us?

As if he should (exulting) say, What is it that shall separate me from the love of men? Shall temptation? shall solitariness? shall hunger? shall wearisome labor and travel? shall watching? shall anguish of mind, and bloody sweat? shall mocks [mocking]? shall whips? shall nailes? shall spears? shall principalities?

That we also might use the same challenge which Paul does in the 8. Chapter of his Epistle to the Romans the 35. verse, “What shall separate vs from the love of Christ? shall tribulation? shall anguish? or persecution?” These two profitable points grow out of the consideration of the person of the defendant.

Notes:

He introduces Christ’s participation in the Temptation through a series of contrasts:

He feeds others; he himself is hungry.

He is the king of all; he is alone with wild beasts.

He is from a throne; he is in the wilderness.

He is ministered to by angels; he is assaulted by devils.

This contrast proves: (1) The greatness of our sin; and (2) the greatness of his love.

He then draws rhetorically upon an exaltation at the end of Romans 8 wherein Paul says that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ:

Romans 8:31–38 (ESV)

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;

we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Text

II. [The Second Champion, the Devil]

Secondly, the party assailant is the Devil, who is so called, by reason of his foul mouth in defaming: for so does the word Diabolus import[8], whereby we have occasion to detest the sin of infamy: and it shows what name they deserve, and how to be esteemed of, in whom that quality is found.

S. Paule 2. Tim. 3. 3[9] foretold, that in the latter days there should be men devils, foul mouthed men, evil speakers: and 1. Tim. 3. 11[10] he speaks of women devils because of their calumnious speeches.

In the tongue wherein Christ spoke these words, namely the Syriac[11], the fittest word that he could find to signify the devil’s name, is a word that signifes Diuulgator: so that a publisher of infamous reports[12], is good Syriac for the devil; as when a man lightly conveys a reproach, either forging it himself by misconstruction, or credulously receiving it upon the report of others[13], and then is not sorry for his brothers ill, Mat. 5. 22. but rather insults [him]; not considering that he himself may fall into the like temptations, Gal 6. 1[14] and so becomes puffed up, 1. Cor. 5. 2[15] and at last falls a-blazing his brothers imperfections, 3. John 10[16] these come right to the devil’s quality they take upon them the abetting of the devil’s quarrel.

It is the Devil’s occupation to defame us first with God, as he did Iob, as if he had been an hypocrite, and had served God only for gain, Iob. 1. 9[17] and so stands he continually accusing us, Apoc. 12. 10[18] and he also defames God with us, as if he were a God that did envy our good, Gen. 3. 1. and so he here defames God to Christ, as if he were careless in providing for him, in suffering him to be hungry.

And from these two defamations proceeds all evil whatsoever, as well that which the Divines [theologians] call Malum poenae [power of evil] as Job 1. 12[19] accusing Job, that he would curse God if he handled him roughly, and so got power over his goods: as that which they call Malum culpae [fault/responsibility of evil] For his defaming God with us, was the cause of all sin[20]: and everywhere still we see he labors to persuade us, that God is an unkind God; that so we may burst forth into those terms, This good did I get at Gods hand, 2. Ki. 6. 33. to wit, hunger.[21]

To this does he tempt Christ vers. 3. And as to desperation, so sometimes to the contrary, presumption, as vers. 6. Cast thyself down, &c. by bringing us to have a base conceit of God[22], defaming him as if he were a God of clots, not to be reckoned of[23], as if he were a man to wait upon us, and to take us up as oft as we list to throw ourselves down, that we may say in our hearts, as they that were frozen in their dregs did, Sophon. 1. 12 He neither does good nor hurt, it is all one to serve him, and not to serve him. He tells vs (as verse. 9[24]) that he will give us all this, if we will fall down and worship him, as though he were very liberal [generous] in rewards, & as though God were unkind or ungrateful, not once regarding vs for all our service, but suffers us even to starve.[25]

Which brought men to that passe, as to say, Malach. 3. 14. that It is but in vain to serve God, what gain is in his service?[26]

If he [the Devil] cannot prevail this way against us [convince us], then he will try another way: for, when (seeing that this temptation succeeded not) the devil left Christ, he departed not for altogether, but went to come again (as appeares in the fourth of Luke, verse. 13. he departed for a time. Christ was too cunning [smart, able] for him in disputing [responding to the Devil’s temptations] he meant therefore to take another course: for as James notes, chap 1. vers. 14[27] there be two sorts of temptations, one by enticement, as a serpent; another by violence, as a lion; if he cannot prevail as a serpent, he will play the lion. He had also another power at Christ in the garden, the power of darkness, Luc. 22. 53. there he bruised his heel.

Notes:

Andrews uses the introduction of the Devil as an opportunity to consider the nature of slander and sin. He is not offering an objective examination of the Devil, but is introducing the Devil as our enemy too. Recall the purpose of this study is in part to protect us against our own assault from the Devil.

He uses slander as a basic sin which gives rise to all other sins. He draws this consideration from the name of the Devil which means “slanderer.”

He begins by discussing the sin of slander among human beings, and note that is a devilish thing. It is slander to create a falsehood, and it is slander to repeat a falsehood.

From this he traces the arch sin back to slander. The Devil slandered God in the Garden, alleging that God had lied to them. This led to the sin of Adam which lead to all other sins. Since that time, the Devil’s work has been two-fold: First, to slander us to God. This is under the name “Satan” which means “Accuser”. Second, the Devil slanders God to us.

But such work does not exhaust the Devil’s resources. If he can trick us or entice us, he will threaten us.

It is interesting that a single word in Greek is translated both “trial” and “temptation.” A temptation is an enticement. A trial is a stressful circumstance which pushes us to sin.

[1] A common feature of sermons and discussions in this time was the division of any subject into its various parts. If you were to discuss automobiles, you might divide all cars into oil or electric. You would then divide oil into gasoline and diesel, and so on.

[2] Champion here merely means the combatants. We do not need to read a positive sense into the word “champion” as victor or best party.

[3] Here, by “lists” Andrews means the location of the combat. The “lists” narrowly refers to the boundaries of the place of a joust.

[4] He here asserts the divinity of Christ.

[5] John 6:52–56 (ESV) “52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.”

[6] Andrews does not provide the reference, but he is here referring to: Matthew 4:1–2 (ESV) “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ²And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.”

[7] Daniel 7:9–12 (ESV)

9 “As I looked,

thrones were placed,

and the Ancient of Days took his seat;

his clothing was white as snow,

and the hair of his head like pure wool;

his throne was fiery flames;

its wheels were burning fire.

10 A stream of fire issued

and came out from before him;

a thousand thousands served him,

and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;

the court sat in judgment,

and the books were opened.

11 “I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. 12 As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.

[8] The name “Devil” comes from the Greek meaning slanderer. For example, “Slanderers he hated more than thieves, deeming loss of friends graver than loss of money.” Xenophon, Xenophon in Seven Volumes, 7, trans. E. C. Marchant and G. W. Bowersock (Medford, MA: Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA; William Heinemann, Ltd., London., 1925). The word translated “slanderers” being the plural of “diabolos.” If you would like to check, “τούς γε μὴν διαβόλους μᾶλλον ἢ τοὺς κλέπτας ἐμίσει.” Xenophon, “Xenophontis Opera Omnia, Vol. 5” (Medford, MA: Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1920).

[9] 2 Timothy 3:1–3 (ESV) “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. ²For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good ….”

[10] 1 Timothy 3:11 (ESV) “Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things.”

[11] Aramaic, not Syriac.

[12] Someone spreading slanderous news.

[13] Slander can come from one of two directions: (1) it can be made up by the speaker; or (2) the speaker can repeat something he has heard. Andrews further defines the one repeating as one who does not

[14] Galatians 6:1 (ESV) “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”

[15] 1 Corinthians 5:2 (ESV) “And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.” The Geneva has “puffed-up” for arrogant, “And ye are puffed up & have not rather sorowed, that he which hathe done this dede, might be put from among you.”

[16] 3 John 10 (ESV)

10 So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.

[17] Job 1:7–10 (ESV) “7 The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 8 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” 9 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.”

[18] Revelation 12:10 (ESV) “And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, ‘Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.’”

[19] Job 1:12 (ESV) “And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.” The evil one having power to act.

[20] In the Garden, Satan lies about God and says that God is lying to the couple. Thus, Satan slanders God and from that slander comes all other sin.

[21] The king of Damascus had surrounded the royal city of Samaria. This led to a famine in the city. The king blamed God and blamed the prophet Elisha: 2 Kings 6:32–33 (ESV)

32 Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. Now the king had dispatched a man from his presence, but before the messenger arrived Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this murderer has sent to take off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold the door fast against him. Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?” 33 And while he was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him and said, “This trouble is from the LORD! Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”

[22] An evil or bad idea about God.

[23] As if God were a stupid man fit for no other job than to wait upon us.

[24] Matthew 4:8–9 (ESV)

⁸Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”

[25] When the Devil asks Jesus to make bread from stones, there is the implied slander that God does not care if Jesus starves to death.

[26] Malachi 3:13–15 (ESV)

¹³“Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ ¹⁴You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? ¹⁵And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’”

[27] James 1:14 (ESV) “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.”

Cotton Mather, The Right Way to Shake Off a Viper, The End

09 Wednesday Mar 2022

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Cotton Mather, Slander, The Right Way to Shake off a Viper

God can make you useful

At the same time, you don’t know what God may do for you. Moses had not been so magnified by God if Aaron and Miriam had not abused him and abased him. (Nu. 12) Something may fall out that shall more signalize you and magnify you among the People of God than anything that has befallen you.

God is to be adored in such things; but though I make the briefest mention o fhtem that is possible, I would not have mentioned them at all, if the things had not been of so frequent occurrence as to be worth your observation. And at the same time, I know you will desire concerning most of them that they may not occur in your own experience. You had rather see God saving of your personal enemies, than for you sake smiting of them. And, if you saw the uplifted hand of God ready to discharge thunderbolts upon them, you would beg for them, Lord, spare them, spare them.

Pray!

I will conclude with this advice.

PRAYER, PRAYER, which has heretofore doubtless been the breath of your life, outhgt now more htan ever to be so. The best resolution that you can take up is that of the Psalmist, “For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.” (Psalm 109:2) But I give myself to prayer.

Know the Scripture

If the storm of obloquy upon you be more than ordinary, it looks as if the Lord called you unto something more of retirement; silence alone for a while and keeping silence and putting your mouth into the dust; while you give your cheek to him that smites you, and you are filled full of reproach. How many Psalms will you in this retirement and religion of the closet find prepared for you, to direct you, to support you, to supply your supplications? Especially the third, the thirteenth, the seventeenth, the twenty-seventh, the thirty-first, the thirty-eighth, the forty-first, the fifty-fourth, the fifty-sixth, the eighty-sixth, the ninety-first, the hundrend and ninth, the hundred and thirty-eighth, the hundred and forty-second, the hundred and forty third.

The worst of dragons have been charmed by such Psalms as these.

My friend, the foot-steps of God, even when his is treading on you, will drop fatness [blessing] into your soul. If you are brought unto such employments and being thus fruitful (though in a low valley) you may shout & also sing for joy. Even when thrown into a dung cart, you may be (as the martyr in that case expressed it), as a sweet odor to God yea, and unto his faithful people, too.

Be concerned thus to glorify the Name of your Holy Lord and fear not. He will take a sufficient care of your name.

And at the very time when your name is trod into the dirt, among men on earth, it will be written in heaven be precious among the angles of heaven, to whom you and your bringing forth fruit with patience are made a spectacle. And where a crown of glory is ready waiting for you.

Having brought you thither, I cannot break off anywhere more agreeably but there (whither my friend all you present sufferings are carrying you!). There, I leave you.

POSTSCRIPT

Thus, you have seen the true way of shaking off a viper. When the viper coiled about the hand of the servant of Christ (for Bochart^[1] will allow him to do no more; not consenting to [agreeing with] who will have the teeth of the viper struck into him), it was, as one wittily says, Non laedert, sed ut ornaret; not an injury, but an ornament unto him. The ancients had indeed a sort of bracelet called a “wrist serpent” mentioned in Atheneaus and Hesychius and others. Our defamers will adorn more than they annoy us, if we take this method with them, which we have now agreed upon.

When Paul shook off the beast into the fire (Acts 28:1-6), some ingenious men and Arator^[2] among the rest make it a type of our great adversary Satan cast into hell for assaulting the faithful people of God.

But oh! Let us lift-up our hands to heaven with fervent cries to the God of all grace that he would bring all our human defamers (though we were ever so inhumanely treated by them) thither even to Heaven; there to share with us in happiness, to which even they have promoted our arrival.

PSALM XCI. 13

Thou shall victorious tread on the black serpent, and the asp; the dragon and the great dragon thou shalt trample under foot.

Melius responderi non potest calumniatorum maledicentiae quam non respondendo[3].

Melc. Adam. in Vita Beza.

A Speech of the Martyr Vineditirus.

Rage and do the worst, that Malignity can set thee at work to do;

Thou shalt see the Spirit of GOD strengthen the Sufferer,

more than the Devil can do the Inflicter.

FINIS.

[1] Samuel Bochart (30 May 1599 – 16 May 1667) was a French Protestant biblical scholar. For his works see, http://www.prdl.org/author_view.php?a_id=150

[2] A commentator I have been unable to identify.

[3] There can be no better answer to the curse of the slanderers than by not answering.

Cotton Mather, The Right Way to Shake Off a Minor.19

07 Monday Mar 2022

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You will be attacked by those for whom you do the most good

Secondly, ‘Tis a passage which I have somewhere else met withal, “Though I have done good offices for all men whatsoever, as they have come in my way, yet a great part of them, whom I have distinguished by doing of something peculiar for them, have afterwards treated me most ungratefully and abominably; have proved prodigies of ingratitude.”

Indeed, it is no rare thing for great services to be worse rewarded than great injuries. They that were lately your dependents will be shortly your defamers. It is a maxim of Seneca^[1] , “Men bear a secret hatred unto those who have most obliged them.”^[2]

Make yourself a scaffold for another to rise by; when is up, he will kick you down if he can. The prophecy is fulfilled in private as well as public instances, Men shall be unthankful. The French Protestants must for this very cause be destroyed by a tyrant because they brought him to the throne and made him able to destroy them.

Sir, if you meet with such usage too, let it not at all dishearten you from doing unto eight those good offices which you have done already to seven. But learn to good for its own sake; do it, hoping for nothing again.

God can use even defamations

O blessed improvement of defamations![3] My friend, make it and the issue will be glorious. Your experience will be that, Gen. 49:23,24, “The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him, but his bow abode in strength.” You know not what good arrows of service may yet be sent from you among the People of God; perhaps the more for the mischiefs which the archers have attempted upon you. Don’t sit down, and sink down under discouragements as if your opportunities to do good would be utterly lost by the malice of your defamers, with a tempest of defamations. Don’t say, “I shall one day perish by their tongues or pens.” But say, “O my soul, hope in God for I shall yet praise him.” (Ps. 42:5) God will wonderfully rescue your opportunities. They are not at the disposal of your malicious enemies.

And you know not what may happen to hamstring those enemies or to muzzle the lions that you are thrown among. ‘Tis very possible they that are now your enemies may come to befriend you wonderfully, and your defamers may prove the very instruments of your good. Yea, of your doing more good and of that by which your fame will be but advantaged and propagated.

I have heard a servant of God make this observation, That he has been defamed and abused by some, and he has out of obedience to Christ forborne to take notice of it. Christ has afterward put it into the hearts of those very men singly to assist him in his most valued serviceableness. Yea, if you duly humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, and rage of man, it would be no ne thing if anon ou find the accomplishment of that promise, Zeph. 3:19, “I will get you praise and fame in every place where they have been put to shame.”

Or, while these envious men are wishing and striving that you may come to nothing, they may do so themselves, Non ego sic cedidi, quamvis abjectus! (“I have not cut down him who was struck down.”)

It may-be they will become so contemptible and so miserable that you shall have them objects, not so much of your indignation as of your commiseration. Their esteem shall be very little, and the divine providence will order it, that they shall be the less esteemed for their disaffection of you.

It may be, God will give you that room in the hearts of his people and such a testimony in their consciences and sentiments that malignity toward you shall be reckoned a mark of an ill man by very man of them. The intoxicated creatures find that they have in truth only done the part of a viper in the fable. Their own viperous tongues bleed by licking of the file. But the servant of God is found invulnerable. AS you know, the Scripture gives it as good mark, to be a lover of good men. So, when the poet would paint out his Thersites as a very sorry wretch, this is the finishing stroke of his wretchedness. He is an adversary of brave Ulysses.^[4]

Vengeance is mine

Yea, it is possible God may punish them with reducing them to low and sad circumstances wherein they may need some assistances: They must fly for help to the very man whom they have abused. And sir, I assure myself that you will readily and heartily help them and utterly forget all their abuses, as if they had never been offered.

The governor Eutropius did but affront Chrysostom for his faithful rebukes of his briberies and oppressions. Anon the Emperor strips Eutropius of his offices and his like to fall a sacrifice unto his enemies.^[5] Eutropius then flies to Chrysostom for defense. And Chyrsostom is the man who most now defends him from his enemies. Yea, it is possible that God may bring the fate a Pashur upon him that smites the servants of God. (See, Jer. 20) And the smitten saint must be the man whom the dying and woeful sinner then begs to pray for him, which you may be sure he cannot but do with all the charity imaginable.

Some that have been more than ordinarily virulent and violent in uttering their calumnies against good men, have hastened upon themselves that which is incurred by them who will keep their tongues from evil. (Ps. 34:13) But that which I know you would very loath to see come upon the work of your calumniators. It was a strange providence among the old Roman Law, of the XII Tables, ^[6] Si quis carmen occentassit, quot alteri flagitium parit, Capitale esto. The plain English of that old Latin is, “That it was a capital thing to publish a reproach which procured infamy of another man.” Our old Arnobius having occasion to twit the defamatory pagans with with it, I find citing it with this explanation, Carmen malum conscribere, quo Fama alterius Coinquinetur. (By writing an evil song, another’s reputation is ruined.)

The awful hand of Heaven oftener executes that strange punishment than men are well aware of. Vavasor Powel[7]’s maxim was a very true one, “The less a good man strives for himself, the more will the great God strive for him.” Unjust enemies who are false witnesses breathing out cruelty, being with much moderation and resignation of min, put over into the hands of the living God, find it at last a “fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:31) There are arrows on the bent bow of Providence ordained against the persecutors (whose teeth are arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword (Ps. 57:4)). None knows how soon the Holy God may let them fly, especially if their persecutors carry on their malignity with such unwearied and impetuous molestation, that while they live, a diligent servant of God can proceed little further in the doing of good in the world.

[1] Seneca, Roman Stoic philosopher, 4 B.C. – 65 A.D. Counselor to Emperor Nero. At this place in the text, Mather has the word “unmasked” which makes no sense. It has been omitted.

[2] So far I have been unable to track down the original source.

[3]

Mistake me not, I do not say that of their own nature they are good, for they are a fruit of the curse; but though they are naturally evil, yet the wise over-ruling hand of God disposing and sanctifying them, they are morally good. As the elements, though of contrary qualities, yet God hath so tempered them, that they all work in a harmonious manner, for the good of the universe. Or as in a watch, the wheels seem to move contrary one to another, but all carry on the motions of the watch: so things that seem to move cross to the godly, yet by the wonderful providence of God work for their good. Among these worst things, there are four sad evils work for good to them that love God.

Thomas Watson, A Divine Cordial; The Saint’s Spiritual Delight; The Holy Eucharist; and Other Treatises, The Writings of the Doctrinal Puritans and Divines of the Seventeenth Century (The Religious Tract Society, 1846), 23.

[4] A reference to the Iliad, from book II, Samuel Butler, translation:

The rest now took their seats and kept to their own several places, but Thersites still went on wagging his unbridled tongue- a man of many words, and those unseemly; a monger of sedition, a railer against all who were in authority, who cared not what he said, so that he might set the Achaeans in a laugh. He was the ugliest man of all those that came before Troy- bandy-legged, lame of one foot, with his two shoulders rounded and hunched over his chest. His head ran up to a point, but there was little hair on the top of it. Achilles and Ulysses hated him worst of all, for it was with them that he was most wont to wrangle; now, however, with a shrill squeaky voice he began heaping his abuse on Agamemnon. The Achaeans were angry and disgusted, yet none the less he kept on brawling and bawling at the son of Atreus.

“Agamemnon,” he cried, “what ails you now, and what more do you want? Your tents are filled with bronze and with fair women, for whenever we take a town we give you the pick of them. Would you have yet more gold, which some Trojan is to give you as a ransom for his son, when I or another Achaean has taken him prisoner? or is it some young girl to hide and lie with? It is not well that you, the ruler of the Achaeans, should bring them into such misery. Weakling cowards, women rather than men, let us sail home, and leave this fellow here at Troy to stew in his own meeds of honour, and discover whether we were of any service to him or no. Achilles is a much better man than he is, and see how he has treated him- robbing him of his prize and keeping it himself. Achilles takes it meekly and shows no fight; if he did, son of Atreus, you would never again insult him.”

Thus railed Thersites, but Ulysses at once went up to him and rebuked him sternly. “Check your glib tongue, Thersites,” said be, “and babble not a word further. Chide not with princes when you have none to back you. There is no viler creature come before Troy with the sons of Atreus. Drop this chatter about kings, and neither revile them nor keep harping about going home. We do not yet know how things are going to be, nor whether the Achaeans are to return with good success or evil. How dare you gibe at Agamemnon because the Danaans have awarded him so many prizes? I tell you, therefore- and it shall surely be- that if I again catch you talking such nonsense, I will either forfeit my own head and be no more called father of Telemachus, or I will take you, strip you stark naked, and whip you out of the assembly till you go blubbering back to the ships.”

On this he beat him with his staff about the back and shoulders till he dropped and fell a-weeping. The golden sceptre raised a bloody weal on his back, so he sat down frightened and in pain, looking foolish as he wiped the tears from his eyes. The people were sorry for him, yet they laughed heartily, and one would turn to his neighbour saying, “Ulysses has done many a good thing ere now in fight and council, but he never did the Argives a better turn than when he stopped this fellow’s mouth from prating further. He will give the kings no more of his insolence.”

Thus said the people.

[5] Chrysostom the greatest preacher of the early church. You really must make his acquaintance.

You can find Chyrsostom’s Homilies on Eutropius here: https://orthodoxchurchfathers.com/fathers/npnf109/npnf1034.htm#TopOfPage

[6] You can find the law here: https://law.gwu.libguides.com/romanlaw/twelvetables.

[7] Welsh Baptist minister, born 1617. “He had no fear of men, or jails, or death in his heart. He was a strong republican, and he openly denounced the protectorship of Cromwell when his power was dreaded by all Europe; and Cromwell was so apprehensive of his influence that he arrested him. He spent eight years in thirteen prisons. And he died in the Fleet jail, in London, in the eleventh year of his incarceration, Oct. 27, 1671. His death was unusually blessed; the power and love of God filled his soul with enthusiasm in the miseries of a cell and in the agonies of a distressing complaint.” http://baptisthistoryhomepage.com/powell.vavasor.b.encyclo.html

Cotton Mather, The Right Way to Shake Off a Viper.17

06 Sunday Mar 2022

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When to expect to be attacked

I will mention to you one circumstance of conformity to your blessed Savior which if it should occur in your experience, I would not have you wonder at it. Our Savior having had Heaven opened, with astonishing testimonies with astonishing testimonies of divine favor to him at his Transfiguration in the the Mount. (Mark 9:2-13) He presently [immediately] met with what was grievous to him; a horrid spectacle of one possessed by a devil and something in the carriage of his own disciples which administered grief to him.

In conformity with this, it has been the observation made by some servants that just after they have been admitted unto a more than ordinary familiarity with Heaven, the Evil Spirits presently entertains them with some vexatious object, something that proves very troublesome and abusing unto them, and most probably some obloquy raised by the Devil against them. It may be you have (especially in the days which you have set apart for religion of the closet) had an admission into Heaven, yea, into the most Holy Place of Heaven by a lively faith beholding Jesus in the Holy of Holies concerned for you. You have been swallowed up with raptures of assurance of what the Glorious One has done and will do for you. It has been with you a time of astonishing irradiations from the Heavenly World.

Now let it not surprise you if you immediately have to do with people that have the evil spirit in them. Oh, ‘tis an unknown power that the Devil has over the minds and tongues of defamatory people. Nor let it be a surprise to you, if some from whom you might expect better things be now left unto something that may grieve you wonderfully. Nor let it surprise you if some from whom you might expect better thing be now left unto something that may grieve you wonderfully. Rejoice, again I say rejoice (Phil. 4:4) in this conformity to your Savior.

Paul: If thou hast been in Heaven, expect a messenger of Satan (some Zedekiah) immediately to buffet thee. (2 Chron. 18)

Part V

Do not Let Slander Keep You From Service

Let not your defamations be the discouragements unto your usefulness; by no means be discouraged from well-doing by being ill-spoken of.

Doubtless one design of Satan (the Prince of Defamers) in raising a storm of defamation against you is to overset your disposition for the service of God. But, oh, do not gratify him. So, when the prophet heard the defaming of many, he fell into that unhappy pang. Jer. 20:9 “Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his Name.” I hope sir you’ll be better advised. If you had not been a fruitful tree, it may be there had not been so many stones and sticks thrown at you. Now my friend, bear not fewer good fruits because of what you have met withal.

What a triumph was that? Rom. 8:37, 39. “We are more than conquerors—DEPTH—shall not be able to separate us form the Love of God.” Though you are brought into a depth of disgrace, and laid low by defamation, yet, Oh! Love God, as much as ever, and Lover the service of God with a flame that shall never be extinguished. Let no defemations retund [blunt, turn aside] or flatten your brave resolutions to do all you can.

Stand steady like a beaten anvil

Ignatius^[1] of old said unto Polycarp^[2], “Stand steady like a beaten anvil.”^[3] Give me leave to address you with the like advice. Bear all the blows that are gtiven you: And after all, be what you were before. Be as firm in your intentions and endeavors to do good as you were before. Be much better than you were before. Let nothing issue form you but bright strictures of piety and patience, and sparklingly devotion and usefulness.

The great God is by the defamations which are smitten withal making a trial of your sincerity and fidelity.^[4] He is trying whether you will serve him upon purer principles than the praise of men.

Oh, that you may be able to say when tried, I shall come forth as gold. It is a wonderful speech of Plato, “For the trial of true virtue ‘tis necessary that a good man should be defamed as an evil doer, when he does all things well, justly and fairly; and that he should hold immovable under such discouragements.”

[1] “IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH (Ἰγνάτιος Ἀντιοχείας, Ignatios Antiocheias). An early church father and bishop of Antioch of Syria. Wrote seven letters before his martyrdom (ca. AD 110–117) that provide insight into the post-apostolic church. Ignatius is also known as Theophorus (“God-bearer”).” Alexander H. Pierce, “Ignatius of Antioch,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016). Contemporary and acquaintance of Polycarp. Ignatius left behind a series of letters written as Polycarp was being transported to his martyrdom. The letters of Ignatius, as well as the documents by and concerning Polycarp can be found here: https://www.ccel.org/l/lightfoot/fathers/cache/fathers.pdf

[2] Bishop of Smyrna. His dates are uncertain, but likely 69-155 A.D.

[3] At this point, Mather quotes the original Greek. The text itself is difficult to read at this point, but the Greek text in Lightfoot’s edition here reads, “στῆθι ἑδραῖος, ὡς ἄκμων τυπτόμενος” Joseph Barber Lightfoot and J. R. Harmer, “The Apostolic Fathers” (London: Macmillan and Co., 1891), 132.

A longer quotation from Ignatius’ letter to Polycarp, as Ignatius was on his way to be martyred, reads, “Let not those who seem to be specious and yet bring novel teaching dismay you. Stand firm as an anvil when it is smitten. It is the part of a great athlete to suffer blows and to conquer. And above all for God’s sake we ought to endure all things, that He also may endure us. Become more zealous than you are. Consider the seasons.3 Look for Him Who is above all seasons, Who is timeless, invisible, made visible for our sakes, Who is beyond the touch of our hands, beyond suffering, Who yet suffered for us, Who in every way endured for us.” J. H. Srawley with St. Ignatius, The Epistles of St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, Second Edition, Revised., vol. 1 & 2, Early Church Classics (London; Brighton: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1910), 50–51.

[4] Two allusions stand behind this section. First, Job 1-2, where Satan argues that Job only serves God for the benefit to Job. Second, 1 Peter 1:3–7 (AV)

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, ⁵Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

⁶Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: ⁷That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

Cotton Mather, The Right Way to Shake Off a Viper.15

04 Friday Mar 2022

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Part IV

The conformity to the ever blessed Jesus, whereto his defamed servants do and may arrive, should be much in their eye, under the defamations. Looking after an adequate notion o fhonor, I finally determined upon this: All true honor lies in a conformity to the admirable Jesus.

Wherein a man is conformable to the admirable Savior of the world, so far, and no farther, he is an honorable man. Thence I infer, to be defamed may be to be honored. For I am sure the Savior of men was extremely defmed among men; despised and rejected of men. It was foretold of him that he should be spoken against. And it was fulfilled unto extremity: there was not a person in the land so spoken against. Indeed he had some that stood by him, yet there was but some.

we read, John 7:12, “Some said he is a good man. Others said, No, but he deceiveth the people.”

In the vision which the beloved John had of our Savior, we see, Rev. 1:15, “His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace.” The learned Grellot[1] has a curious thought upon it. Our Savior passed through a burning furnace of afflictions, so that he might come to his glory. Grievous defamations were some of the scorches that afflicted him in that fiery furnace and compelled him to cry out, Psalm 69:19–20

Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour: mine adversaries are all before thee. Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.

He took a friendly notice of some that had not the best reputation; but with no other intention than the charitable one of a physician, intending to recover his patients. For this he was defamed, as familiar friend of wicked people. He compassionately provided a large quantity of wine for the neighbors at a wedding feast: For this he was defamed as a wine-bibber [wino]. He did wonderful things to deliver poor peole form the hands hurts of the evil spirits: He was requited [paid back] with being defamed as one that carried on an unlawful converse with evil spirits.

“No man heard his voice in the streets.”[2] He fled from the very whispers of a temporal kingdom. Yet he was defamed as one that moved sedition. A thief was preferred before him. His own kindred had those among who maltreated him and called him all that was bad. (Mark 3:21) I find by travelers, the Jews to this day make this great offense against him. “He went about doing good.” (Acts 10:38) Yet a great part of mankind conspired for to treat him as an evil doer. Though he could challenge all men living to tax him with the least ill thing, yet he was numbered with the transgressors. (Is. 53:12) He was crucified between two robbers. From when Hierocles, almost three hundred years later, published and fomented a tradition that he was a highway man [robber], the head of a desperate crew of Banditti [bandits]. Thus, a generation of vipers [Luke 3:7], the most remarkable set of the seed of the serpent (Gen. 3:15) that had been in any generation, stung the holy, harmless, undefiled, Jesus! O Disciple, how canst thou propose any other sort of treatment that what thy glorious Lord met withal?[3]

There never can bebetter advice given to. Defamed Christian than that, Hebrews 12:2–3:

Look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

Accordingly, in the defamations that you suffer, you may very allowably examine, What conformity to the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ may be discovered.[4]

Indeed, we must with all the contrition & confusion imaginable, make the acknowledgement of the penitent sinner, who was crucified with our Savior:

And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: [Our Lord never did] nothing amiss.

[Luke 23:41] But this does not forbid us poor sinner to consider what there was in the sorrows of our Savior to which anything in our sorrows may be conformable.

It is an observable passage in Col. 1:24, “[I] rejoice in my sufferings [], and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ.” The Greek word used there [ἀνταναπληρῶ] properly signifies the hollow marks and strokes of the seal, which are filled up with wax.

In your defamations you may with out immodesty (but oh! Do it with a very trembling modesty!) observe perhaps the signatures which may, as the wax under the seal, answer something that befell Christ in his afflictions.

[1] I have been unable to track down this “learned” commentator.

[2] Matthew 12:19–21 (AV)

¹⁹He shall not strive, nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. ²⁰A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. ²¹And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.

[3] What circumstance could you be in which was worse than what Jesus suffered?

[4] In what way is your suffering similar to his?

Cotton Mather, The Right Way to Shake Off a Viper.13

02 Wednesday Mar 2022

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Part III

It may be some relief of your disquietments under your defamations to consider what company you have in your affliction. To consider how defamed and ill-spoken of the brst of men in the world have been before you. What you undergo has much temptation in it. But sir, no temptation except what is common to the best of men. [1 Cor. 10:13] This comfort for the miserable, seems to be recommend as no miserable comfort [poor, inadequate comfort] by our Savior. Matt. 5:11-12, “Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad; for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”

Well known is the story of that knight who going to his martyrdom and seeing himself because of his quality [station in society] excused from wearing a chain worn by the other martyrs, he cried out, “I pray let me be a knight of that order!” And [he] asked that he might wear a chain as well as they!

There never was a useful servant of God in the world without so many defamations. And if you should be wholly without tem, and all men should speak well of you, you might well question whether you are a saint of their order or not. The enmity which is fexed at the beginning between the two seeds [Gen. 3:15] has ever since been operating in defamations. The third chapter of Genesis has predicted them. For all that will renounce and oppose the kingdom of Satan in the world, and such is the influence of Satan on the tongues of his children [John 8:44] that he continually procures their prediction to be accomplished.

Moses, the writer of this [Genesis], was a famous instance [example] of this. Moses, the greatest man [Let the insolent critic of Amsterdam say what he will!] that ever shone in the world in four-thousand-years together, an angel in flesh. How often did his own people defame him in their murmurings. The people that were under more obligations unto him than [to] any other man under heaven. So impertinent as to make [up a false] staroy that there an Arabian woman whom he had harkened unto more than he should have done. [Num. 12:1]

The pagans did their part also in defaming him. He had once a leprosy on his hand most miraculously, most honorably circumstanced. [Ex. 4:6] The ancient historians hereupon spread a story that he was a leper and for this cause driven with his people out of Egypt. Yea, which is unaccountable: the accounts which the wicked Jews himself in their Talmuds, give both of Moses and of David, would render them the most scandalous Men that ever were in the world.

“The time would fail me to mention” (Heb. 11:32) all the holy prophets who have complaint made by one of them. Jer. 20:10, “I heard the defaming of many.” They have been defamed as the troublers of Israel (1 Kings 18:17), when they were the chariots of Israel (2 Kings 2:12). They were deserted and defamed until they have retired unto the Juniper tree. (1 Kings 19:5)

Under the New Testament, the matter has not been mended. The old enmity has been carried on in the old way which wicked men have trodden. The Apostles of our Savio could appeal to all that knew them, “Ye are witnesses who holily, how righteously, how unblameably we have behaved ourselves.” (1 Thess. 2:10)

But then those men of God were called unto this marvelous proof of their being so. 2 Corinthinas 5:4,8, “Approving ourselves as the ministers of God in much patience, by dishonor … by evil report.” Above all thou must not be forgotten, O Paul, who didst labor (and in this way suffer) “more abundantly than they all.” (2 Cor. 11:23)

Nor the “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. 12:7), the strange aversion which the Christianized Jews had unto him, on the score of his labor among the Gentiles: A reproachful aversion which could not be removed. The gracious God, though he be sought thrice (2 Cor. 12:8) by his prayerful and faithful servant, yet would not remove this buffeting encumbrance, but have him content with the favor which he had in other things bestowed on him.

In early times, the primitive Christians, how defamed were they? Such vile accusations were brought unto the imperial throne [of Rome], th tsome of the best emperors looked on them as the worst of people. Trajan himself because their persecutor. The church was long with child and in travail (full two hundred and eighty-eight prophetical days ) before the revolution when the Accuser of the Brethren could not be heard against her; yea, after the Constantinian Revolution, it was astonishing to see how professed Christians but shamefully divided ones persecuted one-another with defamations. Especially the Arians against the Orthodox.

The one example of Athanasius may be enough. You may learn all from what was done to that one. Church history reports that they accused him of beating some other ministers and offering them horrid outrages, and for spoiling and robbing of churches. The Arians compelled him to some necessary things for his own defense and then those unreasonable men complained of him doing those things. They accused him of murdering a man and cutting off one of his hands to serve certain magical purposes: though that man appeared alive, safe and sound, unto the confusion of his accusers. They accused him of a criminal conversation with women, though the accusers were anon [immediately] confounded by their confessions which the wretches had made that they never anything amiss by him.

Sometimes their accusation prevailed so far as to compel his retirement out of the town. The chief rulers were violently set against him. The corrupt clergy hated him and would have had him utterly deposed.

The glorious Christ whose cause he espoused strangely [miraculously] supported him and preserved him. Once by singing of Psalms, he so charmed the soldiers who came to seize him, they could not meddle with him. He had many triumphs over his adversaires. He often saw them reduced unto such confusion that they were afraid, they were ashamed of owning themselves to be his adversaries. At last, he died peaceably and honorably in his own city, after he had been bishop for six and forty years.

Cotton Mather, The Right Way to Shake Off a Viper.12

02 Wednesday Mar 2022

Posted by memoirandremains in Cotton Mather

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Cotton Mather, Slander, The Right Way to Shake off a Viper

I will now observe to you this one thing more.

There are none that have so much occasion to have such a good carriage under defamations, as a faithful minister of the gospel. Upon that cause, in the fifth petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Forgive us, as we forgive,” says Luther, Mirabilise est haec additio! What a wonder is that extra clause. The like appendix might have been added to the other petitions. As before, “Give us this day our daily bread as we disperse bread unto those who are about us.” And after this, “Lead us not into temptation, as we are loath to lead others into temptation.” Indeed, we should look upon ourselves as being so obliged. But then our Savior intimates unto us that our charity and forgiveness towards our neighbor will depend all the other good operations which are thus to be pursued. It is a world full of such offenses, that except we can forgive, we shall do very little good unto our neighbors.

But it is a remark, as I remember of a French writer, that this platform of prayer, the condition of the minister is peculiarly accommodated[1]. I will not go through all the particular, ‘tis enough to note the ungodly part of mankind will multiple injuries every faithful minister. His fulfillment of his ministry will expose him to the envy and malice of many people and a thousand injuries. For such a peculiar manner is this petition calculated, Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

It was the happy [here, “happy” means will placed, useful] Rule of a Minister [a book he had access to which was named “Rule of a Minister”] which I have somewhere recited in these terms.

It is a rule with me, rather to suffer and bury in slience any manner of injuries abuse abused from absurd people in the flock, than to manage any contention with them, on any occasion. Let the matter or the issue be what it will, I shall generally gain more in regard of the great interest[2] by remitting of my right, than by pursuing it.

A minister, above other men, should soar to heaven, live in heaven, keep near heave; and if he would do so, I tell you, what will be his experience.

The incomparable Newton[3] has demonstrated that the weight of bodied or the force of their descent toward the center decreases as their distance from the center increases.[4] A tone eight on the surface of the earth raised heavenwards unto the height of one semi-diameter of the earth-hence would weigh but one-quarter of a ton.[5] At three semi-diameters from the surface of the earth, it would be as easy for a man to carry a ton, as here to carry little more than a hundred pounds.

I know the further you fly toward heaven, the more (if I may use the falconer’s word) you must lessen. There is great reason why it should be so! Defamations will be some of the things by which you must be lessened. It’s true, defamations are heavy things, they are hard to carry. It is hard to carry well under them; some of them are ton weight. But my friend, if you were as near heaven as you ought to be, you would make like of them [they would weigh less]; you would bear them wonderfully.

[1] The command to give others has a unique application to minister. If the minister does he work well, he will find himself criticized by others. It is a paradox that being a good minister should lead to attacks. Yet that paradox leads to the minister of all people to be especially careful to forgive others.

[2] The “great interest” is salvation. See, for example, William Guthrie, The Christian’s Great Interest. You would do well to know this book, https://banneroftruth.org/us/store/christian-living/the-christians-great-interest/

[3] Isaac Newton, English mathematician, scientist, 1642-1726, commonly accounted one of the greatest minds ever.

[4] The gravity exerted by a body decreases over distance.

[5] The weight of an object on the surface of the earth will be greater than that same object raised into the atmosphere, because the gravitation pull of the earth will decrease. Just think of the images you have seen of astronauts “floating in space”.

Cotton Mather, The Right Way to Shake Off a Viper.11

28 Monday Feb 2022

Posted by memoirandremains in Cotton Mather

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Cotton Mather, Defamation, Love Your Enemies, Slander, The Right Way to Shake off a Viper

Upon such a text as this, Psalm 92:11, “Mine eye shall see my desire on my enemies; mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me.” I have heard one say it gave some shock to his thoughts, it compelled him to behold none but the great Messiah speaking. When it came to be sung in the Assemblies of Zion [at church], the thoughts were constantly awakened in him were, Lord, my desire is that my enemy may be pardoned and come to have a share with me in the blessings of goodness. This truly were to sing with melody in his heart unto the Lord.

Hereupon I consulted the original, I found this word my desire is not in the original.[1] I wish that some other word of supply might be brought unto the translation instead of my desire. Why may not we read, What God shall do, or, what shall be done? Accordingly, Darby in his version of the Psalms, when that clause comes in Psalm 54:7, Mine eyes has seen its desire on my enemies, turns it so, Thou makest my foes to fall before mine eyes.

One says very truly, “‘Tis an easy thing to forgive injuries when God has changed the properties of the and turned them into blessings.” I hope you got so much good by your defamations that you can bless God for them. Then it will be no hard thing for you to wish a blessing on the author of them.

Nor shall your generosity stop there. It is part of the gracious yoke which our Savior has laid upon us, Matthew 5:44, Do good unto them that hate you. I think you should watch the next opportunity after an injury, and particularly after an injurious defamation to do some kindness unto the person that has injured you. Do something wherein he may be the better for you. It was an ancient maxim, Disce diligere inimicum si vis cavere inimicum. Sir, love your enemies and you will bravely arm yourself against your enemies.

Never decline any justice or service which may lie in your way to do unto such a person because he has defamed you. But let his ill-doings provoke you to love and good works; provoke you of some way of being useful to him, which else you ahd never thought upon. Your discretion may so manage the circumstances of your action that the man shall not be hardened in sin by what you do. It may be so managed that you may find the sweet accomplishment of that word, Romans 12:20, “If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink. For in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.” That is to say, thou shalt melt him. The expression may seem to carry some damage in it, but the allusion has not been commonly understood. It alludes unto them that are concerned with the melting of metals. The metals which will not be melted by fires put under them are melted with coals of fire are heaped upon them; are laid over the crucible. It may be by such good conduct of yours, you may overcome evil with good. You may bring your adversaries such a remorse, that they shall bear this glorious testimony of you, He is a good man. Whether this be done or no, it is most certain you will, by such a conduct exceedingly glorify Christ. Your concern for such a conduct will exceedingly discover the love of God flaming in your soul. The consolations of that love will be wonderful! Be wonderful!

[1] The verse is translated variously,

And my eye has looked exultantly upon my foes,

My ears hear of the evildoers who rise up against me.

Psalm 92:11 (NASB95)

My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;

my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.

Psalm 92:11 (ESV)

My eyes look down on my enemies;

my ears hear evildoers when they attack me.

Psalm 92:11 (HCSB)

My eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries;

my ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes.

Psalm 92:11 (NIV)