own ruin. Nor indeed can any party be so much strengthened and
underpropped, as it will be weakened and undermined by such courses.
No cause can stand firm upon a bottom so loose and slippery as
falsehood is. All the good a slanderer can do is, to disparage what
he would maintain. In truth, no heresy can be worse than that would
be which should allow to play the devil in any case. He that can
dispense with himself to slander a Jew or a Turk, doth in so doing
render himself worse than either of them by profession is: for even
they, and even pagans themselves, disallow the practice of
inhumanity and iniquity. All men by light of nature avow truth to
be honourable, and faith to be indispensably observed. He doth not
understand what it is to be Christian, or careth not to practise
according thereto, who can find in his heart in any case, upon any
pretence, to calumniate. In fine, to prostitute our conscience, or
sacrifice our honesty, for any cause, to any interest whatever, can
never be warrantable or wise. Further--

3. The slanderer is a fool, because he useth improper means and
preposterous methods of effecting his purposes. As there is no
design worth the carrying on by ways of falsehood and iniquity, so
is there scarce any, no good or lawful one at least, which may not
more surely, more safely, more cleverly be achieved by means of
truth and justice. Is not always the straight way more short than
the oblique and crooked? is not the plain way more easy than the
rough and cragged? is not the fair way more pleasant and passable
than the foul? Is it not better to walk in paths that are open and
allowed, than in those that are shut up and prohibited, than to
clamber over walls, to break through fences, to trespass upon
enclosures? Surely yes: "He that walketh uprightly, walketh
surely." Using strict veracity and integrity, candour and equity,