Objection 9: I Am Falsely Accused and Reproached in My Good Name

Object. 9.” Oh! but I am falsely accused, and sadly reproached, and my good name,

* Christ was only forsaken in regard of his human nature, not in respect of his Godhead.

which would be as dear, or dearer to me than my life, is defamed, and things are laid to my charge, that I never did, that I never knew, &c.; and how then can I be silent? how can I hold my peace? I cannot forget the proverb, A man’s eye and his good name can bear no jests; and how then can I be mute to hear men make jests upon my good name? and every day to see men treat it with all the scorn and contempt imaginable, that they may utterly blast it?” &c, To this I say,

1. That it must be granted, that a good name is one of the choicest jewels in a christian’s crown; though a great name many times is little worth, yet a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches; it is better to have a good name abroad, than silver or gold laid up in a chest at home, “A good name is better than precious ointment,” Eccl. vii, 1, Precious ointments were greatly in use, and highly esteemed among the Israelites in those eastern parts; they were laid up amongst the most precious things even in the king’s treasury, Isa. xxxix. 2. Sweet ointments can but affect the smell, and comfort the brain, and delight the outward man; they reach not the best part, the noble part, namely, the soul, the conscience of a christian; but a good name does both.

Among all sorts and ranks of men in the world, a good name hath an attractive faculty; it is a precious ointment, that draws hearers to attend good preachers, patients to attend physicians, clients to attend lawyers, scholars to attend schoolmasters, and customers to attend shopkeepers, who, with Demetrius, have a good report of all good men. Let a man’s good name be but up, and he cannot easily want any thing that men or money can help him to. A good name will bring a man into favor, and keep a man in favor with all that are good: therefore say the moralists, ‘” Whatsoever commodity you lose,’ be sure yet to preserve that jewel of a good name.” A christian should be most careful of his good name, for a good name answers to all things, as Solomon speaks of money. “If I may but keep a good name, I have wealth enough,” said the heathen. A christian should rather forego gold, than let go a good name; and he that robs a christian of his good name, is a worse thief than he that robs him of his purse, and rather deserves a hanging than he. But,

2. It must be granted, that a good name once lost, is very hardly recovered again; a man may more easily recover a lost friend, or a lost estate, than a lost name; a good name is like a princely structure, quickly ruined, but long a rearing. The father of the prodigal could say of his lost son, This my son was lost, but is found; he was dead, but is alive; but how few christians can say, This my good name was lost, but is found; it was dead, but now it lives! When once a good name leaves a man, it hardly returns to him again; new wine is rarely put into old bottles; a man should stand upon nothing more than the credit of his conscience, and the credit of his name.

Three things a christian should stiffly labor to maintain: 1. The honor of God. 2. The honor of the gospel. 3. The honor of his own name. If once a christian’s good name sets in a cloud, it will be long before it rises again.

3. Though all this be true, yet it has been the portion of God’s dearest saints and servants to be slandered, reproached, vilified, and falsely accused, Matt. v. 10 — 12; 1 Pet. iii. 14; iv. 14; Ps. lxix. 7; Gen. xxxix.; Ps. iii.; 2 Sam. xvi. 11, 12; Job vi.; xiii.; xv.; Jer. li. 51. “Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous,” Ps. xxxi. 18. How sadly and falsely was Joseph accused by his wanton mistress! David by Doeg and Shimei! Job of hypocrisy, impiety, inhumanity, cruelty, partiality, pride, and irreligion! Job xxii. Was not Naboth accused of speaking blasphemy against God and the king? Did not Hainan represent the Jews to the king as refractories and rebels? Was not Elias accused as the troubler of Israel, and Jeremiah the trumpet of rebellion? the Baptist a stirrer up of sedition, and Paul a pestilent incendiary? Were not the apostles generally accounted deceivers and deluders of the people, and the offscourings of the world? &c. Rom. iii. 8; 2 Cor. vi. 8; 1 Cor. iv. 12, 13. Athanasius and Eustathius were falsely accused of adultery; adultery, heresy, and treason, were charged upon Cranmer; parricide upon Philpot; sedition upon Latimer. As the primitive persecutors usually put christians into bears’ skins and dogs’ skins, and then baited them; so they usually loaded their names and persons with all the reproach, scorn, contempt, and false reports imaginable, then baited them, and acted all their malice and cruelty upon them. I think there is no christian, but sooner or later, first or last, shall have cause to say with David, “False witnesses did rise up, they laid to my charge things that I knew not,” Ps. xxxv. 11; they charged me with such things whereof I was both innocent and ignorant. It was the saying of one, That there was nothing so intolerable as accusation, because there was no punishment ordained by law for accusers, as there was for thieves, although they stole friendship from men, which is the goodliest riches men can have. Well, christians, seeing it has been the lot of the dearest saints to be falsely accused, and to have their names and reputes in the world reproached, do you hold your peace, seeing it is no worse with you than it was with them, of whom this world was not worthy. The rabbins say, that the world cannot subsist without patient bearing of reproaches.

4., Our Lord Jesus Christ was sadly reproached, and falsely accused; his precious name (that deserves to be always writ in characters of gold, as the Persians usually write the names of their kings) was often eclipsed, before the sun was eclipsed at his death; his sweet name, that was sweeter than all sweets, was often crucified before his body. Oh! the stones of reproach that were frequently rolled upon that name by which we must be saved, if ever we are saved! Oh! the jeers, the scoffs, the scorns, that were cast upon that name that can only bless us! The name of Jesus, saith Chrysostom, hath a thousand treasures of joy and comfort in it. The name of a Saviour, saith Bernard, is honey in the mouth, and music in the ear, and a jubilee in the heart; and yet, where is the heart that can conceive, or the tongue that can express, how much reproach hath been cast upon Christ’s names? and how many sharp arrows of reproach and scorn have been, and daily, yea, hourly, are shot by the world at Christ’s name and honor! Such ignominious reproaches were cast upon Christ and his name, in the time of his life, and at his death, that the sun did blush, and mask himself with a cloud, that he might no longer behold them. “The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners, “Matt. xi. 19. But was he such a one? No. Wisdom is justified of her children. Wisdom’s children will stand up, and justify her before all the world. u We remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again,” Matt, xxvii. 63. But was he a deceiver of the people? No; he was the faithful and true Witness, Rev. i. 5; iii. 14. u The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil; who goeth about to kill thee?,” John vii. 20. ’ c Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well, that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? “chap. viii. 48. “And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?” chap. x. 20. It was a wonder of wonders that the earth did not open and swallow up these monsters, and that God did not rain hell out of heaven upon these horrid blasphemers; but their blasphemous assertions were denied and disproved by some of wisdom’s children: “Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil: can a devil open the eyes of the blind?” ver. 21, The devil hath no such power, nor any such goodness, as to create eyes to him that was born blind.5

Will you yet see more scorn and contempt cast upon the Lord of glory? Why, then, cast your eyes upon Luke xvi. 14,” And thq

Pharisees, also, who were covetous, heard all these things, and they derided him.” The Pharisees did not only laugh, fleer, and jeer at Christ, but they gave also external signs of scorn and derision in their countenance and gestures; they contemned him as a thing of nought, Mark xv. 19; Isa. lvii. 4; Matt. xxvii. 28, 29; and, in Luke xxiii. 35, both people and rulers. He is accused for being an enemy to Cesar, John xix. 12. Now, who can seriously consider the scorn, reproach, and contempt, that has been cast upon the name and honor of our Lord Jesus, and not sit silent and mute under all the scorn and contempt that has [been cast upon his name or person in this world?

5. To be well spoken of by them that are ill spoken of by God, to be in favor with them who are out of favor with God, is rather a reproach, than an honor to a man. Our Saviouir himself testifieth, that, in the church and nation of the Jews, they that had the most general! approbation and applause, they who were most admired and cried up, were the worst, not the best men; they were the false, not the true prophets. u Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets,” Luke vi. 26. Austin feared the praises of good men, and detested the praises of evil men. I would not, saith Luther, have the glory and fame of Erasmus; my greatest fear is the praises of men. Phocion had not suspected his speech, had not the common people applauded it. Antisthenes mistrusted some ill in himself for the vulgar commendations. Socrates ever suspected that which passed with the most general commendations. To be praised of evil men, said Bion, is to be praised for evil doing; so, the better they speak of a man the worse, and the worse the better. The Lacedemonians would not have a good saying sullied with a wicked mouth. A wicked tongue soils all the good that drops from it; it is a mercy to be delivered from the praises of wicked men; wicked men’s applauses oftentimes become the saints’ reproaches. The heathen could say, What evil have I done, that this bad man commends me? There is a truth in that saying of Seneca, The worst me are commonly most displeased with that which is best. Who can seriously dwell on thes;e things, and not be mute and silent under all the reproaches and scorn that are cast upon hu; name and credit in this wTorld?

6. TJiere will come a day when the Lord will wipe off all the dust and reproach that wicked men have cast upon the good names of his people; there shall be a resurrection of names, as well as of bodies; their names, that are now buried in the open sepulchres of evil throats, shall surely rise again; “their innocency shall shine forth as the light, and their righteousness as the noon-day, “Ps. xxxvii. 6. Though the clouds may for a time obscure the shining forth of the sun, yet the sun will shine forth again as bright and glorious as ever. u The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance.” Though the malicious slanders and false accusations of wicked men may for a time cloud the names of the saints, yet those clouds shall vanish and their names shall appear transparent and glorious. God will take that care of his people’s good name, that the infamy calumnies, and contumelies, that are cast upon it, shall not long remain* The Jews rolled a -stone upon Christ to keep him down, that he might not rise again; but an angel quickly rolls away the stone, and, in despite of his keepers, he rises in a glorious triumphant manner; so>, though the world may roll this stone and that, of reproach and Contempt, upon the saints’ good names, yet God will roll away all those stones, and their names shall have a glorious resurrection in despite of men and devils. That God who hath always one hand to wipe away his children’s tears froln their eyes, that God hath always another hand to wipe off the dust that lies upon his children’s names; wronged innocency shall not long lie under a cloud; dirt will not stick long upon marble, or statues of gold.

Well, christians, remember this, the slanders and reproaches that are cast upon you, are but badges of your innocency and glory. “If mine adversary should write a book against me, surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me,” Job xxxi. 35, 36. All reproaches are pearls added to a christian’s crown. Hence Austin, He that willingly takes from my good name, unwillingly adds to my reward; and this Moses well knew, which made him prefer Christ’s reproach before Pharaoh’s crown. That God who knows all his children by name, will not suffer their names to be long buried under the ashes of reproach and scorn; and, therefore, hold thy peace; the more the foot of pride and scorn tramples upon thy name for the present, the more resplendent and radiant it will be hereafter* Therefore, lay thy hand upon thy mouth.

7. The Lord hath been a swift and a terrible witness against such as have falsely accused his children, and loaded their names with scorn, reproach, and contempt, Isa. xli. 11. Ahab and Jezebel, who suborned false witnesses against Naboth, 1 Kings xxi. 10, 13, had their blood licked up by dogs, 2 Kings ix. Arnaziah, who falsely accused the prophet Amos to the king, met with this message from the Lord, “Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, thy sons and daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; thou shalt die in a polluted land,” Amos vii. 17. Ha* man, who falsely accused the Jews, Esther hi. 8, 9, and ix. 10, was one day feasted with the king, and the next day made a feast for crows. The envious courtiers, who falsely accused Daniel, were devoured by lions, Dan. vi. 24* Let me give you a view of the judgments of God upon such persons, out of histories.

Caiaphas the high priest, who gathered the council, and suborned false witnesses against the Lord Jesus, was shortly afterwards put out of office, and one Jonathan substituted in his room, whereupon he killed himself. John Cooper, a godly man, being falsely accused in queen Mary’s days, by one Grimwood, shortly after, the said Grimwood, being in perfect health, his bowels suddenly fell out of his body, and so he died miserably. Narcissus, a godly bishop of Jerusalem, was falsely accused by three men of many foul matters, who sealed up with oaths and imprecations, their false testimonies; but shortly after that, one of them, with his whole family and substance, was burnt with fire; another of them was stricken with a grievous disease, such as in his imprecation he had wished to himself; the third, terrified with the sight of God’s judgments upon the former, became very penitent, and poured out the grief of his heart in such abundance of tears, that thereby he became blind. A wicked wretch, under Commodus the emperor, accused Apollonius, a godly christian, to the judges, for cer* tain grievous crimes; which, when he could not prove, he wTas adjudged to have his legs broken, according to an ancient law of the Romans. Gregory Bradway falsely accused one Brook, but, shortly after, through terrors of conscience, he sought to cut his own throat, but, being prevented, he fell mad.

I might produce a multitude of such instances, but let these suffice, to evidence how swift and terrible a witness God hath been against those that have been false accusers of his people, and have loaded their precious names with scorn and reproach; the serious consideration of which should make the accused and reproached christian to sit dumb and silent before the Lord.

Lastly, God himself is daily reproached. Men heed not to cast scorn and contempt upon God himself. Sometimes they charge the Lord that his ways are not equal, that it is a wrong way he goes in, Ezek. xviii. 25. Sometimes they charge God with cruelty; “My punishment is greater than I can bear,” Gen. iv. 13. Sometimes they charge God with partiality, and respect of persons, because here he strokes, and there he strikes; here he lifts up, and there he casts down; here he smiles, and there he frowns; here he gives much, and there he gives nothing; here he loves, and there he hates; here he prospers one, and there he blasts another: “Where is the God of judgment!” Mai. ii. 17; that is, no where; either there is no God of judgment, or, at least, not a God of exact, precise, and impartial judgment, &c. Sometimes they charge God with unbountifulness; that he is a God that will set his people to hard work, to much work, but will pay them no wages, nor give them any reward. u Ye have said, It is in vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?” MaL iii. 14. Sometimes they charge God that he is a hard master, and that he reaps where he hath not sown, and gathers where he hath not strawed, Matt. xxv. 24. Oh! the infinite reproach and scorn that is every day, that is every hour in the day, cast upon the Lord, his name, his truth, his ways, his ordinances, his glory! Alas! all the scorn and contempt that is cast upon the saints, all the world over, is nothing to that which is cast upon the great God every hour; and yet he is patient. Ah! how hardly do most men think of God! and how hardly do they speak of God! and how unhandsomely do they carry it towards God! and yet he bears. They that will not spare God himself, his name, his truth, his honor, shall we think it much that they spare not us or our names? Surely no. Why should we expect that those should give us good words, that cannot afford God a good word from one week’s end to another? yea, from one year’s end to another? Why should we expect that they should cry out, Hosanna, hosanna, to us, whereas, every day, they cry out of Christ, Crucify him, crucify him. u It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub,7’ (or a master fly, or a dunghill god, or the chief devil,) “how much more shall they call them of his household?” Matt.x. 25. It is preferment enough for the servant to be as his lord; and if they stain and blaspheme the name of the Lord, never wonder if they revile thy name. And let this suffice to quiet and silence your hearts, christians, under all that scorn and contempt that is cast upon your name and reputation in this world.