in hell should bow down"[1] in reverence should be used only with devotion and affection. Strive, therefore, to speak with piety of the holy Name of God, and do what you can by your prayers, your exhortations, and your example to banish the terrible evil of which we have been speaking.
Section II.
On Detraction and Raillery.
The abominable sin of detraction is so prevalent at the present day that there is scarcely a society, a family, an individual not guilty of it. There are some persons so perversely inclined that they cannot bear to hear any good of another, but are always alive to their neighbor's faults, always ready to tear his character to pieces.
To excite in your heart a salutary hatred of this detestable and dangerous vice consider the three great evils which it involves. First, it always borders upon mortal sin, even when it is not actually such. From criticisms and censures, with which people generally begin, we easily fall into detraction or calumny. Detraction is committed when we tell another's real faults; calumny, when the fault we mention is not real, but the invention of our malicious lies. Thus, though we may not be guilty of calumny, how often does it happen that a person, from criticising the failings of others which are generally known, is gradually led to men-
- ↑ Phil. ii. 10.
