Von der Verleumdung. Wären keine Hehler, so wären keine Stehler
The Complicity of Slander
The author exposes the shared guilt between the one who speaks slander and the one who listens to it.
How is it that the world is so full of unhanged thieves? I am talking about slanderers. There are plenty of people who steal money, but those who steal honor are even more common.1 I'll tell you why: because you love to hear slander, someone who loves to speak it turns up. His mouth is the thief; your ear is the fence.2 You're both equally deep in it. Shall I pass judgment? Hang the thief by the tongue and the receiver by the ears—then both thieves will hang side by side.
Three Rules for Christian Charity
A practical guide for the believer to guard their heart, tongue, and ears against the destructive influence of suspicion and slander.
My Christian, take three things to heart if you want to be a Christian: First, don't lightly think ill of your neighbor; it goes against love. Don't picture your neighbor as this or that; it may well be otherwise — you're no knower of hearts, after all.✦3 Suspicion is blind; it errs and deceives. It goes poorly when one blind person leads another.✦ In keeping with love, hope for the best regarding your neighbor, even if something unfavorable about him crosses your mind.✦4 Second, if you can't overcome yourself and put suspicion aside, still take care that you say nothing bad about your neighbor and so make him suspect in others' eyes.56 It truly goes against all decency and Christian love when someone says, 'It seems to me that person is this or that.' But third, if someone should dare to plant suspicion in you, don't lend him your ear. Say: I can't believe it; I'll ask my neighbor about it first—people lie a lot about others.7 That way, many a sin is kept at bay, and peace remains. Do that.
Read the original Latin
Wie kommts daß die Welt so voll ungehenkter Diebe ist? die Verleumder meine ich. Der Gelddiebe gibts viel, der Ehrendiebe noch mehr. Ich will dir's sagen: weil du gern Verleumdung hörst, findet sich der gern Verleumdung redt. Sein Mund ist der Stehler, dein Ohr der Hehler. Seid beide gleich fest dran. Soll ich das Urtheil sprechen? Henk auf den Stehler bei der Zunge, den Hehler bei den Ohren, da hangen beide Diebe beisammen.
Mein Christ dreierlei nimm in acht, willst du ein Christ sein: Fürs erste denke nicht leicht arges von dem Nächsten; es ist wider die Liebe. Bilde dir nicht deinen Nächsten so und so ein; es kann vielleicht anders sein, du bist ja kein Herzenskündiger. Argwohn ist blind, irrt und trügt. Wie übel gehts, wenn ein blinder den andern leitet! Hoff nach der Liebe das beste vom Nächsten, ob dir gleich ein widriges von ihm in ' Sinn kommt. Fürs andre kannst du dich selbst nicht überwinden und des Argwohns entmüßigen, hüte dich daß du nichts arges vom Nächsten redest und ihn dadurch bei andern verdächtig machst. Es ist fürwahr wider alle Ehrbarkeit und christliche Liebe, wenn man sagt: Mich deucht der Mensch sei so und so. So aber drittens jemand sich unterstünde Argwohn bei dir anzurichten, leih ihm dein Ohr nicht.
Sprich: ich kanns nicht glauben, ich will meinen Nächsten erst drum fragen, man lügt viel auf die Lente. Also wird mancher Sünde gewehrt und bleibt Friede.
Thue das.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Acts.1.24;1Kgs.8.39 — And they prayed and said, "You, Lord, knower of all hearts, show which one you have chosen from these two. 1Kgs.8.39 — then you—hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to each person according to all his ways, you who know his heart—for you alone know the hearts of all the children of humanity,
- ↩Matt.15.14;Luke.6.39 — Leave them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. But if a blind person guides a blind person, both will fall into a pit. Luke.6.39 — He also told them a parable: "Can a blind person lead a blind person? Will they not both fall into a pit?"
- ↩1Cor.13.5-1Cor.13.7 — It does not dishonor others, it does not seek its own, it is not easily provoked, it does not keep a record of wrongs. 1Cor.13.6 — It does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. 1Cor.13.7 — Love bears all things, and believes all things, and hopes all things, and endures all things.
Notes
- 1 ↩Ehrendiebe: thieves who steal a neighbor's honor or good name by slander, not mere social climbers.
- 2 ↩Hehler: receiver of stolen goods (the proverbial 'fence'); pairs with Stehler in the chapter's proverb Wären keine Hehler, so wären keine Stehler.
- 3 ↩Herzenskündiger is the traditional devotional term for one who knows the secrets of the heart (reserved to God); rendered as 'knower of hearts' to keep the force without archaism.
- 4 ↩Source reads 'in ' Sinn kommt' with a damaged/missing article; translated as the standard idiom 'in den Sinn kommt' (comes into your mind).
- 5 ↩entmüßigen is archaic Early Modern German for freeing or relieving oneself of something; rendered as 'put ... aside'.
- 6 ↩The clause 'kannst du dich selbst nicht überwinden...' is elliptical without an explicit wenn; taken as a conditional protasis before the imperative hüte dich, which fits the three-point structure (first / second / third).
- 7 ↩Early-modern 'Lente' is 'Leute' (people); 'man lügt viel auf die Lente' = people spread many lies about others.
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