“Speak evil of no [one],” says the great Apostle: as plain a command as, “Thou shalt do no murder.” But who, even among Christians, regards this command? Yea, how few are there that so much as understand it? What is evil-speaking? It is not, as some suppose, the same with lying or slandering. All a [person] says may be as true as the Bible; and yet the saying of it is evil speaking. For evil-speaking is neither more nor less than speaking evil of an absent person; relating something evil, which was really done or said by one that is not present when it is related. Suppose, having seen a man drunk, or heard him curse or swear, I tell this when he was absent; it is evil-speaking."
~ John Wesley (The Cure of Evil Speaking)
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