Parrhesia, or Christian and Ministerial Freedom of Speech [pp. 312-336]

Freedom of Speech.
advent of the Saviour and the spread of his religion tending,
not merely to exasperate the mutual hostilities of wicked men,
but also to excite their enmity against his people. Even this,
however, might be borne with patience, as a part of that necessary "persecution"' to be suffered by "all that will live godly
in Christ Jesus," and of that predicted "tribulation," through
which "we must enter into the kingdom of God." But yhat
shall we say to the continued operation of the same cause
within that kingdom, to the fearful effect wrought upon the
latent corruption, even of believers, not by the hatred of the
world or the devil, but by the very truth in which is grounded
their hope of salvation. In many cases where' this effect
becomes apparent, it is no doubt, wholly or in part, a proof of
insincerity, impenitence, and unbelief; while in others it may
only prove the remaining power of corruption over hearts in
which it has already lost its paramount dominion. But
between these cases it must often be difficult, if not impossible,
for any human eye or judgment to discriminate. Nor is it
necessary even to attempt it, for our present purpose. It will
be sufficient to confine our view to those who "profess and call
themselves Christians," and to the causes of hostility existing
among these, without regard to any foreign opposition, or to
any provocatives even of mutual hostility, except such as are
connected with the speaking of the truth, either directly or by
way of contrast.
For it may not be without its use to glance, in passing, at
the enmities created or fomented by the violation or suppression, as well as by the utterance of the truth. In private life,
even among those who bear the Christian name, hostility is
frequently engendered by the neglect or violation of the truth,
either with or without a direct malignant purpose. The grossest
form of this offence is that of deliberate invention. Its more
familiar forms are those of exaggeration or false colouring, the
suppression of what must be known in order to a fair appreciation of the case, or the suggestion of what does not necessarily
belong to it. Such practices may seem, indeed, entirely incompatible with all religious feeling or sound principle, and scarcely
reconcilable with even the profession of Christianity. But let
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