Spurgeon's Faith Checkbook on Slander and Consolation for the Believer

For anyone who has every felt the sting of backbiting, slander, embellished gossip, behind the back manipulation by busybodies and scoffers, here is consolation in the Word of God. Slander is an attack on the life of a believer. By my own confession, I am sinner, and I have failed to respond properly in the past at unfounded derision cast against my character. In light of the realization that people will scorn, ridicule, insult and slander, the wisdom of Charles Spurgeon and the Bible is something to reflect upon. This is an excerpt from Spurgeon's Faith Checkbook which has passed into the public domain:

November 16
Weapons Doomed to Fail

No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. (Isaiah 54:17)

There is great clatter in the forges and smithies of the enemy. They are I making weapons wherewith to smite the saints. They could not even do as much as this if the Lord of saints did not allow them; for He has created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire. But see how busily they labor! How many swords and spears they fashion! It matters nothing, for on the blade of every weapon you may read this inscription: It shall not Prosper.

But now listen to another noise: it is the strife of tongues. Tongues are more terrible instruments than can be made with hammers and anvils, and the evil which they inflict cuts deeper and spreads wider. What will become of us now? Slander, falsehood, insinuation, ridicule-these are poisoned arrows; how can we meet them? The Lord God promises us that, if we cannot silence them, we shall, at least, escape from being ruined by them. They condemn us for the moment, but we shall condemn them at last and forever. The mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped, and their falsehoods shall be turned to the honor of those good men who suffered by them.