XIX. THE SINS OF THE TONGUE. (Ch. iii. 3–12.) Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which, though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold how great a wood a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the wheel of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same hole sweet water and bitter? Can the fig-tree, my brethren, bear olive-berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh. : "But if any man offend not in any word"—seemed to set the speaking over against the doing, as the lesser thing; and to make false words the last and least failure in perfection. When, however, St James continues-"He that ruleth the tongue, he, or only he, can also govern the whole body," the matter is reversed. The failing or not failing in words is plainly regarded as the decisive, distinctive, mark of our self-government, and of our religious condition generally. To tame and bring into subjection to the spirit the whole body, the whole complex of our inborn sins and lusts, is the duty of us all; but it is specially required of those who come forward as teachers of others lest they themselves be castaways! (1 Cor. ix. 27). But on that very account they should practise and exhibit it, in the taming of their tongues. St James has from the beginning dwelt upon this main point (ch. i. 26, 19); he now gives a new and important discourse upon the subject. Let us carefully study his pattern-sermon upon this great and profound theme: considering the importance which he attaches to the little member; the extent and depth of its unrighteousness as it is here traced; and finally, the wisdom which alone will save us from the sins of the tongue. Such is the wonderful significance attached here to the words which the little tongue speaketh, that many are disposed to think it an exaggeration, and to regard St James himself as offending, through his zeal, in these high words and figures. But what he says is the pure truth; uttered so emphatically in order to shame our thoughtlessness on the matter, and to condemn the gentle strain of preaching on the sins of the tongue which is so current. He begins wisely with allusion to something very acceptable to the ears of proud man-giving its glory to that might and skill of mankind which subjugates and rules so wide a domain. But he refers to this, only in reality to humble us the more! Behold, we put bits into the horses' mouths, so that they obey us, and we can turn their whole body. The strong and noble horse-the symbol of all animal nature which man has subjected to his service, since it is not our greater power which reduces him, but our understanding how to apply the instrument of our dominion in the right place. How does the lightest movement of our hand turn the whole animal, so that the rider upon his horse seems to make one whole with him; the horse being almost like an addition to the man's own body! Behold also the ships, which are so great, and are moreover driven of fierce winds, are turned by a very small rudder whithersoever he will who is the steersman. This, again, is an example of man's art in machinery for reducing to subjection inanimate nature, and the very elements. We ourselves have made the ships so great, and at the same time. with so much art; but St James would now make prominent the navigating art, which not only uses the strong winds in their natural direction, and not merely withstands them, but can even in some degree make them subservient to an almost opposite course. Wind and sea thus become obedient to men; and now steam on the ocean has introduced the service of a third element, that of fire. What now do we expect naturally to follow? Obviously, the declaration that we ought also to be able to rule ourselves, and our tongue at least, which is so small a member! But St James strikingly changes the point of the comparison-So is also the tongue-a little bit, a little rudder; that is, the tongue rules rather the course of men and of the world, our tongue drives us, instead of being, as it should be, in our own hand and power; yea, alas, it turns and steers us hithér and thither, whithersoever he will who by it rules over us! So important is St James' view of the little member which doeth such great things. Literally, It boasteth great things, speaking proudly and presumptuously. This has always been true among all classes, from Daniel's beast with the little horn, and the mouth speaking great things (Dan. vii. 8)—and the host of the rebellious who speak proud things, and who say, With our tongues will we prevail ! (Ps. xii. 3, 4)—down to the most insignificant rebel who has a mouth as daring as a little antichrist. There is a certain truth and right in this boasting of the tongue-St James means--for the little member worketh great things, for good as well as evil. The importance and power of the word in human nature appertains to the image of God in which man was created: the word of God created the worlds, and by His mighty word He upholdeth all things (Heb. i. 3). And so the preached word is the seed of our regeneration; and the brethren are commended to the word of grace for their perfect edification unto the final inheritance (Acts xx. 32). The word of grace and truth in human lips founded the church of Christ, and the same word governs and builds it up; the word of testimony and confession works its reformation; even as it is wasted and hindered by words of error. Everywhere and all-mighty is the influence of the word. They who so vehemently demand freedom of speech, know well the power of what they want. How great is the power of human orations over masses of men! How can one single word of appropriate truth light up darkened doctrine; how powerful is one single word of love from the heart to exhort, to strengthen, to encourage, and to stimulate! "Shall not the dew assuage the heat? so is a word better than a gift" (Ecclus. xviii. 16). Again, what might has a wicked word to blight, to mislead, to offend, to wound! You may ask, whether there are not words of mere indifference, of no significance for evil or good, and which made up the far greater part of our daily conversation. Not so; there is no indifferent action, and there are no indifferent words. Because of supposed vain words the wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience (Eph. v. 6). Unspiritual and loose babbling has its effect; it strengthens and confirms the mind from which it comes-it increases unto more ungodliness (2 Tim. ii. 16). The word, in reality, always proceeds either from a good or an evil mind; it always carries in it its proportionate influence, either upon others or ourselves; for it is generally the channel of all spiritual power, utterance, and influence in humanity. The little member with the great things which depend upon it and spring from it, is like a little fire, which kindles a great wood: St James says this specially concerning the evil. Mark the short, scarcely uttered word of wrath, hatred, or bitterness, and what enmity it may excite! A thoughtful word of mockery-what offence, and what endless mischief may proceed from it! A little word of enticement and temptation may open the door to an untold career of sin! An impure witticism may kindle the flames of hateful lust with all its hateful deeds! What boundless mischief is wrought in the world by sinful lips, unguarded sayings, words of hatred and of strife! "A backbiting tongue hath pulled down strong cities, and overthrown the houses of great men. Many have fallen by the edge of the sword; but not so many as have fallen by the tongue" (Ecclus. xxviii. 14, 18). Envious tongues confound and ruin churches, overthrow states, lay waste peoples and lands. Look at that little member, the tongue; is the word which it utters to be lightly esteemed? Think, moreover, of the tongue of our times, of the pen and the might of books and journals—might, alas! too often in the service of evil. He who throws the sparks of his words into the wood of the people cannot say—What have I then done? I have only spoken or written! The inflammable wood is always and everywhere, in natural humanity, prepared for the sparks of falsehood and sin. "What shall the false tongue do to thee? What shall it profit thee? It is like sharp arrows of the mighty, like fire in juniper-woods" (Ps. cxx. 3, 4). The furthestreaching, the most internal and spiritual, the most influential influence of man upon men is so obviously connected with the tongue, that St James needs only to refer to it with a Behold, just as to the horses, ships, and woods;—not so much in the acts of men is it seen, as in the words which explain, and accompany, excite, and produce those acts. Regard the whole world or mankind in all its doing and pursuits: in words its spirit and life is first dis tinctly shown; in words its deepest activity moves; by words is the traffic of spirits in truth and falsehood conducted, and right or wrong done by man to man. And alas! in the world as world, alas! in fallen human nature generally, there is now only iniquity; thus the tongue, and the fire everywhere kindled in the great wood which proceeds from it, is a world full of iniquity. This is no exaggerating expression, but the simple and solemn truth: the tongue of men, speaking evil and falsehood, is the proper instrument and member in the great body of humanity from which the. truth-restraining fire of unrighteousness proceeds, which fills the whole world with iniquity, and thus is itself a little world of iniquity. To that tend the lightly-considered sins of the tongue! Whence, then, this world full of unrighteousness in the tongue, which is only a piece of flesh in the mouth? Let us now hear how profoundly St James bases this evil! He is not like the moralists, who never press into the internal principle of human behaviour, who never go beyond the superficial work and word; he does not preach like the preachers who have only to say-Do not thus, or speak not so! He knows well that the same human nature, which can tame and subject so many things, cannot of itself tame the tongue. For in its word bubbles incessantly the outflow of an abyss in the heart; or a whirling fire burns round about, which ascends from an internal hell. So is the tongue among our members: the tongue it is which defiles the whole body, and kindles the wheel of nature-if and because it is itself kindled of the fire of hell. So deep lies the ground of the evil. There is a twofold impulse of speaking and acting, a twofold fire which burns upon the tongue of man, and by it can enkindle flame. The good fire came down on the day of Pentecost from above, from the Father of Lights; but in the depth of human nature there burns another. The same St James who, in ch. i. 17, distinguished the above and below, the pure lights and fixed stars of the original world from the planets revolving in alternate shadows, thus profoundly through the Holy Ghost anticipating a physical knowledge scarcely even yet thoroughly understood, utters here a similar mystery. Luther did not understand the expression, and therefore explained at once-The tongue kindles all our conduct. But the word is, literally, the wheel or the revolution of nature, that is, of human nature; so that the whole |