Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1879-05-01
Rev. n. s. Hill.

'sThe Vices Of the Tongue" was the
popular subject Of Rev. n. S. Hill's dis
course at the Greenpofnt, N. Y, Univer-
salist Church on Sunday evening, Feb. 8.
A large congregation was present, and
the following is a careful abstract of the /
sermon. The text was Psalms xxxiv. Is,
''Keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips |
from speaking guile"
Sometimes it is beneficial, said the |
preacher, to teach the truth by contrast. |
We place one thing over against another, |
learn the relative value of each, seek diff |
ferences, weigh them in the scales of
Judgment and allow 70 each Its proper
value. Thus we are enabled to get at the |
truth of things. We all admit that when
David says, ''Keep thy tongue from evil |
and thy lips from speaking guile" he I'M
parts advice of the highest order. When /
a man feels the force and meaning of his l
words there is a sort of double life for as |
who accept them. Doubtless the sweet |
singer of Israel uttered the words after
he had experienced the bitter results Of
and unbridaled tongue. A word seems
the merest tribe, yet it increases or di-
minishes human happiness. In different
ways we aim to be happy. 1t is not our
being but our well being that is entitled
to the name of life. To attain any
thing worthy of the name there are
several things absolutely essential. First,
a good conscience. To keep alive this
voice Of God within we must learn to
bridal our own tongues. This implies
that we must be careful of the reputation
of our neighbor and hold our thoughts
and ideas in subjection. We can think as
much as we please, yet it is very absurd
to make our minds huge sieve for the
public. Second, we must be sincere in the
use of ou- words, letting them serve as
the index of our minds, or to others they
will become a sort of boomerang-a
weapon Of a peculiar form used by the
aborigines of Australia, which, if unskill-
fully hurled is liable to return and kill
him who hurls it. 1t is not enough to oc-
cupy neutral ground in the theatre ofhu-
man life. God calls upon us to form pos
iri se characters. We must live to some
definite purpose, and that purpose must
be good. The tongue and the lips play an
important part in the drama of human
activities. If these outposts are well
guarded the result can be predicted with
certainty. There was a great master
among the Jews who bade his scholars
consider and tell him what was the best
way wherein man should always keep.
One came and said there was nothing bet
ter than good eye; which, in their Ian
guage, meant liberal and contented dis
position. Another said good compan-
ion was the best thing in the world. A
third said good nature was the best thing
he could desire; and fourth preferred a
man who could foresee things to come,
/. e., wise person. But at last came in
Eleazar, and he said good heart was bet
than all. ''True," said the master, ''thou
hast cOmprehended in two words all that
the rest have said.'' Such a combination
of good qualities is rarely met with. But
as we are living under the light of the
Christian dispensation let us see how
words affect us for good or evil purposes.
The aim of the Christian is perfection
or, rather, this is the ideal of Jesus Ev-
rything impure or unclean is excluded.
We learn from the declaration of our
Lord that the Christian religion not only
processes to regulate the actions of the
life, but extends also to our conversation
and language, and demands of us that
our words as we'll as our conduct shall be
cOnformable to a certain character. We
learn that we are by no means left at lib
erty to utter from our lips whatever we
please, under the notion that words are
armless things, but that we are as truly
responsible to a just and holy God fol
what we say as for what we do. And i
we consider the nature of the human. con
stitution; if we remember the nice con
nection that there is between the affec
tions of the heart and the external ex
preston of them by language; further
if we recollect that the dispositions of tn
mind are cherished as we'll as indicate,
by the liberty of the tongue, it will ap
pear that a religion, the object of whicl
Is purity of character, must lay a restrain
not merely upon those more substantia
acts, which embody the intentions o
evil, but also on these less glaring viola
tions of moral propriety which thong
not separately and Immediately Injurious
are nevertheless detrimental in their ter
denotes and ultimate effects. A religion
the design of which is to train men /
the love of God and their fellow-mer
and which allows no licentious indu
genoe of the sensual propensities woul
be inconsistent with itself If it permitte
the use of language which should seel
to set at naught the obligations of chast
ty, purity and honor.