The record-union., 1892-04-02

SiAS SiCOS 10 OllG VI luo ulOSk
signs of the times. 1t means that our
Angio-Saxon ideas of government, relig-
ION, hperty, justice. are climbing to the
Top. Wherever our language is taught
there our ideas are planted
nave said enough to show the mighty
influence that language exerts over the
nlnd and morals of people. Language
uoes more than express ideas. 1t begets
lueas. 10 govern men you must govern
their tongue. Do not think lightly o.
words.
Words are mighty; words are living;
Serpents with their venomous stings,
~ bright angels crowding round US,
With heavens light upon their wings
| Every word has its own spirit,
true or false, that never dies.
Every word mans lips have uttered
| Ecnoes IN GODS skies.
reminded you that the Bible speaks
OF divers kinds of tongues. Let me draw
these. Let me show you some unruly
tongues that need to be controlled OF
held.
THE VULGAR TONGUE.
First, there is what I would call the
vulgar tongue. / use the word vulgar as
meaning lack of refinement. Job says:
How forclble are right words" Solo
mon says: "A word fifty spoken is like
apples OF gold in pictures of silver"
There should be refined and chaste
beauty shining out in the words we use.
Ii is a sin to corrupt and adulterate our
speech with coarse, rough, boorish eX-
presslons. The use of slang is what
! would call vulgar. | strongly diSsuade
young people from its use. II you begin
TO talk slang you will eventually think
slang and finally live slang. 1t will de-
terlorate and vulgarize your thought and
character. Slang is offensive TO good
taste. Ii Is to language what a discord is
to music. 1t is a habit easily acquired,
but difficult to cure. 1t is bad in man,
and unpardonably bad in woman | dc
not condemn the use Of a word or phrase
because 1T is new or strange. Many OF
the words in daily use were formerly
considered slang, but after serving an APP
premiership were adopted into the Ian
guage.
THE PERVERSE TONGUE.
Another bad tongue that needs to be
held is the perYerSe tongue, which causes
a breach in the spirit" PROV. XIV, A..
| There are men and women who allow
their tongues to utter and mutter irri-
tatlng, disagreeable words-words that
STIR up anger, that ruf1le the temper
and hurt the sensibilities There
are people who seemingly de-
lght TO utter snarly any naggy
words. They keep everyone about them
IN terment. 1t is perpetual snap and
snarl from morning ill night with them.
III they don't bite they bark, and show
their ugly teeth. There are men who will
snap out bitter, biting words to their wives
and children. and wound the hearts that
love them. Such men need TO be told very
emphatically to hold their tongue. Let
the Swapping and snarling be done bv
dogs men should know better.
THE TONGUE OF THE TALE-BEARER
Is a bad tongue. 1t is one of the hardest
to hold. 1t is a misunderstanding tongue.
The Bible writers do not overlook this
species. In Lev. Xix, IL, i read: Thou
shalt not go up and down as a tale bearer
among thy people," In Feel. XII, 10, |
read: surely serpent will bite without
enchantment, and a babbler is no better"
In PROV. XVI, 20, l read: Where no
| wood is the ire gOeth out; so when there
is no tale-bearer the strife ceaseth.'' This
tongue has been wagging from the earli-
est days. jeremiah Xxx, 10 says: Il
have heard the defaming of many; report,
say they, and we will report it." That is,
let someone start the report and we
will see that it is kept circulating. We
will make ourselves daily postmen and
trot about from house to house with il.
Paul met and described these people. In
L timothy v, Is, you will find his
unfiattering description of them, IVAN
dering about" he says, from house to
house, not only idle, but tattlers also, and
ought not.'
These passages aptly describe the mod
ern tale-bearing tongue. | do not need
to define what tattling is. You are all
too familiar with the thing already. 1t is
a species of gossip. 1t is picking up and
peddhng around those little bits of scan
dial that rise i'll the community. Every
suspicious circumstance in the life of men
and women is greedily seized upon by
| the tale-bearer as stock in trade Some
people have relish for that sort of thing.
The words of tale-bearer, says Solo
mon, are dainty morsel One person
hears some suspicious circumstance
about somebody, and under the VOW OF
secrecy, they tell the first person they
meet. These two tell it to two other
fools, and thus the thing gets wings and
flies abroad. This making ones self
THE DEVILS POSTWAR
For all the tittle-tattle that goes on in the
community is q species of mental imbe-
cility too base for description. How men
and women can stoop to gather up and
hawk about the ,gossipy garbage and
comprehension. 1t is as though an angel
would hire himself out to be scavenger.
The tale-bearer will gladly convey news
that should be shut up in an eternal
| quarantine. They do infinite harm. Do
not, | pray you, lend your tongue or your
repeateth matter" says Solomon, sep
arateth very friends"
When l think of tale-bearers and Cos
sipers think of swine that love to wallow
in filth and mud. l think of worms
crawling over and eating the rotting
corpses OF graves. 1 think ofsvultures
fattening on the fostering flesh of carrion.
| think of cannibals smacking polluted
| lips as they MUNICH the roasted bodies of
| their unfortunate victims. The track of
| the gosSiper or tale bearer is like the
track made by the hot lava that pours
down the sides of Etna, blighting. BLAST
! ing, blackening everything that is pure
and beautiful in human character.
Against such heavens gates are eternally
barred. Ii you are ever disposed to Cos
/ sip, II you are tempted to repeat some
suspicious circumstances that you have
heard OF, pause moment, and hear the
voices OF Conscience and Charity bid
ding you hold your tongue.
Closely related to the tongue of the tale
| bearer is the back biting tongue. or tonpue
of SANDER. The tale bearer is an an
| prentice to the slanderer. The evolution
| from one to the other is natural and
rapid.
THE sAvAGERY OF THE TONGUE
Is nowhere more relentlessly cruel. more
mallclously hendish than in Islander. In
the language of the Bible, it is set on fire
of hell, and it starts the fires of hell burn
| ing on earth. SANDER is the foulest wheln
OF hell. Webster defines SANDER to be a
false report maliciously uttered, and tend
ing to lnJure the reputation of another.
Many public men of blameless Character
| have been Systematically villified by the
poison tongue of SANDER In political