The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-01
THE CONTROL OF THE TONGUE.
II is the Best Thing and the Worst
Thing in the world. snid AesOp.


Rev. John D. Jordan of the First Bap-
list Church preached most interesting
sermon last night on the subject. The
Tongue" The subject is one which af-
forded the speaker much room for inter-
esting discussion. He took his text from
Ecclesiastes vii. 3, which says among
other things that there IS a time for ST.
lenee and a time to speak
In the beginning of his sermon he told
the interesting sermon Of Xanthus and
his servant Aesop Xanthus told Aesop
that he wanted a dinner served for some
friends, and that he wanted the best thing
In the market. Aesop served the dinner,
and the first course was tongue The Sec
ond course was tongue, and
so was the third and fourth
and fifth and ali the courses. There
was stewed tongue, boiled tongue. fried
tongue and all sorts of tongue. A little
perplexed at the monotony of the dinner
Xanthus asked his servant why he had
served tongue. You told me to get the
best thing In the market"
was the reply. land tongue
IS the best thing in the world.
The tongue is the organ of truth and
reason; it Is the instrument of praise and
alteration"
The next time Xanthus told Aesop to
serve a dinner for some friends and in
structed him TO get the very worst thing
in the market. The dinner was like the
first, consisting of tongue, tongue, tongue
for every course Xanthus was nettled
and called Aesop to account you told
me to get the worst thing I could" the
servant said. "and tongue is the worst
thing in the world. 1t is the instrument
of strife and contention, 1t leads to war
and conflict, and il is the organ Of lies,
of oalumny and blasphemy."
There is something radically wrong with
everybody's tongue, Rev. Mr. Jordan said.
Before a man can be made a holy being
there has got to be change made in his
tongue. 1t is the most unruly member
Man can bride and control the wild horse;
he can steer the enormous vessel safely
over the seas, and he can tame the wild
beast, but he cannot control his own
tongue. There is no profit in blasphemy
and nothing bat misery comes from the
constant expression of filth. A half a
dozen men on a street corner talking
nothing but filth all the time can infect
a whole community. It is with the tongue
principally that a lie is told, and a lie is
n lie, no matter how it is painted or col
ored A slanderous backbiting tongue can
be productive only of a mean feeling. It
is through the tongue that explosions of
temper come forth. Then, too, without
being a slanderer, a caluminator, a liar
or a swearer. a man talk too much. and
men have often lost their positions
through being too "tonguey."
The tongue can be used for much good
It can be used to console those in need
of consolation. 1t can be used to encour-
age ones fellow man, and there are thous-
ands of them who need encouragement
from the pauper to the millionaire. 1t can
be used to bring sunshine and happiness
TO lonely hearts There is only one way
in which the tongue can be controlled and
that Is through the heart The heart
must first be set right and kept right.
But man by himself is not able to change
his heart and set 1t right; that must be
done through the help of a good and grac-
ous God.