Los Angeles herald., 1905-09-11
EVIL TONGUES
ARE DESP|SED
PASTOR ADVISES AGAINST
GOSSIP
ABH0RS IDLE CONVERSATION
Rev. Frank Dewitt TaImage Dis
courses on Sin Of Lying, Corrupt
Talk and Vile and Bias
phemous Speech
AGAINST
ABHoRS IDLE CONVERSATION

Rev. Frank Dewitt Talmage de-
llvered sermon on THE Evil Tongue"
yesterday from the text: Full of
deadly poison" He said in part:
THE tongue is a little member. 1t
is almost as Insignificant looking as
small spark. But behold how great
matter a little fire kindleth.' The
damage which the tongue or the
spark can do is infinite. Then compare
the evils Of the tongue to the awful
ravages of physical disease-to those
of hideous leprosy, or cholera, or the
bubonic plague. 1t defileth the whole
body Then compare the evil tongue
of man to the poisonous fangs of a
kissing serpent.
THE reason I have drawn for you
all these different comparisons is this:
1 want you to know that no symbol
is too demoniac, no comparison Is too
destructive or too repulsive for the
author to cite as a criterion by which
to Judge the fatal effects of the hu-
man tongue, when 1t is evil.
THE vile tongue of man is a vindic-
its deadly poisons the accumulated
malice, not only Of days, but Of weeks
and months and years. Like the
North American savage of old, 1t
never forgets supposed injury which
someone has done against it. 1t will
go out of its way hundred miles, a
thousand miles, aye, it will stealthily
lie in ambush for years, to get a suita-
BILE opportunity to strike.
1T is not like an ordinary snake,
which will leave you alone unless you
trample upon 1t; but it is like a
panther stalking its prey. 1t is like a
hound on the track of a deer. 1t is
like lioness following the man who
has robbed her of her whelps. 1t will
pursue supposed enemy for miles and
miles and for years and years, always
seeking the right moment when 1t can
bury it's fangs in the hearts Of its foes.
and when that time comes, like
shylock, it will always strike for the
vital pound of flesh nearest to the
beating heart. Oh, the abject merci-
lessness Of a vindictive tongue!
Men, beware how you try to de-
stroy your supposed rivals! Women,
beware how you attack that young
woman! Her good name Is her life.
Hate not. Despise not. Others have
wronged you with a vindictive tongue.
Do not retaliate. do not use the same
weapons. Let not your evil tongue
try to destroy others, when you feel
they are making a success by the de-
pletion of your own income.
But the evil tongue of man is also
a vile tongue. Vile, in the sense that
1t is filled with all uncleanness. Vile,
because the lewd, the corrupt, the
filthy the defiled, the debased, the
impure, the coarse is often the type
of the language in which it glories.
"Vile, in the sense that the stories
and the communications it speaks are
often unfit for respectable ears. Yet
its corrupt conversations are not only
heard in the notorious places of evil
resort, but they are also heard in the
street and in so-called respectable
homes and among so-called ladies, as
well as so-called gentlemen.
IT go to the mems club and there
I find that the risque joke is often the
one most appreciated. L go to the the
ater and find that the filthy insinua-
ton is the one most uproariously en-
cored. I go into the home, and there
at many firesides the suggestive story
is the one that finds the most at
tentive listeners.
This should not be, this must not
be. The same words which Paul wrote
to the Ephesians he is now speaking
to us: Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth That
means, as Albert Barnes once said,
Abstain from corrupt and polluting
conversation
LAS a young woman or young man,
as a middle-aged woman or middle
aged man, as an old woman or an old
man. do not say anything you would
not be willing for the ears of your pure
Christian mother to hear"