Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1916-06-30

this difficulty. 1t will be worth while
to follow the discussion of the tongue
which is found in the succeeding
verses of the third chapter of James. +
First of all, James speaks of the
power of this little member which
bOasteth great things wv. 8. ~. Like
the bit in the horses mouth which en-
ables US to turn the whole body, or
the tiny rudder of the ship, which di-
rects it's course through the stormy
deep, SO the tongue is a great power
il the guidance of life We marvel
when we see the multitude swayed
by the speech of the preacher or the
voice Of the singer. We need only
to mention Magma Charta, the Declar-
alton of Independence. the Emancipa-
ton proclamation or Luther's Theses,
to be impressed with the power of
even written words.
But James goes on to speak of the
mischief which may be wrought by
the tongue wv. 3, 81. It is like a lit
i tie fire kindling a great forest. A
venomous tongue hurts not only 9TH
ers. but oneself; James says: 1T de-
fleth the whole body and we may
be certain that SO long as an evil
thought Injuries the spirit, we cannot
escape from our evil words
Hedges About the Tongue.
An old writer says: I'VE may see
! the cunning and curious work of ma
ture which hath barred and hedged
nothing in so strongly as the tongue,
with two rows of teeth and Herewith
two lips; besides, she hath placed it
far from the heart, that it should not
utter that which the heart conceived
James goes on to speak of the IN
tamableness of the tongue (vv. 7, 81.
Every kind of beasts and birds. of
creeping things and things in the
! sea, has been tanned by man, but the
tongue can no man tame, although
God can do even this thing.
Even after regeneration, wrong hab-
its of speech will assert their sway.
How easily the oath springs to the
lips of the aforetime blasphemerl
Finally. James speaks of the in
consistency of the tongue (vv. 9-12).
Herewith we bless God and yet curse
men, made in his image; as one has
put it, such abusive railing against
men is like splitting on the statue of
the emperor whom we profess to
honor. Even nature rebukes US for
such inconsistency, for no fountain
sends forth both sweet water and bit
ter.
Aesop, the writer of fables, was
slave. He was once ordered by his
master to procure the best things in
the market for dinner, and served
course after course of tongues He
argued: rs there anything better
than a tongue? Is not the tongue the
bond of civil society, the organ of
truth and reason and the organ of
our praise and the alteration of the
gods?" The slaves master directed
that the next day he should buy the
worst things he could find, and again
he brought tongues. This time he
reasoned: "The tongue is surely the
worst thing in the world. It is the
instrument of all strife and conten-
ton, the inventor of lawsuits, and the
source of divisions and wars; it is
the organ of error, of lies, of calumny
and blasphemies."
Skimming the Milk.
This inconsistency of the tongue
appears in the lives Of those who
even do many deeds of kindness.
This was quantity set forth by an old
lady who said to her grandchildren:
IF you're going to give me pan of
milk, don't skim it first" They found
she meant that when favor was
done for her, she disliked to have it
spoiled by an ungracious word. An
other errand? l never. go downtown
without half a dozen commissions.
The boy gets the book and really
doesn't mind, but he has skinned the
milk. ''These gloves ripped again!
It seems they always need mending
when l am in hurry" She really
wants to keep the gloves. neat, but she
skins the milk.
What solemn word James speaks
in the first chapter of his epistle (v.
26): "If any man among you seemeth
to be religious and bridleth not his
tongue, but deceiveth his own heart,
this mans religion is vain" How
glad we should be that we have our
Helper, One of whom it is said that
'he opened not his mouth" when it
was a time for silence, but of whom
it is said also that the people won
dered at the gracious words which
proceeded out of his mouth"