fal anotlier ; cursing is the scnm tliat boils off from a mcked heart. Tliough it is true, the curse causeless shall not come, — it is not in man's power to make another cursed, — yet to wish a curse is a fearful sin. If to hate our brother be murder, 1 John iii. 15. ; then to curse him, which is the highest degree of hatred, must needs be murder. To use an execration or curse, is for a man to do what in him lies, to damn another. Some wish a curse upon them- selv'es: so the Jews, "his blood be upon us," &c. And so do your " God damn- me's," as if damnation did not come fast enough, Ps. cix. 17., " As he loved cursing so let it come to him."
18. The evil tongue is the unjust tongue ; that will for a piece of money open its mouth in a bad cause. The lawyer hath Iwgitam venahm, a tongue that will be sold for money, Ps. Ixxxii. 2., " How long will you judge unjustly ?" Some will plead any cause, though never so bad : though it ap- pears the deeds are forged, the witnesses bribed, there's perjury in the cause; yet they will plead it. When a man pleads a bad cause he is the devil's attorney : as God hates false weights, so a false cause. Bet- ter be born dumb, than open one's mouth in a bad cause. O what times are we in ! Many pervert justice, and, for enriching themselves, overthrow a righteous cause; these are worse than they that rob, for they fleece men's estates under a colour of law, and ruin them under a pretence of doing justice.
Use 1. Branch 1. See what a blow we liave sustained by the fall ; it hath put out of frame the whole course of nature. O- riginal sin hath diffused itself as a poison into all the members of the body ; it hath made the eye unchaste, — the hands full of bribes, — amongst the rest it hath defiled the tongue, " it is a world of iniquity." That which was made to be the organ of (jod's pniise, is become a wea|)on of un- righteousness.
Branch 2. If there be so much evil in the tongue, what is the heart ? If the stream be so full of water, how full of water is the fountain? If there be a world of iniquity in the tongue, how many worlds of sin are there iu the heart ? Ps. v. 9. " Their in-
wai-d part is very wickedness." If the tongue, which is the outward part, be so wicked, the inward part is very wickedness, Ps. Ixiv. 6., " The heart is deep ;" it is such a deep as cannot be fathomed ; deep pride, hypocrisy, atheism. The heart is like the sea, where is the leviathan, and creeping things innumerable, Ps. civ. If the skin hath boils of leprosy in it, how much corruption is in the blood ? If the tongue be so bad, how diabolical is the heart ? It is the heart sets the tongue a- work : " Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh :" There are the seeds of all atheism and blasphemy, INIat. xv. 19, 20., " Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries ; these defile a man." If a branch of wormwood be so bitter, tlien how bitter is the root ? O, what a root of bitterness grows in a man's heart ! Some say they have good hearts ; but if the tongue be so bad, what is the heart ? If I see a smoke come out of the top of a chimney, what a fire burns within ? Prov. vi. 12, 14., " A wicked man walketh with a froward mouth ; frowardness is in his heart." So- lomon shews the reason why the mouth is so froward, " Frowardness is in his heart." The heart is a store-house of wickedness, therefore called the " evil treasure of the heart," Mat. xii. 35. Original righteous- ness was a good treasure, but we were rob- bed of that ; and now there is an evil trea- sure of sin. The word treasure, denotes plenty ; to shew the fulness and abundance of sin that is in the heart. The heart is a lesser hell, which is a matter of deep hu- miliation ; the heart is, like the Egyptian temples, full of spiders and serpents.
Use 2. Of reproof. It reproves such as abuse their tongues in all manner of e\\\ sjieaking, lying, slandering, rash anger. The heart is a vessel full of sin, and the tongue sets it abroach. O how fast do men's tongues gallop in sin ! They say, they give God their hearts ; but let the de- vil take possession of their tongues, Ps. xii. 4., " Our lips are our own, who is the Lord over us ?" Who hath any thing to do with our words? Who shall control us? Who is our lord ? Tliere is no engine the devil makes more use of than the tongue ; what enors, contentions, impieties, have been
THE EVIL TONGUE.
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j)ropaixatc(l tins way, to tlie dishonour of tlie High God! David calls his toiif^iic his plory, Ps. Ivii. 8., " Awake my glory." Why did he call his tonf;ue his priory, but because hv it he did set forth (iod's gflory in praising him? But a wicked man's tongue is not his glory, but his shame ; with his tongue he wounds the glory of God ; " it is set on fire of hell."