tliroiigli the streets of Rome, and seeinj2^ many of the ladies playing with little dogs, monkeys, and baboons, asked them if tlie women in that country had no children ? So when men spend the Lord's day in play- ing, sporting, toying, or talking of this or that trifle, of this or that person, of this or that fashion, of this or that vanity, we may ask them ■whether they have no God, no Christ, no heaven, no promises, no ex- jieriences, no evidences to talk ofP There are many idle talkers: of every idle word that men shall speak they shall give an account at the day of judgment, Mat. xii. 36. An idle word is a profuse or needless word, used rashly or unadvisedly, wanting a reason of just necessity, bringing neither honour to God nor edification to others, nor conduc- ing to any profitable end.i And as there are many idle talkers, so there are many over-talkers ; and they are such who spend a hundred words when ten will serve the turn, Eccles. v. 2, 3. And as there are many over-talkers, so there are many that are only talkers, that can do nothing but talk, Prov. xiv. 23. To fall under the power or scourge of these men's tongues is to fall under no easy persecution. And as there are many that are only talkers, so there are many that are un- profitable talkers. ' The beginning of the words of their mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talk is mischievous madness,' Eccles. X. 13. And as there are many unprofitable talkers, so there are many unseasonable talkers, that place one word where another should stand. ' A wise man discerneth time and judgment,' Eccles. viii. 4. And as there are many unseasonable talkers, so there are many rash talkers, who speak first and think afterwards, chap. v. 2, God hath set a double bar about the tongue — the teeth and the lips, — that men should not speak rashly. Words once spoken cannot return. A man that thinks before he speaks, seldom repents of what he speaks. Silence is far better than rash speaking, or than vain speaking, <tc.
0 sirs, the tongue is the nimble interpreter of the heart. If there be piety or iniquity at the bottom of your hearts, your tongues will discover it. Mat. xii. 43, 44. The stream riseth not above the foun- tain. We know not what metal the bell is made of by 2 the clapper. What is in the well will be in the bucket. What is in the warehouse will be in the shop. So what is in the heart will be in the mouth. If there be anything of God, of Christ, of grace, of heaven, of hell, of sin, of the world, of self in the bottom of your souls, your tongues will dis- cover it. Man, saith one, is like a bell, and his tongue like the clapper, [Plutarch.] So long as this standeth still, he may be thought to be without any flaw, craze, or crack in him ; but let it once stir, and then he discovers himself presently. No man can so change himself, but his heart may sometimes be seen at his tongue's end. Men watch in- terpreters. Oh that, on the Lord's day especially, you would make more conscience of watching your tongues ! If the tongue be not watched, it will be sin's solicitor-general ; it will be a bawd to all lusts: it will plead for sin, and defend sin, and lessen sin, and provoke to sin, and shew the pleasure of the heart in sin. There are but five virtues of the tongue reckoned up by philosophers ; but there are twenty several sins
' Alexander forrave many sharp swords, but never any sharp tongues, &c. » tiueiy. • but by?— (J.
ISA. XLII. 24, 25.] THE LATE FIERY DISPENSATION. 303
of tlie tongue reckoned up by Peraklus.^ The Arabians have a pro- verb, ' Take heed thy tongue cut not thy throat.' Many a man's tongue has cut his throat ; that is, it hath been his ruin.'-^ Our Chron- icles make mention of one Burdet, a merchant, who, living at the sign of the Crown in Cheapside, in the days of King Edward the Fourth, in the year 1483, jestingly said to his son that he would leave him heir of the crown, meaning the sign of the crown where he lived ; for which he was apprehended, and within four hours hanged, drawn, and quar- tered. The tongue is often like a sharp razor, that, instead of shaving the hair, cuts the throat. If a man do not look well about him, he may every day be in danger of dying by his tongue. ' Life and death,' saith Solomon, ' are in the power of the tongue,' Prov. xviii. 21. Gap- ing-mouthed men are noted for fools by Lucian ; and a better and a wiser man than Lucian hath told us that 'the lips of a fool will swallow up himself,' Eccles. x. 12. Ah, how good had it been for many that they had been born dumb ! The tongue can easily travel all the world over, and wound men's names and credits in this country ; and that in this city and that in this town, and that in this family, and that in a trice run from one place to another : here it bites, and there it tears : in this place it leaves a blot, and in that it gives a wound ; and therefore you have cause to watch your tongues on every day, but especially on the Lord's day. There are many whose tongues do more mischief, and travel further on the Sabbath-day, than they do on all the other days of the week. You ought to keep a strict guard upon your tongues every day, but on the Lord's day you should double your guard. Satan without you, and that strong party that he hath within you, will do all they can so to oil your tongues on that day as to make you miscarry more ways than one, if you do not carefully look about you. Are there none on that day that do watch your words, to deride you and jeer you ? Jer. xx. 10. Yes. Ar-e there none on that day that do watch your words, either to ensnare you or trepan you ? Yes. Are there none on that day that do watch your words, that they may find matter, if possible, either to reprove you or to reproach you ?^ Yes. Are there none on that day that do watch your words, that do hang upon your lips, expecting to be instructed, edified, confirmed, comforted, and strengthened by you? Yes. Well, then, if this be your case, how highly it doth concern you on this day to watch your words, I shall leave you to judge. 0 sirs, all your words, whether good or bad, are all noted and observed by God, as you may see by comparing the scriptures in the margin together. 4 If a person were by us that should book all our words from Sabbath-day morning to Sabbath-day night, and the like on other days, would we not be very careful what we spoke ? Why, God is by and hears all. Athenodorus, a heathen, used to say, that all men ought to be very careful of their
1 Qu. Pelbartus ?— G.
* James iii. 3, 11. The Holy Ghost sheweth the mischief of the tongue by the several characters by which he brands it. He calls it the flattering tongue, the double tongue, the deceitful tongue, the lying tongue, the perverse tongue, &c., Ps. Iii. 2 ; Prov. xviii. 21; Eccles. x. 12; Ps. xix. 4, and Ixxiii. 9; Mat. xxviii. 13, 15.
^ It is better for a man to watch and stop his own mouth by silence, than to have it stopped by others' reproofs.