For apt remedies — (1.) Get a pure heart; there is the tongue's treasury and storehouse. A good man is always ready to discourse, not forced by the company, but because the law of God is in his heart : Prov. xv. 7, ' The lij)s of the wise disperse knowledge, but the
' * Aeivov ?Tos (fjir/tv ipKo% 6b6vTuv. ' — Homer.
JaS. III. 2.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 281
heart of the foolish is not so.' By virtue of the opposition it should be ' the tongue of the foolish,' but whatever is in the tongue cometh from the heart ; his heart doth not^ incline his tongue.^ A stream riseth not above the fountain. Out of the heart come blasphemies and evil speakings, Mat. xv. 19. (2.) Watch and guard speech: Ps. xxxix. 1, ' I said, I will take heed to my tongue ;' / said, that is, -penitus decrevi, I took up such a resolution. Nay, he saith, he would ' keep his mouth as with a bridle, especially when the wicked were before him.' The tongue had need be restrained with force and watchfulness, for it is quick and ready to bring forth every wicked conception. You must not only watch over it, but bridle it ; it is good to break the force of these constraints within us, and to suffocate and choke them in the first concej^tion. David, though enraged, would keep in his spirit as with a bridle. Pambus in the Tripartite History was long in learning of this lesson. So, see Prov. xxx. 32, ' If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or hast thought evil, lay thy hand upon thy mouth ; ' that is, to bridle and stifle those thoughts of anger, revenge, or any other ill design ; do not deal too sottly with unruly evils, but strongly resist and compress them. This rule should chiefly be observed in worship : Eccles. v. 1, ' Be not rash with thy mouth.' Our words should be more advised ; a hasty carelessness engagetli to sin : ' The preacher sought out words.' Certainly in worship we should see our thoughts ere they escape from us. (3.) All our endeavours are nothing. Go to God : Ps. cxli. 3, ' Set a watch, 0 Lord, before my month ; keep the door of my lips.' He desireth God to keep him from speaking amiss when he was in deep afflictions. It is God alone that can tame the tongue ; desire the custody of his spirit : Prov. xvi. 1, ' The answer of the tongue is from the Lord.' When the heart is prepared the tongue may falter. In preaching and praying we are sometimes stopped in the midst of the work though the matter be meditated. The saints sometimes desire God to open their mouth, Eph, vi. 19 ; Ps. 1. 15 ; sometimes to shut it; he doth all in this matter. (4.) That you may not offend in your words, let them be oftener employed about holy uses. It is not enough to abstain from evil-speaking : Eph. iv. 29, ' Let no corrupt communication come out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying.' So Eph. v. 4, ' Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, but rather giving of thanks ;' eu;T^apio-Tta, that is, thankfully remembering your sweet experiences. You may have joy, if Christians, in other things ; you may com- municate to one another your experiences of God, and that is better mirth than foolish jesting. As we must then avoid the evil of the tongue, so we must commune one with another more fruitfully, quickening one another to a sweet apprehension of the benefits of God. The spouse's lips ' dropped honeycombs,' Cant, iv. Many possibly avoid conferences grossly evil ; but how slow are we to good ! Solomon, that describetli the sad effects of an evil tongue, doth also everywhere discover the fruits of a good tongue. For a taste take these places : — Prov. x. 20, ' The tongue of the just is as choice silver ;' not only as it is purged from the dross of vanity, and lies, and filthy ^ Qu. ' but' ? — Ed. - ' Qualia principia, talia principiata.'
282 AX EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [JaS. III. 3, 4,
speaking, but because of the worth and benefits of it. In another place he saith it is the ' tree of life,' Prov. xi. 30, whose leaves are medicinal )le. And Prov. xii. 18, 'The tongue of the wise is health.' All which should shame us, because we are so backward in holy discourse, to refresh and heal one another. And out of the whole we may learn that Christianity doth not take away the use of speech, but ruie it ; and doth not make us dumb in converse, but gracious.
Ver. 3, 4. Behold, we put bits into horses' mouths, that they may obey 7ts ; and ive turn about their ichole bodies. Behold also the ships, which, though they be great, and driven of fierce ivinds, yet they are turned about with a small helm, ivhithersoever the governor listeth.
These two verses being spent in comparisons and similitudes, need the less of comment and illustration. The drift of them is to show that little things are able to guide great bodies, as a bridle and a rudder ; and so the guiding of the tongue, a little member, may be of as great use and consequence in moral matters. By the bridle we keep the horse from stumbling, and by the rudder the ship from rocks. So answerably Solomon saith, Prov. xxi. 23, 'Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue, keepeth his soul from troubles.'