Ver. 6. Aiid the tongue is a fire, a loorld of iniquity : so is the tongue among the members, that it defileth the ivhole body, and settetk on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
Here he applieth the similitude of a little fire to an evil tongue : ' And the tongue is a fire,' &c. I shall open the phrases that are most difficult.
A ivorld of iniquity. — Things that are exuberant and abounding are expressed by this proverbial speech, ' a world.' It implieth that the force and power of the tongue to hurt is very great ; as the world is full of all kind of things, so the tongue of all kind of sin.
So is the tongue among the members ; that is, of so great regard ; it is but one, and that a small member among the rest, and yet of such a cursed influence, that it often draweth guilt upon all the rest of the members.
That it defiletli the luhole body. — Ephraim Syrus understandeth this clause without a figure ; he thinketh it is an allusion to the punishment of leprosy with which Miriam and Aaron were smitten for the abuse of their tongues. But that agreetli not with this place. The mean- ing is, therefore, it blotteth and infecteth the whole man with sin and guilt, and so possibly there maybe an allusion to what is said, Eccles. V. 6, ' Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin ;' where hy flesh is meant the whole man ; as also here by body : which term the apostle used before, ver. 3, and with good advice. (1.) Because he speaketli of the tongue, which is a member of the body, and so the rather carrieth the expression in terms suitable. (2.) Because sin, though it beginneth in the soul, is executed and accomplished by the body ;
^ ' In Alexandria una scintilla fuit, sed quia uon statim oppressa est, totuni orbem ejus flamnia populata est.' — Hiivon.
^ ' Penes reges est inferre bellum ; penes autem Deum terminare.' Qu. ' either meddle not' ? — Ed.
2S6 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [JaS. III. G-
and it is some grace, when we cannot stop it in the concupiscible, to stop it in the locomotive power ; if not in the kist, yet in the members. Or (3.) Body, because of that resemblance the scriptures make between the sins of all the members and a body ; and therefore the course of our actions, whether good or bad, are expressed by this term ; as Mat. vi. 22, ' The light of the body is the eye ; and there- fore if the eye be single, the whole body is full of light,' &c. ; where hody is put for all the actions of the soul : if the understanding and aim be rightly directed, all the motions are right. Now the tongue defileth this whole body, as it persuadcth to sin, or else uttereth and bewraycth sin, and so showeth the whole man to be defiled. It also engageth to sin : the tongue often engageth the hand to smite with the fist of wickedness, and by its brawling and contention other members are involved in sin and inconveniences. So also for other sins, men speak evil, and then commit it ; one member infected maketh way for the corruption and defilement of another ; and the tongue being of so sovereign an influence, tainteth all.
And setteth on Jive. — He showeth the further efficacy of this tongue- fire ; it doth not only black and sully, but it devoureth and destroyeth. He exprcsseth it by this phrase, ' Kctteth on fire,' because of the compar- ison foregoing ; and it is very proper, partly in regard of the effects of the tongue, which are usually false heats, passion, wrath, raging, violence, contrary to which is that ' cool spirit' which Solomon saith is in the prudent man ; partly in regard of the tongue's manner of working in contentions. It is rapid and violent ; men are by the tongue transported and heated into inconveniences ; and it is also disorderly, like raging fire, causing great confusions ; and therefore in any heat we had need look to the rise and quality of it : be sure to watch over your spirit when it beginneth to grow furious and inflamed.
The ivhole course of nalure. — In the original it is rov rpo^ov riji; r/ev€a€co<;, which some render, ' the wheel of our nativity,' by wliich he intendeth the whole course of our lives ; there is no action, no age, no estate privileged from the influence of it. The Syriac interpreter hath, ' all our generations,* as if the sense were, that all iiges of the world are conscious to the evils of the tongue, and can produce instances and experiences of it. But the word rather signifieth our natural course, or tlie wheel of human conversation.
Ajid it is set onjire of hell— He showeth whence the tongue hath all this malice and mischief ; from hell, that is, from the devil, who is the father of lies, the author of malice and virulency, and doth by the tongue, as a dexterous instrument or fit servant, transmit lies, and slanders, and ntrifes, for inflaming and enkindling the world. ^ Some read, (fiXoyiaofiem], ' it shcdl be set on fire of hell,' as implying the punishment ; but in all approved copies it is ^Xoyitpfievri, ' is set on lire,' as noting the original.