Ver. 7, 8. For everij kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and things in the sea, is tamed, and liatli been tamed of man- kind : but the tongue can no man tame : it is an unruly evil, and fidl of deadly poison.
Having showed the cursed influence of the tongue, he showeth how difficult the cure is. Wild beasts are more tractable, and may be sooner brought to hand, than an evil tongue ; it is wilder than the wildest beast.
Every Jdnd of beasts, and birds, and serpents, and things in the sea. — The enumeration is the more full, that he may show how far human art can reach. For instances and stories, interpreters abound in
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290 AN ExrosiTiON, WITH NOTES, [Jas. III. 7, 8.
them. How lions have been tamed and brought to hunt as dogs, or draw the chariot as horses, you may see Pliny in his Natural History, lib. viii. cap. IG, and iElian, lib. xv. cap. 14. How birds have been taught, you may see Plin. lib. x. cap 42, and Macrob. lib. ii. Saturn, cap. 10. Of elephants, Lipsius, cent, prima, Epist. 50. In short, nothing is so violent and noxious by nature but human art and industry liath mada it serviceable to human uses. This is a fruit and relic of that dominion God gave man over the creatures at first ; by an instinct put into their natures they were all to obey him and serve him ; but man, revolting, lost imperium mum and imperimn sui, the command of himself and the command of the creatures ; he rebelling against God, the creatures rebelled against him, to avenge the quarrel of the creator. But now, by art and industry, and some relics of the image of God in himself, and the help and concurrence of a general providence, he doth in part recover his dominion over the creatures ; but over himself he cannot by any means, no, not over his tongue, ' a little member ; ' for to that end is this illustration brought here.
Is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind. — As if he had said, It not only hath been done in ancient times, but we see it still done. He useth this distinctness of expression to show that he doth not only intend the subjection of the creatures before the fall, which was full and voluntary, or some miraculous effects, as when the whale hurted not Jonah, chap. ii. ; or the lions, Daniel in the den, chap. vi. ; or the viper, Paul, Acts xxviii ; but what is usual and ordinary, and falleth out often in common experience.
But the tongue can no man tame. — The old Pelagians, wholly wresting this place, did read it as an interrogation, as if tlie sense were, Man can tame all other things, and can he not then tame himself ? which is quite contrary to the apostle's scope, which is to show what an imruly and an unlractable evil the tongue is. Others, to avoid the seeming harshness of the sentence, say, He speaketh of other men's tongues ; who can stop them ? as if it were a saying of a like sense with that Ps. cxx. 3, ' What shall we give to thee ? or what shall be done to thee, thou false tongue ? ' How shall I prevent it? But this also doth not agree with the apostle's scope, who doth not show how we should bridle other men's tongues, but guide our own. The meaning is, then, no man can do it of himself ; and we have not such an absolute concurrence of the divine grace as to do it wholly.
It is an unruly evil, kukov aKaTaax^Tov. — Some take it causally ; it is the cause of sedition and unruliness : but rather it signifieth what was formerly expressed, an evil that will not be held in. It is a metaphor taken from beasts that are kept within rails or chains. God hath, in the structure of the mouth, appointed a doublerail to it, teeth and lips, and by grace laid many restraints upon it; and yet it breaketh out
Full of deadli/ poison. — It is an allusion to such creatures as hurt by poison. The tongue is as deadly, and hath as much need to be tamed, as venomous beasts. Besides, some beasts carry their poison in their tongues, as the asp in a bladder under the tongue, which, when they bite, is broken, and then the poison cometh out; therefore
Jas. III. 7, 8.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 291
it is said, Ps. cxl. 3, ' They have sharpened their tongues as a serpent ; adders' poison is under their lips.'
The notes are these : from the 7th verse you may observe : —
Ohs. 1. The tractableness of the beasts to man, and the disobedience of man to God. Beasts are tamed, serpents are charmed by our skill, but we are not charmed by all the witchcrafts and allurements of Heaven : Ps. Iviii. 4, 5, ' Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; they are like the deaf adder, which stoppeth her ear, which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming n^ver so wisely.' It is an allusion to the fashion of the asp, which, when he seeth the charmer, layeth one ear close to the ground, and covereth the other with his tail. But now we read in the text, ' Serpents have been tamed, and are tamed.' But all the magic of the gospel, the sweet spells of grace, will not cure the heart of man. So the ox, a creature of great strength, is obedient to man, a weaker creature ; but we kick with the heel against God, as the prophet, Isa. i. 3, 'The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib ; but my people doth not know, Israel doth not consider.' Fallen man may go to school to the beasts to learn mildness and obedience ; and yet God hath more power to subdue, and we have more reason to obey.