2. The value and worth. The one is as choice refined silver, the other is little worth. This metaphor showeth that an unsanctified heart is a drossy heart. There is a fieuocri^ in the expression ; it doth a great deal of hurt,
I begin with the first part, 'The tongue of the just;' that is, the words and speeches which he uttereth with his tongue. And more particularly, it is opposed to a flattering tongue : ver. 18, 'He that hideth hatred with lying lips ; ' a detracting tongue, to him * that uttereth a slander ; ' to a prattling tongue : ver. 19, ' In the multi- tude of words there wanteth not sin,' But now 'the tongue of tho just ' is when a just man speaketh like a just man. Then the predicate ; it is as ' choice silver,' both for internal purity and external profit and use: Prov. viii. 19, ' My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold, and my revenue than choice silver.' It is refined, and worthy to be attended unto and embraced ; and in this sense it is true, verba valent sicui nummus. Its acceptableness, value, and profit are intimated in this similitude.
Doct. That a good man, speaking or behaving himself as a good man, will and should confer and discourse with others to edification.
388 SERMONS UPON PROVERBS X. 20.
I shall prove it —
I. From the quality of the person here described. It is a just man. By that term is meant —
1. A renewed man; for naturally our lips are polluted: Isa. vi. 5, ' Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.' Sin in the tongue is most frequent, and that not without difficulty avoided. It proceedeth from the corruption of the heart, and discovereth the pollution which lieth hid there, and by venting increaseth it. The orator said of some- body. Nullum tcnquam verbum, quod revocare vellet, eum emisisse — that he never uttered a word that he desired to retract. But surely he meant it of the art of speaking, not of the grace of speaking ; at best it was but a false flattery. The corruption of men by nature is other- wise described by the apostle : Rom. iii. '13, ' Their throat is an open sepulchre ; with their tongues have they used deceit ; the poison of asps is under their lips.' This is man's true character as he is in his natural estate ; and whatever gifts of eloquence and plausible speech they are endowed with, yet this doth but hide corruption, not cure and mortify it. The pure lip is the fruit of God's converting grace : Zeph. iii. 9, ^ For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.' And as the powerful change v/hich grace worketh in us is shown in other things, so in the tongue also.
2. A man furnished with knowledge of the things which concern his duty ; for every renewed man is an enlightened man ; for it is said, Prov. XV. 2, ' The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright, but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.' Unless a man understand his duty, how shall he speak of it ? So Prov. xvii. 7, ' Excellent speech becometh not a fool ; ' in the Hebrew it is, ' The lip of excellency.' Ignorant men can no more discourse of religion than blind men can of colours.
3. This renewed man is a mortified man ; for otherwise he will only stickle for opinions, and be one of the disputers of this world, but will not warm men's hearts, and excite them to practice. That must be first upon the heart which will afterwards be upon the tongue ; and unless the heart be cleansed, the tongue will not be cleansed. If the heart be upon the world, the tongue will most commonly be upon the world : 1 John iv. 5, ' They are of the world, therefore they speak of the world, and the world heareth them.' If the heart be proud, the tongue will be employed in boasting of ourselves, and in contempt of others : Luke xviii. 9-11, ' And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others : Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a pharisee, and the other a publican. The pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, Grod, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.' If the heart be unclean, the speech will not be very savoury ; but rotten communication will as easily proceed from us as a putrefied breath doth from rotten lungs ; or else it is but a force, when the voice is Jacob's and the hands are Esau's ; when you talk chastely and the heart swarmeth with noisome lusts ; or when you talk piously and godly when the heart is vain and
I
SERMONS UPON PROVERBS X. 20. 389
sinful, and we despise religion in our souls ; or when the words are patient when the heart swelleth against providence. First you must cast salt into the spring ; the corruption of the heart must be overcome before the corruption of speech can be prevented. The use of the tongue is to express the mind.