cvil-speakmg, lying, and slandering. 3. Sine against ourselves, infringlng sobriety, discN>tion, or modesty. (See Barrow's • Sermons,' vol. i. sermon xiii.) IV. l•PClBTANCE OF LITTLE THINGS. The bridle is a very little thing, but the rider c.annot do without it. The rudder is very small, but it enables the steersman to guido a very large vessel. A tiny spark may set on fire a huge forest. So the size of a battle-field is quite disproportionate to tho extent of country won and lost upon it. The tongue is a very little member, but a victory over it will save the whole man; on tho coutrary, a failure to rule the tongue involves far more than the sin of the moment; for, small as it is, the tongue "boasts great things, and defiles the whole body," and so leads to the ruin of the whole man. V. THE TONGUE IS A FIRE. The apostle is speaking of the tongue as an instrument of ruin, destruction, and devastation. As such it is kindled from beneath-" set on fire of hell" (ver. 6). But there is another sense in which the tongue is a fire, kindled from above, cheering and warming and gladdening men's hearts, and if its power for evil is great, so also is its power for good. " The fire of man's wrath is kindled from beneath, as the fire that cleanses is kindled from above. Bearing in our minds the wonder of the day of Pentecost, it is hardly too bold to say that we have to choose whether our tongue shall be purified by the fire of the Holy Spirit or defiled by that of Gehenna" (Plumptre). 11 TnE GUILT OF SLANDER. 1. The slanderer injures himself. "The tongue .•• defiles the whole body." 2. Slander is uncontrollable. "The tongue can no man tame." It" sets on fire the wheel of birth;" that wheel" which catches fire as it goes, and burns with a fiercer conflagration as its own speed increases. . . . You may ta.me tbe wild beast; the conflagration of the American forest will cease when all the timber and the dry underwood is consumed ; but you cannot arrest the progress of that cruel word which you uttered carelessly ; . . . that will go on slaying, poisoning, burning, beyond your own control, now and for ever." 3. Slander is unnatural. "These things ought not so to be." It is a contradiction to nature, as much as for a :fig tree to bear olives, or for a fountain to produce both fresh and salt water. 4. Slander is diabolical in character. " 'l'he tongue . . . is set on fire of hell." The very name of Satan is "the slanderer." (See Robertson's 'Sermons,' vol. iii. sermon i.) Vera. 13-18.- Wisdom. L WIBDoM IIHOWN BY ITS FRUITS m BEA.BT AND LIFE, The following are some of the fruits of the heavenly wisdom: (1) purity ; (2) peacefulness; (3) forbearance under provocation, i.e. slowness in taking offence; (4) placability, i.e. readiness to forgive an offence actually committed. "By their fruits ye shall know them ; " and therefore the presence or absence of such qualities as these form tests by whicn every one may recognize the presence or absence in his own heart of the wisdom which is from above. II. THE Slli'l"ULNESS OF PABTY SPIRIT. A sin which is not always recognized, especially in religious circles, as being a sin. Its true character, however, may he seen by a consideration of (1) its W!/,rce, which is not from above, but from beneath ( ver. 15) ; and (2) ita result,. It leads to "confusion and every evil work" (ver. 16). III. THE CH.AB.ACTEB OF TBE NATURAL MAN. The meaning of" animal" or "natural" (tj,vxucos) in Scripture requires careful consideration. The fact that wherever a moral emphasis rests upcn this word it is always depreciatory, and that here (ver. 15) it stands between "earthly" and " devilish," forms one of the clearest indications o( the absolute need of grace. Scripture has nothing but condemnation for the man who is ruled by the tj,11:,cli. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God." Mere good nat!/,re will never save a man. It is not enough to be " well disposed." Esau was all this. He stands out in Holy Scripture ae the type of the natural man, rult:d only by the tj,vx./i-good-natured, generous, brave, and kindly, but" not having the Spirit; n no gr=, and therefore, by the verdict of an inspired writer, his character is stamped as that of " a profane person " (Heb. xii. 16).
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1, 2.-.A diuuasime from ambition to tw.ch. Throughout this chapter the apostle sounds a loud note of warlWlg agains~ sins of the tongue, The opening cm. m. 1-18,] THE GENERAL EPISTLE OF JAMES. 47