Chapter VIII: Introduction (6)

Nor is the blessing of goodness at all limited to the good man himself. It falls on his children too. A just man that walketh in his integrity, blessed are his children after him.[244] It reaches even to the third generation. A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children.[245] The righteous is a guide to his neighbour also.[246] He is a joy to his sovereign; he that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.[247] His character and his well-being are a matter of public, even of national concern, for there is something winning in him; he acts as a saving influence upon those who are around him.[248] Therefore, when the righteous increase the people rejoice,[249] when they triumph there is great glory.[250] When it goeth well with the righteous the city rejoiceth, just as when the wicked perish there is shouting. By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted, just as it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.[251] Yes, righteousness exalteth a nation, while sin is a reproach to the whole people.[252]

It is the grand public interest to see the wicked perish in order that the righteous may increase:[253] for the way of the wicked causes other people to err.[254] His lips are like a scorching fire;[255] his presence brings a general atmosphere of contempt, ignominy, and shame.[256] When the wicked rise men hide themselves,[257] when they bear rule the people sigh.[258] Well may the national feeling be severe on all those who encourage the wicked in any way. He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous, peoples shall curse him, nations shall abhor him; but to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them.[259] It is a sure sign that one is forsaking the law when one ceases to contend with the wicked and begins to praise them.[260]

Blessing to himself, blessing to his children, his neighbours, his country, is the beautiful reward of the good man; ruin to himself, a spreading contagion of evil to others, and general execration, is the lot of the wicked. Well may the former be bold as a lion, and well may the latter flee when no man pursues, for conscience makes cowards of us all.[261]

But at present we have not touched on the chief blessedness of the good, and the chief curse of the evil, on that which is really the spring and fountain-head of all. It is the great fact that _God is with the righteous and against the wicked_, that He judges men according to their integrity or perverseness, and accepts them or rejects them simply upon that principle. By looking at this lofty truth we get all our conceptions on the subject cleared. The perverse _in heart_ are an abomination to the Lord; such as are perfect in their way are His delight.[262] A good man shall obtain favour of the Lord, but a man of wicked devices will He condemn.[263] Evil devices are an abomination to the Lord,[264] and so is the wicked, but He loveth the righteous.[265] To justify the wicked or to condemn the righteous is equally abominable to Him.[266] He considers the house of the wicked, how the wicked are overthrown to their ruin.[267] He overthrows the words of the treacherous man, while His eyes preserve him that hath knowledge.[268] He weighs the heart and keeps the soul and renders to every man according to his work.[269] Thus His way is a stronghold to the upright, but a destruction to the workers of iniquity.[270] He does not regard prayer so much as righteousness; he that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.[271] Sacrifice goes for nothing in His sight if the life is not holy. To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.[272] The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination: how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind?[273] Yes, it is an abomination to the Lord, just as the prayer of the upright is His delight. The Lord is far from the wicked, but He heareth the prayer of the righteous.[274] When the foolish sinner offers a sin-offering instead of relinquishing his sin, the very offering mocks him, for it is only the righteous who find favour with the Lord.[275]

It is this solemn truth, the truth of God's own way of regarding goodness and wickedness, which makes earnestness on the subject essential. If goodness were only pleasing to man, if sin were only an offence against creatures like ourselves, ordinary prudence would require us to be good and to avoid evil, but higher sanction would be wanting. When, however, the matter is taken up into the Divine presence, and we begin to understand that the Supreme Ruler of all things loves righteousness and hates iniquity, visits the one with favour and the other with reprobation, quite a new sanction is introduced. The wicked man, who makes light of evil, to whom it is as a sport, appears to be nothing short of an absolute fool.[276] In God's presence it is not difficult to perceive that goodness is wisdom, the only wisdom, the perfect wisdom.

But now it may occur to some of us that it is surely nothing very wonderful to lay this stress upon the close connection between goodness and God-pleasing. Is it not, we are inclined to say, the most obvious and unquestioned of facts that God requires goodness at our hands, and is angry with the wicked every day? It is not very wonderful to us, because Revelation has made it familiar, but none the less it is a truth of Revelation, and if we were to ask in what the Inspiration of this book consists, no simpler and truer answer could be given than that it teaches, as we have just seen, the alliance of God with righteousness and the abhorrence in which He holds wickedness.

Yes, a truism, but it was a discovery which the world was very slow to make, and it is still a principle on which the world is very unwilling to act.

The main characteristic of all heathen religions is that their gods do not demand righteousness, but certain outward and formal observances; sacrifices must be offered to them, their vindictive temper must be propitiated, their anger averted; if the dues of the gods are paid, the stipulated quantity of corn and wine and oil, the tithes, the firstfruits, the animals for the altar, the tribute for the temple, then the worshipper who has thus discharged his obligations may feel himself free to follow out his own tastes and inclinations. In the Roman religion, for example, every dealing with the gods was a strictly legal contract; the Roman general agreed with Jupiter or with Mars that if the battle should be won a temple should be built. It was not necessary that the cause should be right, or that the general should be good; the sacrifice of the wicked, though offered with an evil intent, was as valid as the sacrifice of the good. In either case the same amount of marble and stone, of silver and gold, would come to the god.

In the Eastern religions not only were goodness and righteousness dissociated from the idea of the gods, but evil of the grossest kinds was definitely associated with them. The Phœnician deities, like those of the Hindoos, were actually worshipped with rites of murder and lust. Every vice had its patron god or goddess, and it was forgotten by priest and people that goodness could be the way of pleasing God, or moral evil a cause of offence to Him.

Even in Israel, where the teaching of Revelation was current in the proverbs of the people, the practice generally followed the heathen conceptions. All the burning protests of the inspired prophets could not avail to convince the Israelite that what God required was not sacrifice and offering, but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with Him. Again and again we find that the high places were frequented and the ritual supported by men who were sensual, unjust, and cruel. The Sabbath Day was kept, the feasts were duly observed, the priests were handsomely maintained, and there, it was supposed, the legitimate claims of Jehovah ceased. What more could He desire?

This is surely the most impressive proof that the Truth which is under consideration is far from being obvious. Israel himself, the chosen channel for communicating this truth to the world, was so slow to understand and to grasp it, that his religious observances were constantly degenerating into lifeless ceremonies devoid of all moral significance, and his religious teachers were mainly occupied in denouncing his conduct as wholly inconsistent with the truth.

So far from treating the truth as a truism, our Lord in all His teaching laboured to bring it out in greater clearness, and to set it in the forefront of His message to men. He made it the very keynote of the Gospel that not every one who says, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of His Father in heaven. He painted with exquisite simplicity and clearness the right life, the conduct which God requires of us, and then likened every one who practised this life to a man who builds his house on a rock, and every one who does not practise it to a man who builds his house on the sand. He declared, in the spirit of all that we have just read from the book of Proverbs, that teachers were to be judged by their fruits, and that God would estimate our lives not by what we professed to do, but by what we did; and He took up the very language of the book in declaring that every man should be judged according to his works.[277] In every word He spoke He made it plain that goodness is what God loves, and that wickedness is what He judges and destroys. In the same way every one of the Apostles insists on this truth with a new earnestness. St. John more especially reiterates it, in words which sound even more like a truism than the sayings of this book: "He that doeth righteousness is righteous even as He is righteous;" and, "If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that every one also that doeth righteousness is begotten of Him."[278]

The Gospel itself is accompanied by a new and more earnest assertion of this cardinal truth, that God loves goodness, and that He judges men according to their works. And even now, after many centuries of Christian faith, and notwithstanding all the teachings of the Bible and the witness of the Spirit, it is very difficult for many of us to understand that religion is goodness, and religion without goodness is impiety of the worst kind. It is supposed by some, in face of all the accumulated truth and wisdom of the ages which have passed since this book was written, that God's last and highest message is a dispensation from practical righteousness--that the Gospel of Grace means God's willingness to accept men because they believe, apart from the actual goodness to which all faith is calculated to lead; as if the Gospel were an announcement that God had entirely changed His nature, and that all the best and noblest teachings of His Spirit in the past were set aside by His final revelation. Behind some figment or other, some perverted notion of imputed righteousness, men try to hide their guilty countenance, and to persuade themselves that now, in virtue of the Cross, they can see God without holiness, without purity of heart. Heaven has been treated as a place where men can enter who work abomination and make a lie; and in order to secure a full acceptance for our dogma we try to depreciate goodness as if it were a thing of little worth, and even come to look with some suspicion on those who are only good--only moral, I think we call it--and do not hold our own views of speculative truth. Meanwhile religious teachers "tell the wicked they are righteous," and earn the curse of the nation, because they thereby enable men to be hard and cruel and unjust and selfish and proud and contemptuous, and yet to esteem themselves as justified by faith. Others "justify the wicked," accepting a verbal profession in place of a virtuous practice; and that, as we have seen, is abominable to the Lord.

Justification by faith loses all its meaning and all its value unless it is fully admitted that _to be just_ is the great end and aim of religion. Salvation becomes a delusion unless it is perceived that it means righteousness. Heaven, and the saints' everlasting rest, become worthless and misleading ideas unless we recognise that it is the abode of goodness, and that saints are not, as we sometimes seem to imply, bad people regarded as holy by a legal fiction, but people who are made good and are actually holy.

Strong as the language of our book is upon the subject, it is not possible to bring out in mere proverbial sayings the eternal necessity of this great truth. Goodness and blessedness are actually identical, the reverse and the obverse sides of the same coin. If a man is made good he is made blessed; but if he is made blessed to all appearance, and not good, the blessedness proves to be an illusion. It could not possibly avail to be justified by faith, unless we were made just by faith; a sore body is not healed by covering it up, a dead man is not quickened by a smiling mask. There have been many people who counted themselves the elect, and made no question that they were saved, though they remained all the time inwardly wicked; they were miserable, sour, discontented, censorious, a burden to themselves, an eyesore to others; they were persuaded that they would be happy in heaven, and they supposed that their constant wretchedness was due to their being pilgrims in a strange land; but the fact was they would be more wretched still in heaven, for nowhere is evil such a curse as in a place where good prevails; their misery arose from their own wicked hearts, and in the next world, their hearts still being wicked, their misery must continue and increase.

May God grant us a clear vision in this matter, that we may see the due relation of things! Goodness is the principal thing--for it faith itself and all religion exists. God is goodness--man is evil; what God means by saving us is to make us good like Himself. That we must be saved by faith means that we must be made good by faith, not that we must take faith in place of goodness. That righteousness is imputed to us by the goodness of God means that the goodness of Christ is reckoned as ours for the purpose of making us good, not in order to spare us the necessity of being good. And in this way, and this only, we must estimate one another. What a man believes in his heart we can never fully know; but whether he is good or not is a matter plain as the day. It is easy to bandy words of reproach, to call men unbelievers, sceptics, atheists; but there is only one wise way of speaking and thinking. If we see goodness, let us thank God, for there, be sure, His Spirit is;[279] if we see the lovely graces which shine in our Lord Jesus Christ gleaming, however fitfully, in our fellow-men, let us recognise Christ there. And where we see wickedness, let no consideration of outward Christian profession or orthodoxy of belief restrain us from fully recognising that it is evil, or from courageously contending against it.

FOOTNOTES:

[208] Prov. x. 28.

[209] Prov. x. 30.

[210] Prov. xiv. 11. Cf. Prov. xii. 7: "Overthrow the wicked; and they are not (_i.e._, there is no rising again for them), but the house of the righteous shall stand."

[211] Prov. xi. 18.

[212] Prov. xiii. 3.

[213] Prov. xi. 5, 6; xxi. 7.

[214] Prov. xxii. 8.

[215] Prov. xxi. 7, 8, 10, 15; xxvi. 24, 26; xv. 28.

[216] Prov. xi. 7.

[217] Prov. xiii. 9; xxiv. 20.

[218] Prov. xi. 19.

[219] Prov. xi. 21.

[220] Prov. xiv. 12; xvi. 5, 25; xxi. 2.

[221] Prov. xxiii. 17, 18; xxiv. 1, 19.

[222] Prov. xii. 7.

[223] Prov. xiv. 12; xvi. 25.

[224] Prov. xxiv. 15, 16.

[225] Prov. xxix. 16.

[226] Prov. xi. 3.

[227] Prov. xiii. 6. Cf. Prov. xiv. 14: "The backslider in heart shall be sated from his own ways, and the good man from himself." Though probably we ought to read, with Nowack, מִמְּעֲלָלָיו, which would give a completer parallelism: "The backslider shall be sated from his own ways, and the good man from his own doings."

[228] Prov. xi. 8. Cf. Prov. xxviii. 18.

[229] Prov. xxi. 18.

[230] Prov. xii. 13.

[231] Prov. xii. 21.

[232] Prov. xiii. 25.

[233] Prov. xvi. 17; xix. 16.

[234] Prov. xiv. 22.

[235] Prov. xxi. 21.

[236] Prov. xxi. 15; xxix. 6. Unless, with Delitzsch, we are to read בְּפֶשַׂע for בְּפֶשַׁע, and יָרוּצ for יָרוּן, which would give: "In the steps of a bad man lie snares, but the righteous runs and rejoices."

[237] Prov. xi. 27, 30.

[238] Prov. xii. 12.

[239] Prov. xvii. 26: "To punish the righteous is not good, nor to smite the noble for their uprightness."

[240] Prov. xiv. 32.

[241] Prov. xx. 11.

[242] Prov. xiv. 19.

[243] Prov. xxv. 26.

[244] Prov. xiv. 26: "In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge." So Prov. xx. 7: "A just man that walketh in his integrity: blessed are his children after him."

[245] Prov. xiii. 22.

[246] Prov. xii. 26.

[247] Prov. xxii. 11. Cf. Prov. xvi. 13.

[248] Prov. xi. 31.

[249] Prov. xxix. 2.

[250] Prov. xxviii. 12.

[251] Prov. xi. 10, 11.

[252] Prov. xiv. 34.

[253] Prov. xxviii. 28.

[254] Prov. xii. 26.

[255] Prov. xvi. 27.

[256] Prov. xviii. 3.

[257] Prov. xxviii. 28.

[258] Prov. xxix. 2.

[259] Prov. xxiv. 24, 25.

[260] Prov. xxviii. 4.

[261] Prov. xxviii. 1.

[262] Prov. xi. 20.

[263] Prov. xii. 2.

[264] Prov. xv. 26.

[265] Prov. xv. 9.

[266] Prov. xvii. 15, 26; xviii. 5.

[267] Prov. xxi. 12, where "one that is righteous" seems to mean God Himself; see the margin of R.V.

[268] Prov. xxii. 12.

[269] Prov. xxiv. 12.

[270] Prov. x. 29.

[271] Prov. xxviii. 9.

[272] Prov. xxi. 3.

[273] Prov. xxi. 27.

[274] Prov. xv. 8, 29.

[275] Prov. xiv. 9. This seems to be the meaning of this difficult verse, which should be translated: The sin-offering mocks fools, but among the righteous is favour.

[276] Prov. x. 23.

[277] Matt. xvi. 27.

[278] 1 John iii. 7, 10; ii. 29.

[279] "If ye know that He is righteous," says St. John, "ye know that every one also that doeth righteousness is begotten of Him." (1 John ii. 29).

XII.

_THE TONGUE._

"A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his MOUTH: and
the doings of a man's hands shall be rendered unto him."--PROV.
xii. 14.

"In the transgression of the LIPS is a snare to an evil man: but
the righteous shall come out of trouble."--PROV. xii. 13.

"A fool's vexation is PRESENTLY KNOWN: but a prudent man
concealeth shame."--PROV. xii. 16.

"He that uttereth truth SHOWETH FORTH righteousness, but a false
witness deceit."--PROV. xii. 17.

"The LIP of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying
TONGUE is but for a moment."--PROV. xii. 19.

"Lying LIPS are an abomination unto the Lord: but they that deal
truly are His delight."--PROV. xii. 22.

"There is that SPEAKETH rashly like the piercings of a sword: but
the TONGUE of the wise is health."--PROV. xii. 18.

"A prudent man CONCEALETH knowledge: but the heart of fools
proclaimeth foolishness."--PROV. xii. 23.

"The WORDS of the wicked are a lying in wait for blood: but the
MOUTH of the upright shall deliver them."--PROV. xii. 6.

"Heaviness in the heart of a man maketh it stoop; but a good WORD
maketh it glad."--PROV. xii. 25.

There is nothing which seems more insubstantial than speech, a mere vibration in the atmosphere which touches the nerves of hearing and then dies away. There is no organ which seems smaller and less considerable than the tongue; a little member which is not even seen, and, physically speaking, soft and weak. But the word which issues out of the lips is the greatest power in human life. That "soft tongue breaketh the bone."[280] Words will change the currents of life: look for instance at a great orator addressing his audience; how miraculous must it seem to a deaf man watching the speaker that the quiet opening of a mouth should be able to produce such powerful effects upon the faces, the movements, the conduct of the listeners!

We are coming to consider the importance of this diminutive organ, the ill uses and the good uses to which it may be turned, and the consequent necessity of fitly directly and restraining it.

On the use of the tongue depend the issues of a man's own life. It may be regarded as a tree which bears fruits of different kinds, and such fruits as his tongue bears a man must eat. If his words have been good, then he shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth.[281] "A man's belly shall be filled with the fruit of his mouth, with the increase of his lips shall he be satisfied."[282] The fruits which grow on this tongue-tree are death and life--the tongue produces them--and he that loves the tree shall according to his love eat the one fruit or the other; if he loves death-bearing speech he shall eat death; if he loves life-bearing speech he shall eat life.[283] So deadly may be the fruit of the tongue that the mouth of the fool is regarded as a present destruction.[284] So wholesome may be the fruit of the tongue that the tongue of the wise may be actually denominated health.[285]

In the case of the fool it is always very obvious how powerfully the tongue affects the condition of the speaker. His lips are always coming into strife, and his mouth is always calling for stripes. It is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul.[286] In the transgression of the lips always lies the snare for the evil man: ultimately all men are in effect condemned out of their own mouths.[287] The tongue proves to be a rod for the back of the proud and foolish owner of it, while the good man's tongue is a constant life-preserver.[288] As an old proverb says, a fool's tongue is always long enough to cut his own throat. On the other hand, where the tongue is wisely used it always brings back joy to the speaker in the end.[289] Thus whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from troubles,[290] but the man who does not take the pains to hear, but gives his testimony falsely, shall perish.[291] While the use of the tongue thus recoils on the speaker for good or for evil, it has a wide influence also on others. "He that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief,"[292] but when speech is good, and such as it ought to be, "the words of a man's mouth are like deep waters, a gushing brook, a well of wisdom."[293]

Thus it is of vast and obvious importance how we use our tongue. If our speech is gracious we shall win the friendship of the king,[294] and it is a pleasant thing if we "keep the words of the wise within us and if they be established together upon our lips."[295] It is better for us to be poor than perverse or untruthful in our speech.[296] Our teacher, especially our Divine Lord, will rejoice inwardly and deeply "when our lips speak right things."[297]

We are now cautioned against some of the evil purposes to which the tongue may be turned, and as all the heads of evil are passed in review we realize why St. James spoke of the tongue as "the world of iniquity" (iii. 6); and how profound was our Lord's teaching that out of the mouth proceed the things which defile a man (Matt. xv. 18).

First of all, the tongue is a fruitful source of _Quarrelling_ and discord. A fool cannot hide his vexation, but must immediately blurt it out with the tongue.[298] When he is angry he must utter it all at once,[299] though a wise man would keep it back and still it, so concealing shame. No one is more certain to come to grief than "he who provokes with words."[300] These irritating taunts and threats are like coals to hot embers, and wood to fire;[301] in their absence the contention would quickly die out. It is therefore the wise counsel of Agur to one who has done foolishly in exalting himself, or has even entertained for a moment the arrogant or quarrelsome thought, "Hand on thy mouth!" for speech under such circumstances produces strife as surely as churning produces butter from milk, or a blow on the nose blood.[302] Rash, inconsiderate, angry words are like the piercings of a sword.[303] If only our wrathful spirit made us immediately dumb, anger would never go far, it would die out as a conflagration dies when there is no wind to fan the flames.

But again, the tongue is the instrument of _Lying_; one of its worst disservices to man is that when it is well balanced, so that it easily wags, it often betrays him into untruths which his heart never contemplated nor even approved. It is the tongue which by false witness so often condemns the innocent.[304] A worthless witness mocketh at judgment; and the mouth of the wicked swalloweth iniquity.[305] And though such a witness shall not in the long run go unpunished, nor shall the liar escape,[306] yet, as experience shows, he may have brought ruin or calamity on others before vengeance falls upon him. The false witness shall perish,[307] but often not before he has like a mace or a hammer bruised and like a sword or a sharp arrow pierced his unfortunate neighbour.[308] It is the tongue which glozes over the purposes of hate, and lulls the victim into a false security; the fervent lips and the wicked heart are like a silver lining spread over an earthen vessel to make it look like silver; the hatred is cunningly concealed, the seven abominations in the heart are hidden; the pit which is being dug and the stone which is to overwhelm the innocent are kept secret by the facile talk and flatteries of the tongue; the more the tongue lies in its guileful machinations the more the heart hates the victims of its spite.[309] A righteous man hates lying, but the wicked, by his lies, brings disgrace and shame.[310] The lie often appears to prosper for a moment,[311] but happily it is an abomination to the Lord,[312] and in His righteous ordering of events he makes the falsehood which was as bread, and sweet to the lips, into gravel which breaks the teeth in the mouth.[313] The curse which is causeless is frustrated, and so also is the empty lie; it wanders without rest, without limit, like a sparrow or a swallow.[314]

Closely allied to lying is _Flattery_; and to this vile use the tongue is often put. Flattery is always a mistake. It does not attain its end in winning the favour of the flattered; for in the long run "he that rebuketh a man shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue."[315] If it is believed, as often unfortunately it is, it proves to be a net spread in the path, which may trip up, and may even capture and destroy, the unwary walker.[316]

Another evil use of the tongue is for _Whispering and tale-bearing_. "He that goeth about as a tale-bearer revealeth secrets"--he is not to be trusted, it is better to have nothing to do with him. Disclosing the secret of another is a sure way of incurring reproach and lasting infamy. Such a habit is a fruitful source of rage and indignation, it brings black wrath to the countenance of him whose secret has been published, just as a north wind spreads the rain clouds over the sky.[317] The temptation to tattling is great; the business of a gossip brings an immediate reward; for the corrupt heart of man delights in scandal as an epicure in tit-bits: "The words of a whisperer are as dainty morsels which go down into the chamber of the belly."[318] But what mischief they do! They separate bosom friends, sowing suspicion and distrust.[319] Where there is already a little misunderstanding, the whisperer supplies wood to the fire and keeps it burning; apart from him it would soon die out.[320] But if he thinks there is any prospect of a reconciliation he will be constantly harping on the matter; one who seeks love would try to hide the transgression, but the scandalmonger is a foe to love and the unfailing author of enmity.[321]

But there is _Mischief_, more deliberate and more malignant still, which the tongue is employed to plot, to plan and to execute. "With his mouth the godless man destroyeth his neighbour."[322] "The words of the wicked are a lying in wait for blood."[323] "The mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things,"[324] blasphemies, obscenities, curses, imprecations. "A froward man scattereth abroad strife."[325] He deceives, and in bitter raillery declares that he was only jesting; he is like a madman casting firebrands, arrows, and death.[326] We know what it is to hear a man pouring out foul, abusive, and impious language, until the very atmosphere seems enflamed with firebrands, and arrows fly hither and thither through the horrified air. We know, too, what it is to hear the smooth and well-turned speech of the hypocrite and the impostor, which seems to oppress the heart with a sense of decomposition; righteousness, truth, and joy seem to wither away, and in the choking suffocation of deceit and fraud life itself seems as if it must expire.

It is a relief to turn from those worst uses of the tongue to the more pardonable vices of _Rashness_ and _Inopportuneness_ of speech. Yet these too are evil enough in their way. To pass a judgment before we are in possession of the facts, and before we have taken the pains to carefully investigate and consider them, is a sign of folly and a source of shame.[327] So impressed is our teacher with the danger of ill-considered speech that he says, "Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of him."[328] And even where the utterance of the tongue is in itself good it may be rendered evil by its untimeliness; religious talk itself may be so introduced as to hinder the cause of religion; pearls may be cast before swine: "Speak not in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of thy words."[329] There must be some preparation of spirit before we can wisely introduce Divine and heavenly things, and circumstances must not be chosen which will tend to make the Divine things seem mean and contemptible. It may be good to rebuke an evildoer, or to admonish a friend; but if the opportunity is not fitting, we may make the evildoer more evil,--we may alienate our friend without improving him.

Considering then what mischief may be done with the tongue, it is not to be wondered at that we are cautioned against _excessive speech_. "In the multitude of words there wanteth not transgression, but he that refraineth his lips doeth wisely."[330] "He that guardeth his mouth keepeth his life; who opens wide his lips gets destruction, and a fool spreadeth out folly."[331] "In all labour is profit, the talk of the lips tends only to poverty."[332] "Wisdom rests in the heart of the understanding, but even in the inward part of fools all is blabbed."[333] "In the fool are no lips of knowledge" because he is always talking.[334] "The tongue of the wise uttereth knowledge aright, but the mouth of fools poureth out folly."[335] "A fool hath no delight in understanding, but only that his heart may reveal itself."[336] One who is always pouring out talk is sure to be pouring out folly. The wise man, feeling that all his words must be tested and weighed, is not able to talk very much. When your money is all in copper, you may afford to throw it about, but when it is all in gold you have to be cautious. A Christian feels that for every idle word he utters he will have to give account, and as none of his words are to be idle they must be comparatively few; the word that kindles wrath, the lie, the whisper, the slander, can therefore find no place on his lips.

This brings us to the _Good and beautiful uses of the tongue_, those uses which justify us in calling the tongue of the wise Health.[337] First of all the tongue has the gracious power of soothing and restraining anger. It is the readiest instrument of peace-making. Gentleness of speech allays great offences,[338] and by preventing quarrels, disarming wrath, and healing the wounds of the spirit, it maintains its claim to be a tree of life.[339] If in the tumult of passion, when fiery charges are made and grievous provocations are uttered, the tongue can be held in firm restraint, and made to give a soft answer, the storm will subside, the angry assailant will retire abashed,[340] and the flaming arrows will be quenched in the buckler of meekness which opposes them. Nor is the tongue only defensive in such cases. The pleasant words, spoken out of a kindly and gentle nature, have a purifying effect;[341] they cleanse away the defilements out of which the evil passions sprang; they purge the diseased humours which produce the irritations of life; they supply a sweet food to the poor hearts of men, who are often contentious because they are hungry for sympathy and love. Pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul, health to the bones.[342] They must be true words, or they will not in the end be pleasant, for, as we have seen, the sweet bread of falsehood turns to gravel in the mouth. But what a different world this would become if we all spoke as many pleasant words as we honestly could, and were not so painfully afraid of showing what tenderness and pity and healing actually exist in our hearts! For another beautiful use of the tongue is to comfort the mourners, of whom there are always so many in the world. "Heaviness in the heart of a man maketh it stoop." There are these stooping, bowed-down hearts everywhere around us. We wish that we could remove the cause of sorrow, that we could effectually change the conditions which seem unfavourable to joy; but being unable to do this, we often stand aloof and remain silent, because we shrink from giving words without deeds, pity without relief. We forget that when the heart is heavy it is just "a good word that maketh it glad."[343] Yes, a word of genuine sympathy, a word from the heart,--and in trouble no other word can be called good,--will often do more to revive the drooping spirit than the grosser gifts of material wealth. A coin kindly given, a present dictated by a heart-felt love, may come as a spiritual blessing; on the other hand, money given without love is worthless, and seldom earns so much as gratitude, while a word in season, how good it is![344] It is better than silver and gold; the discouraged and despondent heart seems to be touched with the delicate finger of hope, and to rise from the ashes and the dust with a new purpose and a new life. It must, of course, be in season. "As vinegar upon nitre so is he that sings songs to a sad heart."[345] But the seasonable word, spoken just at the right moment and just in the right tone, brief and simple, but comprehending and penetrating, will often make the sad heart sing a song for itself.

Great stress is to be laid on this seasonableness of speech, whether the speech be for comfort or reproof. A word fitly spoken, or to preserve the image implied in the original, a word that runs on its wheels in the just and inevitable groove, is compared to a beautiful ornament consisting of golden apples set in an appropriate framework of silver filigree.[346] In such an ornament the golden apples torn from their suitable foil would lose half their beauty, and the silver setting without the apples would only suggest a void and a missing. It is in the combination that the artistic value is to be found. In the same way, the wisest utterance spoken foolishly[347] jars upon the hearers, and misses the mark, while a very simple saying, a platitude in itself, may by its setting become lovely and worthy. The best sermon in a social gathering will seem out of place, but how often can the Christian man by some almost unobserved remark correct unseasonable levity, rebuke unhallowed conversation, and lead the minds of the company to nobler thoughts. The timely word is better than the best sermon in such a case.

The use of the tongue in _Reproof_ is frequently referred to in these proverbs. "A wise reprover upon an obedient ear" is compared to "an earring of gold, an ornament of fine gold."[348] And rebuke is, as we have seen, preferred before flattery.[349] But how wise we must be before our tongue can fitly discharge this function! How humble must the heart be before it can instruct the tongue to speak at once with firmness and tenderness, without a touch of the Pharisee in its tone, to the erring brother or the offending stranger! A rebuke which springs not from love but from vanity, not from self-forgetfulness but from self-righteousness, will not be like an earring of gold, but rather like an ornament of miserable tinsel chafing the ear, the cause of gangrene, a disfigurement as well as an injury. But if we live in close communion with Christ, and daily receive His stern but tender rebukes into our own souls, it is possible that we may be employed by Him to deliver timely rebukes to our fellow-men.

There are two other noble uses of the tongue to which reference is constantly made in our book; the _Instruction of the ignorant_, and the _Championship of the distressed_. With regard to the first, we are told that "the lips of the wise disperse knowledge," while of course the heart of the foolish not being right cannot possibly impart rightness to others.[350] It is only the wise in heart that can claim the title of prudent, but where that wisdom is "the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning."[351] "The heart of the wise instructeth his mouth and addeth learning to his lips."[352] The lips of knowledge are compared to a precious vessel which is more valuable than gold or rubies.[353] To teach well requires earnest preparation, "the heart of the righteous studieth to answer."[354] But when the right answer to the pupil is discovered and given it is beautifully compared to a kiss on the lips.[355]

But never is the tongue more divinely employed than in using its knowledge or its pleadings to deliver those who are in danger or distress. "Through knowledge the righteous may often be delivered."[356] The mouth of the upright will deliver those against whom the wicked are plotting.[357] It is a great prerogative of wise lips that they are able to preserve not themselves only but others.[358] The true and faithful witness delivers souls.[359] It is this which gives to power its one great attraction for the good man. The ruler, the judge, the person of social consideration or of large means is in the enviable position of being able to "open his mouth for the dumb, in the cause of all such as are left desolate, to judge rightly and minister judgment to the poor and needy."[360]

The Press--that great fourth estate--which represents for us the more extended use of the tongue in modern times, illustrates in the most vivid way the service which can be rendered where speech is fit, and also the injury that can be done where it is rash, imprudent, dishonest, interested, or unjust.

After thus reviewing some of the good uses of the tongue, and observing how they depend on the state of the heart,[361] we cannot help again laying stress on the need of a wise self-control in all that we say. He that refraineth his lips doeth wisely. A man of understanding holdeth his peace.[362] "He that spareth his words hath knowledge."[363] "Even a fool when he holdeth his peace is counted wise, when he shutteth his lips he is prudent."[364] If only the uninstructed and foolish person has sense enough to perceive that wisdom is too high for him he will not open his mouth in the gate,[365] and so in listening he may learn. "Of thine unspoken word thou art master," says an Indian proverb, "but thy spoken word is master of thee." We are to be swift to hear, but slow to speak: we are to ponder all that we hear, for it is only the simple that believes every word, the prudent man looks well to his going.[366] As St. James says, summing up all the teaching that we have reviewed, "If any man thinketh himself to be religious, while he bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his heart, this man's religion is vain."[367]

And now there is only one other point to be noticed, but it is one of vast importance. As we realize the immense power of the tongue and the great issues which depend on its right or wrong employment; as we sum up all the evil which its tiny unobserved movements can accomplish, and all the rich blessings which it is, under right supervision, capable of producing; and as from personal experience we recognise how difficult it is to bridle the unruly member, how difficult it is to check the double fountain so that it shall send forth sweet waters only, and no bitter, we may be awed into an almost absolute silence, and be inclined to put away the talent of speech which our Lord has given to us, not daring to use it lest in using we should abuse it. But here is the answer to our misgiving: the plans and preparations of our hearts belong to us, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.[368] This most uncontrollable organ of the body can be put under our Lord's control. He is able to give us "a mouth and wisdom," and to make our words not our own but the utterance of His Holy Spirit. There may be "an ocean round our words which overflows and drowns them," the encircling influences of God, turning even our faultiest speech to good account, neutralising all our falterings and blunderings, and silencing our follies and perversities.

Shall we not put our lips under our Lord's control, that the answer of our tongue may be from Him? While we seek daily to subject our hearts to Him, shall we not in a peculiar and a direct manner subject our tongues, to Him? for while a subjected heart may keep the mouth from speaking evil, if the tongue is to speak well and to be employed for all its noble uses it must be immediately moved by God, our lips must be touched with a coal from the altar, our speech must be chastened and purified, inspired and impelled, by Him.

FOOTNOTES:

[280] Prov. xxv. 15.

[281] Prov. xiii. 2.

[282] Prov. xviii. 20.

[283] Prov. xviii. 21.

[284] Prov. x. 14.

[285] Prov. xii. 18.

[286] Prov. xviii. 6, 7.

[287] Prov. xii. 13.

[288] Prov. xiv. 3.

[289] Prov. xv. 23.

[290] Prov. xxi. 23.

[291] Prov. xxi. 28.

[292] Prov. xvii. 20.

[293] Prov. xviii. 4.

[294] Prov. xxii. 11.

[295] Prov. xxii. 18.

[296] Prov. xix. 1, 22.

[297] Prov. xxiii. 16.

[298] Prov. xii. 16.

[299] Prov. xxix. 11.

[300] Prov. xix. 7. All the Proverbs in this selection are in the form of a distich. This affords a fair presumption that this verse with its three clauses is mutilated; and the presumption is confirmed by the fact that the third clause adds nothing of value, even if it be intelligible at all, to the sense. There is good reason, therefore, for believing that this third clause is the half of a distich which has not been preserved in its integrity; all the more because the LXX. have a complete proverb which runs thus: ὁ πολλὰ κακοποιῶν τελεσιουργεῖ κακίαν, ὃς δὲ ἐρεθίζει λόγους οὐ σωθήσεται. "He that does much evil is a craftsman of iniquity, and he that uses provoking words shall not escape." Perhaps in the Hebrew text which was before the Greek translators מְנַדֵּף appeared instead of מְרַדֵּף, and הָיָה לֹא instead of לֹא־הֵמָּה.

[301] Prov. xxvi. 21.

[302] Prov. xxx. 32, 33.

[303] Prov. xii. 18.

[304] Prov. xii. 17.

[305] Prov. xix. 28.

[306] Prov. xix. 5, rep. ver. 9.

[307] Prov. xxi. 28.

[308] Prov. xxv. 18.

[309] Prov. xxvi. 23-28.

[310] Prov. xiii. 5.

[311] Prov. xii. 19.

[312] Prov. xii. 22.

[313] Prov. xx. 17.

[314] Prov. xxvi. 2.

[315] Prov. xxviii. 23.

[316] Prov. xxix. 5.

[317] Prov. xi. 13 and xx. 19; xxv. 2, 23. _Cf._ "Whoso discovereth secrets loseth his credit and shall never find friend to his mind" (Eccles. xxvii. 16).

[318] Prov. xviii. 8, rep. xxvi. 22.

[319] Prov. xvi. 28.

[320] Prov. xxvi. 20.

[321] Prov. xvii. 9.

[322] Prov. xi. 9.

[323] Prov. xii. 6.

[324] Prov. xv. 28.

[325] Prov. xvi. 28.

[326] Prov. xxvi. 18, 19.

[327] Prov. xviii. 13.

[328] Prov. xxix. 20.

[329] Prov. xxiii. 9.

[330] Prov. x. 19.

[331] Prov. xiii. 3, 16.

[332] Prov. xiv. 23.

[333] Prov. xiv. 33.

[334] Prov. xiv. 7. There is a quaint and pertinent passage in Lyly's Euphues:--"We may see the cunning and curious work of Nature, which hath barred and hedged nothing in so strongly as the tongue, with two rowes of teeth, and therewith two lips, besides she hath placed it farre from the heart, that it should not utter that which the heart had conceived; this also should cause us to be silent, seeinge those that use much talke, though they speake truly, are never beleeved."

[335] Prov. xv. 2.

[336] Prov. xviii. 2.

[337] Prov. xii. 18.

[338] Eccl. x. 4.

[339] Prov. xv. 4. מַרְפֵּא is best rendered here and in Eccl. x. 4 by "gentleness." It is just that quality of humility and submission and tranquillity which our Lord blessed as meekness.

[340] Prov. xv. 1.

[341] Prov. xv. 26.

[342] Prov. xvi. 24.

[343] Prov. xii. 25.

[344] Prov. xv. 23.

[345] Prov. xxv. 20.

[346] Prov. xxv. 11.

[347] _Cf._ Eccles. xx. 20: "A wise sentence shall be rejected when it cometh out of a fool's mouth, for he will not speak it in due season."

[348] Prov. xxv. 12.

[349] Prov. xxviii. 23.

[350] Prov. xv. 7.

[351] Prov. xvi. 21.

[352] Prov. xvi. 23.

[353] Prov. xx. 15.

[354] Prov. xv. 28.

[355] Prov. xxiv. 26.

[356] Prov. xi. 9.

[357] Prov. xii. 6.

[358] Prov. xiv. 3.

[359] Prov. xiv. 5, 25.

[360] Prov. xxxi. 8, 9.

[361] Note the intimate connection between conduct and speech in such a proverb as xvii. 4. When we do evil we are always ready to listen to evil talk, when we talk deceitfully we are preparing to go on to worse deeds of evil, to listen to tongues of destruction. Note, too, how in xii. 5 the thoughts and the counsels of the heart come before the words and the mouth in v. 6.

[362] Prov. xi. 12.

[363] Prov. xvii. 27.

[364] Prov. xvii. 28. _Cf._ the old Norse proverb:--

"An unwise man when he comes among the people
Had best be silent: no one knows
That he nothing knows unless he talks too much."

[365] Prov. xxiv. 7.

[366] Prov. xiv. 15.

[367] James i. 26.

[368] Prov. xvi. 1.

XIII.

_PRIDE AND HUMILITY._

"A wise son heareth his father's instruction, but a scorner
heareth not rebuke."--PROV. xiii. 1.

"Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth correction, but
he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured."--PROV. xiii. 18.

"By pride cometh only contention, but with the well advised is
wisdom."--PROV. xiii. 10.

"Whoso despiseth the word bringeth destruction on himself; but he
that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded."--PROV. xiii. 13.

This last proverb appears in another form, as, "He that giveth
heed unto the word shall find good, and whoso trusteth in the Lord
happy is he."--PROV. xvi. 20.

By a proud man we mean one who esteems himself better than others; by a humble man we mean one who counts others better than himself. The proud man is so convinced of his intrinsic superiority that if appearances are against him, if others obtain more recognition, honour, wealth than he, the fault seems to him to lie in the evil constitution of the world, which cannot recognize merit; for his own intrinsic superiority is the axiom which is always to be taken for granted; "his neighbours therefore find no favour in his eyes, and he even desires their calamity and ruin," in order, as he would put it, that every one may be set in his due place.[369] Meanwhile he is always boasting of possessions, dignities, and gifts which do not yet, but some day will, appear to the public eye. He is like clouds which overcast the sky, and wind which frets the earth, without bringing any wholesome rain.[370] If, on the other hand, appearances are with him, if wealth, dignity, and honour fall to his share, he is affably convinced of his own supreme excellence; the proof of his own conviction is written large in his broad acres, his swelling dividends, and his ever-increasing troops of flatterers and friends; and he moves smoothly on to--what?--strange to say, little as he thinks it, to destruction, for "Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."[371] If he only knew he would say, "Better is it to be of a lowly spirit with the meek than to divide the spoil with the proud;"[371] for "before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour goeth humility."[372] The event shows, if not in this world, yet the more surely in the next, that it is well to "let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips."[373]

When our eyes are open to see things as they are, we are no longer in the least impressed by the "proud and haughty man whose name is scorner working in the arrogance of pride."[374] We may not live to see it, but we are quite persuaded that "a man's pride shall bring him low, but he that is of a lowly spirit shall obtain honour."[375] "Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him."[376]

Now what are the evil effects of pride, and what are the blessings that follow on humility?

_First of all_, pride cuts a man off from all the salutary effects of reproof, rebuke, criticism, and counsel, without which it is not possible for any of us to become wise. "A wise son" is the result of "a father's correction," says the text, and such a son makes his father glad;[377] but the pride in a child's heart will often prevent him from receiving even the correction of a father, and will lead him to despise his mother. And if the parents have not firmness and wisdom enough to overcome this childish resistance, it will grow with years, and prove more and more disastrous. "He is in the way of life that heedeth correction, but he that forsaketh reproof erreth."[378] If he had loved reproof he would have acquired knowledge, but hating it he becomes brutish.[379] It is evident then that this pride is folly. He is a fool that despises his father's correction, but he that regardeth reproof getteth prudence.[380] He that refuseth correction despiseth his own soul, but he that hearkeneth to reproof getteth understanding.[381]