[CHAPTER IX]
DIRECTIONS FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE TONGUE.[474]
Tit. 1. The General Directions.
Direct. I. Understand in general of what moment and concernment it is, that the tongue be well governed and used. For they that think words are inconsiderable, will use them inconsiderately. The conceit that words are of small moment (as some say of thoughts, that they are free) doth cause men to use their tongues as if they were free, saying, "Our lips are our own: who is lord over us?" Psal. xii. 4.
The greatness of the sins and duties of the tongue.
1. The tongue of man is his glory;[475] by which expressively he excelleth the brutes; and a wonderful work of God it is, that a man's tongue should be able to articulate such an exceeding number of words: and God hath not given man so admirable a faculty for vanity and sin; the nobler and more excellent it is, the more to be regarded, and the greater is the fault of them that do abuse it. Hilary compareth them to an ill barber that cuts a man's face and so deformeth him, when his work was to have made him more neat and comely. So it is the office of the tongue to be excellently serviceable to the good of others, and to be the glory of mankind; the shame therefore of its faults is the more unexcusable.
2. The tongue is made to be the index or expresser of the mind; therefore if the mind be regardable, the tongue is regardable. And if the mind be not regardable, the man is not regardable. For our Lord telleth us, that the tree is known by its fruit; an evil tree bringeth forth evil fruits: and "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."[476] And Aristotle saith, that "such as a man is, such are his speeches, such his works, and such his life."[477] Therefore by vain or sinful words you tell men the vanity and corruption of your minds.
3. Men's works have a great dependence on their words; therefore if their deeds be regardable, their words are regardable. Deeds are stirred up or caused by words. Daily experience telleth us the power of speech. A speech hath saved a kingdom, and a speech hath lost a kingdom. Great actions depend on them, and greater consequents.
4. If the men that we speak to be regardable, words are regardable. For words are powerful instruments of their good or hurt. God useth them by his ministers for men's conversion and salvation; and Satan useth them by his ministers for men's subversion and damnation. How many thousand souls are hurt every day by the words of others! some deceived, some puffed up, some hardened, and some provoked to sinful passions! And how many thousand are every day edified by words! either instructed, admonished, quickened, or comforted. Paul saith, 2 Cor. x. 4, "The weapons of our warfare are mighty through God." And Pythagoras could say, that "tongues cut deeper than swords, because they reach even to the soul." Tongue sins and duties therefore must needs be great.
5. Our tongues are the instruments of our Creator's praise, purposely given us to "speak good of his name," and to "declare his works with rejoicing."[478] It is no small part of that service which God expects from man, which is performed by the tongue; nor a small part of the end of our creation: the use of all our highest faculties, parts, and graces, are expressively by the tongue: our wisdom and knowledge, our love and holiness, are much lost as to the honour of God, and the good of others, if not expressed. The tongue is the lantern or casement of the soul, by which it looketh out, and shineth unto others. Therefore the sin or duty of so noble an instrument is not to be made light of, by any that regard the honour of our Maker.