13. How may a backbiting tongue be rebuked?
“The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.” Prov. 25:23.
14. To whom is the promise made of abiding in the tabernacle of the Lord, and dwelling in His holy hill?
“He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with [pg 695] his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor.” Ps. 15:2, 3.
Note.—“Never carry a sword in your tongue to wound the reputation of any man,” says Kirkle. Noah Webster laid down this rule: “We should say nothing of a person in his absence that we should be unwilling to say if he were present.” How few govern their conversation according to this rule! See Prov. 31:10, 26.
15. What caution is given in regard to receiving an accusation against an elder?
“Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.” 1 Tim. 5:19.
Note.—“He that lends an easy and credulous ear to calumny is either a man of very mean morals, or has no more sense of understanding than a child.”—Menander.
16. Can man, unrenewed by grace, control his tongue?
“For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: but the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” James 3:7, 8.