William Burkitt Notes and Observations - James 3:7 - 3:7

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William Burkitt Notes and Observations - James 3:7 - 3:7


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Our apostle here goes on in shewing how difficult it is to govern the tongue; it is wilder than the wildest beasts, they are more tractable, and may be sooner tamed than a tongue be governed: it is an unruly evil, that will not be held in.

Nature has set a double guard about the tongue, namely, the teeth and the lips, and grace has laid many restraints upon it, and yet it breaks out full of deadly poison, intimating, that the tongue is as deadly as a venomous beast.

In the wild desert there are lions, bears, and tigers, but they assault us but now and then, and can only rend the skin, but a contentious tongue is always troublesome to the soul and spirit: man tameth the beast, and God tameth man: and the apostle's calling the tongue an unruly evil, full of deadly poison, plainly imports, that a wicked tongue is venomous and hurtful; a slanderous tongue is a deadly poison, nothing can secure against it but innocency and a good conscience; if we fall by it, let this comfort us, that there will be a resurrection of our names, as well as of our persons, let us always then keep in the way of our duty, and commit our good name to God's care and keeping.