Lesson 15: Control of the Tongue
By G.R. Balleine
[Warning: Balleine was writing in the 1920s and 1930s, and his views and language reflect many at that time. However, as a time capsule of the prevailing beliefs, this can be very useful for the historians of that period.]
LESSON FOR THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT.
PASSAGE TO BE READ : 1 Peter ii. 19-25.
TEXT TO BE LEARNT : " If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue . .. this man's religion is vain ' (St. Jas. i. 26).
HYMNS : " Oh, for a thousand," and " Angel voices ever singing." COLLECTS for Third Sunday after Easter and St. John Baptist.
Aim : To show the power of the tongue and the danger of its misuse.
I. AN UNBRIDLED TONGUE.
(a) The Japanese have a little carving. It represents three apes. One has its hand on its eyes ; one on its ear ; one on its mouth. The first means, " I control my eyes and am careful what I look at." The second means, " I control my ears and am careful what I listen to." The third means, " I control my lips and am careful what I say." It is the third ape's message that we are to think of to-day.
(b) What is the most dangerous thing in the world ? Rattlesnakes ? Lyddite ? Cholera ? No, they only come second, third or fourth. The most dangerous thing is a tongue. Slandering tongues, mischief-making tongues, tempting tongues destroy more lives than any high explosive. Snakes and infectious diseases only destroy the body. Tongues have power to destroy souls as well.
(c) Imagine a crowded theatre. Some idiot shouts Fire. What follows ? Panic. Stampede. Men's clothes torn from their backs. Women trampled underfoot. Hundreds of well-dressed folk fighting desperately at the doors. What caused this ? A single click of a fool's tongue. There is no limit to the mischief that a tongue can do.
(d) A scolding tongue makes everyone in its neighbour-hood miserable. In old England every parish kept a scold's bridle, two iron hoops padlocked round the neck and head, holding in position a flat plate, which pressed down the tongue. Villagers who perpetually scolded their neighbours were condemned to wear this for so many days. If they could not bridle their own tongues, their tongues were bridled by the parish.
(e) A blasphemous tongue brings sacred things into contempt. Nearly every Roman Catholic Church has a branch of the Confraternity of the Holy Name, a Society founded in 1274 to secure greater reverence for the Name of God. Its millions of members are pledged not only to speak reverently, but to do all in their power to restrain others from taking God's Name in vain. It would be well if every Church had something of the same kind.
(f) A tattling tongue can do endless mischief. " Thou shalt not go up and down as a tale-bearer among thy people " (Lev. xix. 16). An Indian Prince had a daughter. " I must find for her," he said, " an intelligent husband." So he had two statues set at the door of his palace. They were exactly alike in size and face and dress ; and he proclaimed that no one should marry his daughter unless he could discover the difference between the statues. Scores of young nobles examined them, measured them, weighed them, but they seemed as alike as two peas. At last came a youth who inspected them for a long time ; suddenly he looked closely at their ears and lips ; he pushed a straw into the ear of one, and it fell out of its mouth ; he pushed the straw into the ear of the other, and it remained inside the head. " Tell the Prince," he said, " that I have discovered his secret. One is the statue of a wise man and one is the statue of a fool. A fool pours out of his mouth everything that comes in at his ears. A wise man keeps what he hears inside his own head." A little girl announced one day, " I am a child of God." When asked how she knew that, she replied, "'Cos I'm a peacemaker. I heard something about a girl at school, and never told anyone." We can often show that we are children of God by keeping our mouths shut. " My duty is to keep my tongue from evil-speaking."
(g) A merely chattering tongue can make itself a terrible nuisance. Sir Walter Raleigh got so annoyed by a man who would not stop talking that he flung him on the floor, and sealed his moustache to his beard with sealing-wax. Does no one ever say to you, " Oh, do be quiet." " Do hold your tongue for five minutes " ? There is only one proverb that has found its way into every European language, and that is, " Speech is silver, silence is golden." Our Lord gave a solemn warning, " I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgement." A Persian proverb says, " Great trees burn silently ; it is only thorns that crackle." Miss Soulsby, the famous writer for girls, says in one of her books. " I have known a Lenten resolution against chatter do wonders in deepening the character."
II. GOLDEN SILENCE.
(a) Think now of some fine types of silence. There is heroic silence. We know the picture entitled, " When did you last see your father ? " The Roundheads have raided the manor house in which a Cavalier is hiding, and are questioning his little son; but he is closing his lips firmly and refusing to answer for fear of endangering his father's safety. At the entrance of the Acropolis in Athens was the statue of a lioness without a tongue. It was erected in honour of Lemna, a woman who bit out her tongue for fear that torture might make her reveal a secret that had been entrusted to her.
(b) There is a dignified silence. When Saul was made King, " the children of Belial said, How shall this man save us ? But he held his ,peace " (1 Sam. x. 26). When Sennacherib's captain made insulting speeches before the walls of Jerusalem, “the people held their peace and answered him not a word, for the King's command was, Answer him not " (2 Kings xviii. 36). But the best example of this is our Lord Himself. At His trial before Caiaphas " He held His peace and answered nothing " (St. Mark xiv. 61). Herod " questioned Him with many words, but He answered nothing " (St. Luke xxiii. 9). To Pilate at first He spoke freely, but when He saw that Pilate meant to act against his conscience, " Jesus gave him no answer " (St. John xix. 9). On the cross He made no reply to those who taunted Him. " As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth " (Isa. liii. 7). Read Passage.
(c) There is a discreet silence. There are some subjects it is best not to talk about. There are many subjects it is best not to talk about before strangers. In every railway carriage in Germany there used to be a notice : A soldier must not only be able to fight, but also to keep silence for his Fatherland."
(d) Madame Montessori, who has revolutionized the teaching of younger children, puts the Game of Silence in a prominent place in her scheme of education, teaching tiny children to love silence, to move silently, to breathe silently, to rejoice in the silence that they themselves have created.
III. THE USE OF THE TONGUE.
(a) Some religious people have felt the danger of the tongue so keenly that they have taken vows never to speak at all There are Indian Fakirs who have sat in silence for fifty years. Some put earth between their lips and sow mustard seeds in it to show that they never open them. In the Roman Church there are Orders of Silent Monks and Nuns (Carthusians, Carmelites, Trappists). But this is clearly a mistake. If God had meant us to be silent, He would not have given us tongues. It reminds us of the man in the parable who was afraid to use the talent entrusted to him.
(b) There is a cowardly silence. On Good Friday there were plenty of witnesses for the prosecution, but not a single witness for the defence : all the disciples were afraid to speak up for their Master. Are we never like that ? In cases like this control of the tongue means forcing it to speak.
(c) There is an unkind silence. " Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God." It means a lot to a boy in trouble, if you let him know that you are awfully sorry for him. " God hath given me a tongue," said St. Paul, " that I should speak a word in season to him that is weary."
(d) There is a selfish silence, if we know good news and do not pass it on. The lepers of Samaria found that the enemy had retreated, and left their camp empty. While helping themselves to plunder, their consciences pricked them. " They said one to another, We do not well. This day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace '.' (2 Kings vii. 9). Good news should be shared with others, specially the best of good news which we call the Gospel.
(e) A well-controlled tongue speaks when it ought, and also says what it has to say in the pleasantest way. A king consulted a fortune-teller. " Sir," he said, " every relation you have will die before you." The thought of this long succession of deaths seemed so dismal that the king condemned the seer to death. He summoned another who said, " Sire, you will outlive all your relations." This prospect was so pleasing that the king gave him a large reward. Both had said the same thing, but they had put it in a different way. One had made the king angry ; the other had made him grateful. Tactless words are " as vinegar upon nitre " (Prov. xxv. 20). But " a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in baskets of silver " (xxv. 11, R.V.).
By G.R. Balleine
[Warning: Balleine was writing in the 1920s and 1930s, and his views and language reflect many at that time. However, as a time capsule of the prevailing beliefs, this can be very useful for the historians of that period.]
LESSON FOR THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT.
PASSAGE TO BE READ : 1 Peter ii. 19-25.
TEXT TO BE LEARNT : " If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue . .. this man's religion is vain ' (St. Jas. i. 26).
HYMNS : " Oh, for a thousand," and " Angel voices ever singing." COLLECTS for Third Sunday after Easter and St. John Baptist.
Aim : To show the power of the tongue and the danger of its misuse.
I. AN UNBRIDLED TONGUE.
(a) The Japanese have a little carving. It represents three apes. One has its hand on its eyes ; one on its ear ; one on its mouth. The first means, " I control my eyes and am careful what I look at." The second means, " I control my ears and am careful what I listen to." The third means, " I control my lips and am careful what I say." It is the third ape's message that we are to think of to-day.
(b) What is the most dangerous thing in the world ? Rattlesnakes ? Lyddite ? Cholera ? No, they only come second, third or fourth. The most dangerous thing is a tongue. Slandering tongues, mischief-making tongues, tempting tongues destroy more lives than any high explosive. Snakes and infectious diseases only destroy the body. Tongues have power to destroy souls as well.
(c) Imagine a crowded theatre. Some idiot shouts Fire. What follows ? Panic. Stampede. Men's clothes torn from their backs. Women trampled underfoot. Hundreds of well-dressed folk fighting desperately at the doors. What caused this ? A single click of a fool's tongue. There is no limit to the mischief that a tongue can do.
(d) A scolding tongue makes everyone in its neighbour-hood miserable. In old England every parish kept a scold's bridle, two iron hoops padlocked round the neck and head, holding in position a flat plate, which pressed down the tongue. Villagers who perpetually scolded their neighbours were condemned to wear this for so many days. If they could not bridle their own tongues, their tongues were bridled by the parish.
(e) A blasphemous tongue brings sacred things into contempt. Nearly every Roman Catholic Church has a branch of the Confraternity of the Holy Name, a Society founded in 1274 to secure greater reverence for the Name of God. Its millions of members are pledged not only to speak reverently, but to do all in their power to restrain others from taking God's Name in vain. It would be well if every Church had something of the same kind.
(f) A tattling tongue can do endless mischief. " Thou shalt not go up and down as a tale-bearer among thy people " (Lev. xix. 16). An Indian Prince had a daughter. " I must find for her," he said, " an intelligent husband." So he had two statues set at the door of his palace. They were exactly alike in size and face and dress ; and he proclaimed that no one should marry his daughter unless he could discover the difference between the statues. Scores of young nobles examined them, measured them, weighed them, but they seemed as alike as two peas. At last came a youth who inspected them for a long time ; suddenly he looked closely at their ears and lips ; he pushed a straw into the ear of one, and it fell out of its mouth ; he pushed the straw into the ear of the other, and it remained inside the head. " Tell the Prince," he said, " that I have discovered his secret. One is the statue of a wise man and one is the statue of a fool. A fool pours out of his mouth everything that comes in at his ears. A wise man keeps what he hears inside his own head." A little girl announced one day, " I am a child of God." When asked how she knew that, she replied, "'Cos I'm a peacemaker. I heard something about a girl at school, and never told anyone." We can often show that we are children of God by keeping our mouths shut. " My duty is to keep my tongue from evil-speaking."
(g) A merely chattering tongue can make itself a terrible nuisance. Sir Walter Raleigh got so annoyed by a man who would not stop talking that he flung him on the floor, and sealed his moustache to his beard with sealing-wax. Does no one ever say to you, " Oh, do be quiet." " Do hold your tongue for five minutes " ? There is only one proverb that has found its way into every European language, and that is, " Speech is silver, silence is golden." Our Lord gave a solemn warning, " I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgement." A Persian proverb says, " Great trees burn silently ; it is only thorns that crackle." Miss Soulsby, the famous writer for girls, says in one of her books. " I have known a Lenten resolution against chatter do wonders in deepening the character."
II. GOLDEN SILENCE.
(a) Think now of some fine types of silence. There is heroic silence. We know the picture entitled, " When did you last see your father ? " The Roundheads have raided the manor house in which a Cavalier is hiding, and are questioning his little son; but he is closing his lips firmly and refusing to answer for fear of endangering his father's safety. At the entrance of the Acropolis in Athens was the statue of a lioness without a tongue. It was erected in honour of Lemna, a woman who bit out her tongue for fear that torture might make her reveal a secret that had been entrusted to her.
(b) There is a dignified silence. When Saul was made King, " the children of Belial said, How shall this man save us ? But he held his ,peace " (1 Sam. x. 26). When Sennacherib's captain made insulting speeches before the walls of Jerusalem, “the people held their peace and answered him not a word, for the King's command was, Answer him not " (2 Kings xviii. 36). But the best example of this is our Lord Himself. At His trial before Caiaphas " He held His peace and answered nothing " (St. Mark xiv. 61). Herod " questioned Him with many words, but He answered nothing " (St. Luke xxiii. 9). To Pilate at first He spoke freely, but when He saw that Pilate meant to act against his conscience, " Jesus gave him no answer " (St. John xix. 9). On the cross He made no reply to those who taunted Him. " As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth " (Isa. liii. 7). Read Passage.
(c) There is a discreet silence. There are some subjects it is best not to talk about. There are many subjects it is best not to talk about before strangers. In every railway carriage in Germany there used to be a notice : A soldier must not only be able to fight, but also to keep silence for his Fatherland."
(d) Madame Montessori, who has revolutionized the teaching of younger children, puts the Game of Silence in a prominent place in her scheme of education, teaching tiny children to love silence, to move silently, to breathe silently, to rejoice in the silence that they themselves have created.
III. THE USE OF THE TONGUE.
(a) Some religious people have felt the danger of the tongue so keenly that they have taken vows never to speak at all There are Indian Fakirs who have sat in silence for fifty years. Some put earth between their lips and sow mustard seeds in it to show that they never open them. In the Roman Church there are Orders of Silent Monks and Nuns (Carthusians, Carmelites, Trappists). But this is clearly a mistake. If God had meant us to be silent, He would not have given us tongues. It reminds us of the man in the parable who was afraid to use the talent entrusted to him.
(b) There is a cowardly silence. On Good Friday there were plenty of witnesses for the prosecution, but not a single witness for the defence : all the disciples were afraid to speak up for their Master. Are we never like that ? In cases like this control of the tongue means forcing it to speak.
(c) There is an unkind silence. " Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God." It means a lot to a boy in trouble, if you let him know that you are awfully sorry for him. " God hath given me a tongue," said St. Paul, " that I should speak a word in season to him that is weary."
(d) There is a selfish silence, if we know good news and do not pass it on. The lepers of Samaria found that the enemy had retreated, and left their camp empty. While helping themselves to plunder, their consciences pricked them. " They said one to another, We do not well. This day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace '.' (2 Kings vii. 9). Good news should be shared with others, specially the best of good news which we call the Gospel.
(e) A well-controlled tongue speaks when it ought, and also says what it has to say in the pleasantest way. A king consulted a fortune-teller. " Sir," he said, " every relation you have will die before you." The thought of this long succession of deaths seemed so dismal that the king condemned the seer to death. He summoned another who said, " Sire, you will outlive all your relations." This prospect was so pleasing that the king gave him a large reward. Both had said the same thing, but they had put it in a different way. One had made the king angry ; the other had made him grateful. Tactless words are " as vinegar upon nitre " (Prov. xxv. 20). But " a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in baskets of silver " (xxv. 11, R.V.).
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