t aright the lessons
of Christianity unless he can curb his tongue. We dare not call
ourselves followers of Him who went about doing good, and spake as
never man spake, if we go about with lies, with cruel speeches, with
the sneering sarcasm which maddens, and the unjust judgment which
kills. Let us put this matter before ourselves very practically, and
think of some words from which we must restrain our mouth as it were
with a bridle. First, let us guard against the _unkind word_ of every
class. This world is full of sunshine, and flowers, and singing birds,
because God is full of kindness. So, if we would find sunshine in our
life, and flowers about our path, we must be kindly affectioned one to
another, pitiful, courteous, in our words. The man who goes through
life saying cruel things is like a musical instrument out of tune,
whose only sounds are discord. It is the kindly tongue which makes
"the music of men's lives." Think what an unkind word can do! It can,
and has, parted husband and wife, parent and child, for ever. It has
driven a man from the Paradise of home, to the cold, outer world of
lonely misery. It has blighted a young life as a cruel frost kills the
budding may. It has embittered a parent's declining years, and brought
down grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. Of all miseries, surely one
of the greatest must be to stand by the open grave of some friend, and
to feel that the poor heart, lying cold and still beneath us, has been
wounded by our cruel and unkindly words. O sons and daughters, take
heed to your words, lest when you lay father or mother in the grave
there comes the sad accusing whisper, "my angry temper, and my
thoughtless tongue, saddened my parent's last days on earth." A great
English writer said sadly, "What would I give to call my mother back to
earth for one day, to ask her pardon upon my knees for all those things
by which I gave her gentle spirit pain." Watch and pray against unkind
words, they never did, or can do, good. They never softened a hard
heart, or convinced an unbeliever, or converted a sinner. You cannot
shape lives into beauty by hard words, as you can a stone by hard
blows. Say a kindly word whenever you have the opportunity, and you
will be like one sowing the seed of a fragrant flower, which will bring
sweetness to others, and most surely to yourself. One of the best
lessons we can learn is to be silent at the right time. One of the
greatest of th