gth. As a moralist he is weakened in his influence and character.
As a neighbour he loses respect and confidence. As a talker in company
he is shunned by the sincere and charitable. "A fool's mouth," observes
Solomon, "is his destruction: his lips are the snare of his soul." "Thy
tongue," says the Psalmist, "deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor,
working deceitfully. Thou lovest evil more than good, and lying rather
than to speak righteousness. Thou lovest all-devouring words, O thou
deceitful tongue. God shall likewise destroy thee for ever; He shall
take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling-place, and root thee
out of the land of the living" (Ps. lii. 2-5).

"You cannot stop the consequences of slander," says the Rev. F. W.
Robertson; "you may publicly prove its falsehood, you may sift every
atom, explain and annihilate it, and yet, years after you had thought
that all had been disposed of for ever, the mention of a name wakes up
associations in the mind of some one who heard it, but never heard or
never attended to the refutation, or who has only a vague and confused
recollection of the whole, and he asks the question doubtfully, 'But
were there not some suspicious circumstances connected with him?' It is
like the Greek fire used in ancient warfare, which burnt unquenched
beneath the water; or like the weeds, which, when you have extirpated
them in one place, are sprouting forth vigorously in another spot, at
the distance of many hundred yards; or, to use the metaphor of St. James
himself, it is like the wheel which catches fire as it goes, and burns
with a fiercer conflagration as its own speed increases; 'it sets on
fire the whole course of nature' (literally the wheel of nature). You
may tame the wild beast; the conflagration of the American forest will
cease when all the timber and the dry underwood is consumed; but you
cannot arrest the progress of that cruel word which you uttered
carelessly yesterday or this morning,--which you will utter, perhaps,
before you have passed from this church one hundred yards: that will go
on slaying, poisoning, burning beyond your own control, now and for
ever."

In conclusion, a few suggestions may be given, which, if taken, may
assist in the cure or prevention of this evil disease of the tongue.

1. _Consider well the ninth commandment of the Decalogue_, which
requires you not to bear false witness against your neighbour.

2. _Abstain from the company of slanderers