A man may be guilty of murder who has never handled a sword, or pulled a
trigger, or lifted up his arm with any mischievous weapon. There is a
little incendiary, called the tongue, which is more venomous than a
poisoned arrow, and more killing than a two-edged sword. The moral of
the fable therefore is this, that if in any civil insurrection the
persons taken in arms against the government deserve to die, much more
do they whose devilish tongues gave birth to the sedition, and excited
the tumult. When wicked priests, instead of preaching peace and charity,
employ that engine of scandal their tongue to foment rebellions, whether
they succeed in their designs or no, they ought to be severely punished;
for they have done what in them lay to set folks together by the ears;
they have blown the trumpet and sounded the alarm, and if thousands are
not destroyed by the sword, it is none of their fault.