_SPEECH AS A SYMPTOM OF HEALTH_
"_The tongue of the wise is health._"
--PROVERBS xii. 13-22.
Our doctors often test our physical condition by the state of our tongue.
With another and deeper significance the tongue is also the register of
our condition. Our words are a perfect index of our moral and spiritual
health. If our words are unclean and untrue, our souls are assuredly
sickly and diseased. A perverse tongue is never allied with a sanctified
heart. And, therefore, everyone may apply a clinical test to his own life:
"What is the character of my speech? What do my words indicate? What do
they suggest as to the depths and background of the soul?" "By thy words
thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned."
God delighteth in truthful lips. Right words are fruit from the tree of
life. The Lord turns away from falsehood as we turn away from material
corruption, only with an infinitely intenser loathing and disgust.
It is only the lips that have been purified with flame from the holy altar
of God that can offer words that are pleasing unto Him.
"Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee."