I suppose if I should ask you which is the fiercest animal mentioned in
the Bible, I should get many different answers. Some of you would say
the lion; some, the bear; some the panther; some, the wolf; and so on.
But none of these is right, and I will tell you why. All of these
animals can be tamed, more or less; but there is one fiercer thing than
all these, and it cannot be tamed, so one of the apostles says.
It is kept behind two red doors and more than twenty white bars, and its
name is spelled as follows: T-O-N-G-U-E. Yes, that is it, the tongue.
James says, "The tongue can no man tame."
It is not only one of the fiercest things mentioned in the Bible, but it
is also one of the crudest. I suppose you never thought that you could
kill a person with your tongue, did you? And yet I have known some
people say such mean things about others that those people were killed
as far as living in their town was concerned, and had to move away, for
all their influence was dead.
A pretty safe way when you are tempted to say anything unkind about
another boy or girl, who is not present, is to ask yourself if it is
fair play, since the other cannot defend himself; for I know that you
all want to play fair. That is the basis of all true sport.
And then remember also that when once you have said an unkind thing you
cannot take it back, for it lives on in spite of you.
Perhaps you recollect the interesting idea which the old Hebrews had of
the separate existence of words as soon as they were spoken. A curse
once uttered could not be recalled because it now existed independently
of the speaker. You remember the story of the blessing of Jacob by
Isaac. Isaac could not give it to Esau, because it had passed beyond his
control.
"Boys flying kites, haul in their white-winged birds;
You can't do that way when you're flying words,
Things that we think may sometimes fall back dead,
But God Himself can't kill them when they're said."