Part 68 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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Part 69 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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[1.] First, That those who revile and reproach holiness, are such that have never known the necessity nor the excellency of holiness; they have never experienced the power nor the sweetness of holiness; they speak evil of things they know not, of things they understand not, Jude 10; 1 Tim. 1:7. Not to know is man's misery—but to speak evil of that which a man understands not is the height of folly; and this these revilers do. "Had they known," says the apostle, "they would not have crucified the Lord of glory," 1 Cor. 2:8—just so, I say, had these revilers known the splendor, the beauty, and the glory of holiness—they would never have reviled it and scorned it. Had the Jews known the Godhead of Christ, the divinity of Christ, the glory of Christ, they would never have asked for Barabbas, and have railed on Jesus as they did. Just so, had these railers but known the worth and the weight of holiness, they would never have cried up wickedness, and decried holiness as they do.
Now, oh what shame, what folly, what vanity is it for a man to turn his back upon holiness because such revile it and scorn it—who never knew feelingly, nor experimentally, what holiness was! Would not a man either sigh or laugh at him who would turn his back upon riches, honors, and preferments, etc., because the blind, poor, and beggarly sort of people, who never experienced what these things mean, casts dirt, scorn and reproach upon them? and is not this the present case? Surely yes!
The fox in the fable, when he could not get at the grapes, cried out, that "they were sour, they were sour!" Just so, men who cannot reach to the riches, the honors, and the great things of the world, oh, how do they cry out against these things! oh, what disgrace, scorn, and contempt do they cast upon these things! and all because they cannot reach them, because they cannot grasp them. The application is easy. It is men's ignorance of holiness, which makes them cry out so much against holiness. That heathen, Aristotle, hit the mark when he cried out, "Ignorance is the source of all sin; the very well-spring from whence all wickedness flows." For ignorance enslaves the soul to Satan, it lets in sins by troops, and then locks them up in the heart, and it shuts out all the means of recovery, etc. And who then will wonder to see ignorant people let fly at holiness? Suppose a geometrician should be drawing of lines and figures, and there should come in some silly, ignorant fellow, who seeing him, should laugh at him. Would the geometrician leave off his employment because of this derision? Surely not—for he knows that his laughter is but the fruit of his ignorance—as not knowing his science—and therefore he keeps on drawing, though the silly fellow should keep on in his laughing. O sirs, though ignorant people deride holiness, and laugh at holiness—yet be not ashamed of holiness—but hold on, and hold out in your pursuit after holiness, for they understand not the rules and principles by which you are actuated; and that is why they throw dirt in the face of holiness. But it will be your wisdom to wipe that off, and so much the more to pursue after holiness, by how much the more the silly ones of the world slight holiness, and laugh at holiness. But,
[2.] Secondly, There is no fence against an evil tongue. A man may fence himself against an evil eye, and against an evil hand, and against an evil head, etc.—but there is no fence against an evil tongue. An evil tongue is such an unruly, such a mischievous, such a dangerous, such a killing, and such a destroying member—that there is no fence against it. A man may fence off the stroke of a sword, the thrust of a rapier, and the shot of an arrow—but he can never fence off the reproach and the reviling of an evil tongue. If the heart is sanctified, the tongue is the best member in the body; if the heart is unsanctified it is the worst.
Aesop being by his master sent to buy up all the best meat he could get in the market, bought up all the tongues; and being sent again to buy up all the worst meat he could get in the market, he bought up all the tongues again. When he was asked why he did so, he answered, "that there was no flesh better than a good tongue, nor any flesh worser than a bad tongue." Which the apostle confirms fully in that James 3:2-12. [Bias, one of the seven wise men, told Amasis king of Egypt, that "the tongue was the best or worst member of the body." "The whole life of man is made up of the sins of the tongue." Basil.]
An evil tongue is wilder than the wildest beast. The horse, the donkey, the camel, the elephant, yes, the lion, the leopard, the bear, and all other beasts, have been tamed by man! But the tongue, no man, no monarch, on earth have ever been able to tame. An evil tongue, in some respect, is worse than the devil; for the devil may be shunned and avoided—but an evil tongue no man can shun; and if you resist the devil he will fly from you—but the more you resist an evil tongue the more it will fly upon you.
Proverbs 16:27, "An ungodly man digs up evil; and in his lips there is a burning fire." An ungodly man, or a man of Belial, as the original has it, "digs up evil." Such old evils that have been long since buried in the grave of oblivion and forgetfulness, he digs up to cast in the saints' faces, to reproach them with. The teeth of malice will be still a-digging to find out something against the people of God, and if they can pick up anything out of the ash-heap of false reports to object against them, their lips presently are as so many burning beacons to discover it to all the world. Now their tongues will be set on fire by hell, and now they will labor to fire the hearts and tongues of others against the people of God.
David, who fell oftener under the sad lashes of evil tongues, compares reviling tongues to three fatal weapons: a razor, a sword, and an arrow.
1. To a razor in Psalm 52:2. Now you know a razor meets with every little hair, and many times instead of shaving the hair it slashes the flesh; and sometimes by missing the beard it endangers the throat. And so the reviling tongue will take the least advantage imaginable to slash and cut the names and reputations of those who fear the Lord, in a thousand pieces.
2. To a sword, Psalm 57:4, that cuts and wounds deep; and so does the reviler's tongue cut deeply into the names, fames, and credits of the people of God; and,
3. To an arrow, Psalm 64:3. The sword only cuts when we are near—but the arrow hits at a distance. The sword cannot cut except we are at hand—but the arrow may hit us when we are afar off. The reviler can easily shoot his arrows of reproach a great way off; he can shoot them from one town to another, from one city to another, from one kingdom to another, yes, from one end of the earth to the other, Psalm 73:9. When the hands are manacled, and the feet fettered and stocked—the tongue travels freely all the world over, and loads the names of men with what reproaches it pleases.
The tongue is the great interpreter of the heart; the tongue is the key which unlocks those treasures of wickedness that are in the heart; the corruptions of men's hearts commonly breaks forth at their lips, Mat. 12:34. Look! as a pimpled face is a symptom of a distempered liver, and as a stinking breath is a symptom of corrupted lungs—just so, a reviling tongue is a symptom of a base rotten heart. [That man has commonly most of the devil in his heart—who has most of the devil in his mouth.]
When the pump works, you may quickly know whether the water which is in the fountain or well, is clear or muddy, sweet or stinking; and when the clapper strikes you may soon guess of what metal the bell is made of; and so by men's tongues you may easily guess what is in their hearts. If the tongue is vile—the heart is so; if the tongue is bloody—the heart is so; if the tongue is adulterous—the heart is so; if the tongue is malicious—the heart is so; if the tongue is covetous—the heart is so; and if the tongue is cruel—the heart is so, etc.
Men's minds are known by their mouths. If the mouth is bad—the mind is not good. He who is rotten in his talk—is commonly rotten in the heart. Of all the members of the body there is none so serviceable to Satan as an evil tongue; and therefore when all the body is full of sores, Satan will keep the tongue from blisters, so that a man may the more freely and fully curse God and die. And this was the reason why Satan spared Job's tongue, when he sadly pained all other members of his body, so that his grand design, which was to provoke Job both to curse God and to charge him foolishly, might take place; but Job's tongue was oiled with grace, and proved his glory in his trying hour; and instead of cursing, he blesses a taking God—an angry God.
O sirs, the world is as full of evil tongues, as the Nile is of crocodiles, or as Sodom of sulphur, or as Egypt of lice; and there is no fence, no guard against these evil tongues; and therefore why should any man be discouraged from pursuing after holiness, because of the revilings of evil tongues? Munster writes of men in India which speak not like men—but bark like dogs; and who regards such men? no more should we regard such foul-mouthed people who are still barking against holiness, as the dogs bark against the moon; but as the moon runs her race and holds her course, though all the dogs in the town bark ever so much at it—just so, should you pursue after holiness, though all the tongues in the town should be barking and scoffing at you. But,
[3.] Thirdly, Consider that those who now reproach holiness will before long be of another mind; those who now revile and reproach holiness will in a short time change their minds and their tunes. When these very men who revile holiness shall come to fall under terrors and horrors of conscience, and when they shall come to lie upon their dying beds, and to have their immortal souls sit trembling and quaking upon their pale lips, and when they shall appear before the great God, and awake with everlasting flames about their ears—oh, how will they then wish that they had never reviled holiness! How will they then wish that they had prized holiness, and that they had spent their all in pursuing after holiness! Num. 23:10. Oh, how will they then charge themselves, and censure themselves, and arraign and condemn themselves, for their scorning and condemning of holiness! Oh, how will they then wish that they had never heard of holiness, nor read of holiness, nor thought of holiness! Oh, how will they then wish that their mothers' wombs had proved their tombs, and that they had rather lived and died in a land of darkness—than thus to live and die without holiness!
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Part 69 HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness
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