Faith Can Tame Inordinate Speech

["Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell." — James 3:5, 6 KJV.]

Many things, which are good in themselves, become evil in their excess. This is especially true of the faculty of speech, one of the most valuable gifts, which our heavenly Father has seen fit to impart to us. The tongue, which is described by an inspired Apostle as an “unruly member,” is ever in action; but not always in profitable action. Statements are made thoughtlessly and often maliciously; which, if they are susceptible of increase in the first instance, are magnified by repetition. Thus the first exaggerated statement soon becomes positive falsehood. And the falsehood, which at first was modest and mitigated in its manner, becomes bold, noisy, and intense.

Moralists have been in some degree awake to this evil state of things. And they have done well in suggesting powerful motives, drawn chiefly from its pernicious effects, for its counteraction. But there is only one thing, as it seems to us, which holds out any encouraging prospect of effectually eradicating this “root of evil.” And that is faith in God. And we think that we do not ascribe too much to faith, in saying that it is able to do it. Inordinate speech like every thing else has its cause. It is the result of something, which is antecedent, and which lays deeper in our nature. Faith operates upon the consequent by first operating upon the antecedent; it takes away the fact of inordinate conversation by first taking away the desire of it; and establishes outward silence on the basis of inward repose.

In the first place, true faith in God has a tendency to prevent the existence of jealous and suspicious states of mind. As the soul, in the case of those who have such faith, has ceased to place dependence upon men, it has no motive for attaching that importance, which it might otherwise do, to an unfavorable word or look. Being strong in its position, it can afford to put a favorable construction upon such words and actions, or at least to wait for further developments. It is easy to see, therefore, that the man of strong faith would be easy and silent under such circumstances, while the man without faith or with but little faith, yielding as he naturally would to jealousy and suspicion, would be strongly tempted to set loose the “unruly member.”

We may say further in general terms, that strong faith in its results tends to promote the grace of silence, by placing objects in their true position, and by assigning them their true value. To the natural mind all those things, which have a special relation to self, appear distorted and exaggerated. Indeed all things, whether they have a particular relation to self or not, inasmuch as they are perceived out of their true relations, are perceived incorrectly. The ordinary events and occurrences of life, as they are viewed in reference to this life alone, are too much magnified in importance. They expand themselves, in the mind’s eye, out of all just limits. Faith, on the contrary, views them in the light of eternity, which brings them to their true size. Events, therefore, which leave the man of faith in quietness of spirit, disturb and agitate the natural man, unloose the tongue of suspicion and complaint, and fill the world with his outcries. In the storm on the lake of Galilee, Christ was asleep in the vessel, while every thing around was filled with confusion and clamor. His disciples awoke him with the request, that he would interfere in their behalf. His reply was; “Why are ye fearful, oh, YE OF LITTLE FAITH? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.” Matthew 8:26. 

— edited from The Life of Faith, Part 2, Chapter 14.