SINS OF THE TONGUE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 288, 5 December 1931, Page 2 (Supplement)

SINS OF THE TONGUE.

(By S.) Spurgeon once remarked that if all men's sins were divided into two bundles, one half of them would be sins of the tongue, and Pascal used to say that if everybody knew what each says about another behind his back there would not be four friends in the whole world. These statements may be exaggerations —perhaps they are—but they are suggestive of sad truths. We all know from experience of ourselves and of_ others that the ninth- commandment is more honoured in the breach than, in the observance. , How often the small member that is so wonderful in the range of its powers —that can whisper in the soft cadences of love, and discourse with eloquence and charm, that can sing with ravishing effect, and plead in accents of melting entreaty or broken penitence—' how often it is given over to defaming and belittling and slandering—a depravity of manners that one who has any regard for good breeding and morality, cannot but deplore because of its vulgarising and demoralising effect on both the speakers and their hearers. There are several things forbidden in the ninth commandment. There is, for example, the giving of perjured testimony in a Court of justice. It is said that perjury is on the increase. If' it is true, it argues ill for the veracity of the average person. In the eyes of the law perjury is a serious crime, for it renders the character, the property, and the life of others hi6ecure, and the perjurer is rightly disgraced and severely punished. Then there is tale-bearing, that is, informing, making known, telling tales about others in their absence— to° their disadvantage, the tale-bearer usually publishing his or her stories from spite, or malice, or' levity. Closely allied to tale-bearing is slander and, what the ..Bible calls, whispering, that is, the- secret slandering of others. We are told that Augustine had such an abhorrence of everything that savoured of slander—due to the influence of his noble, pure-minded mother —that he had the lines conspicuously carved in hie dining room: He that is wont to slander absent men May never at this table sit again. It would be a great gain to the peace and happiness of people in general if we all shared Augustine's abhorrence _of everything savouring of tale-bearing, slander, and whispering, and, if we took some such method of showing it, and if we all set ourselves to bridle our tongue, and to talk as little about others behind their backs as possible. It is true that if -we did not speak at all about others, conversation would be colourless and without point, but the less we speak about them the better, especially if what we say is calculated to do them harm. When anyone spoke ill of another in Peter the Great's presence, he would shortly interrupt him and say, "Well, now, has he not a bright side? Come, tell me what you have noticed as excellent in him. It is easy to splash mud, but I would rather help a man to keep his coat clean." ■

RELIGION AND SCIENCE. RE ACTION. AGAINST MATERIALISM. i r (By ANGLICAN.) In reply to a questionnaire addressed to them by the Christian Evidence Society 120 Fellowa of the Royal Society, according 1 to a cable- message published last week, have affirmed their belief in the existence of a spiritual domain as against 13 wlo had no such belief, and 124 gave it as their opinion that belief in evolution was compatible with belief in the Creator, while only five thought *it was incompatible. It i 9 doubtful whether the greatest scientists have ever felt that there, was a conflict between religion and science, but in the popular mind much difficulty has been felt in reconciling some of the dogmas of religion with what were generally believed to be the conclusions of science. Dr. Arthur Thomson says in his "Morse Lectures" that there can be no radical conflict between good science and sound religion, because science seeks _ to describe and formulate,' and religion seeks to interpret. Conflict, he eays, arises when science insists on being interpretative, and religion insists on being descriptive. There was a time when the materialistic, doctrine as to the origin of'life gained wide acceptance, but of late years there has been a very decided taction. Sir William Tilden had pointed out that those who accepted the purely materialistic doctrine as to the origin of life had before them the necessity of establishing a vast number of facts before such doctrine could be made generally acceptable to the scientific world. Johnstone in his "Philosophy of Biology" says the vitalistic explanation is forced on us "mainly because of the failure of mechanistic hypotheses of the organism." Sir Bertram Windle thinks that many scientists of the highest standing would endorse the "sensitive soul" doctrine , of Aristotle, whom he describee as one of the greatest thinkers ever produced, attiongst men. Sir Bertram says: "We '' believe that the soul does persist after the death of the body, and may persist for all eternity." Science has profoundly influenced the higher type of religious thought. Popular theology is still concerned with what is called "definite dogmatic teaching,", but the higher minds are turning from this credal dogma to mysticism and speculation, and above all to an endeavour to get a truer understanding of the work of the spirit. We are probably on the eve of a great advance in which the Soul oi man will get into closer touch with the divine and thus there will be realised the, Platonic dream of a day when righteousness and reason, shall go hand in hand.

There is a. horde of shallow-pated wiseacres now gabbling and scribbling for the public, says "The Corigregationalifit" (Boston). Why should a preacher waste hie time in sowing the ideas of popular, sceptical "smart Alecks" in the minds Of those who otherwise might never hear them? The lecturers and authors who sniff at Christianity and ridicule the Church do not "deserve serious attention: Why should a preacher give them the publicity for which they hunger?

Dr. Stanley Jones' "The Christ of the Indian Road" is now in ite twentyseventh edition. There is a new book from his pen called "The Christ of the Mount," with the sub-title, "A Working Philosophy of Life." Canon Raven's modern apologetic, "Jesus and the Gospel of Love," is described by "The Times" ae indeed a book for to-day, by another English paper ae the kind of book which prepares the way for a true revival of religion, and by yet another as an apologetic which will strengthen faith. Professor Moffatt has a new book, just published, entitled, "Grace in the New Testament."- Hugh Redwood's "God in the Slums" ie being sold in a shilling edition. Its sales are now 'nearly a quarter of a million.