"If anyone considers himself religious, and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless." James 1:26
Other versions translate this to read "control" or "bridle" the tongue. In Apocalypse Explained 923 we read: "The term 'bridle' is used in a number of passages of the Word, and it signifies in the spiritual sense restraint and government, and it is predicated of the understanding and its thought, because a bridle belongs to horses and “horses” signify the understanding."
One of the more revealing facts about ourselves may be that the simplest, most basic, most obvious principles of the spiritual way of life are the ones we seem to need to be reminded of over and over again. Is there any one of us who does not really know—deep inside—that the Lord's way is the way of peace, of gentleness, of purity, of friendliness, of compassion, of fruitfulness, of forbearance, of self-control? Yet which of us has never been guilty of belligerence, contentiousness, overbearing attitude, impurity, lust, hostility, ill will, indifference, harshness, sloth, shiftlessness, vindictiveness, or gross indulgence? Over and over again!
It seems unfortunately true of "human nature", as we know it, that all of us—young and old, rich and poor, saint and sinner—stand in need repeatedly to be reminded of the basic ingredients of human decency. It is thus no surprise to us that the Scriptures are liberally sprinkled with admonitions about the obvious. The words of Micah 6:8 come readily to mind: "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"
If in fact, we were to set out to collect and review all such passages in the Scriptures, we would be here all of today and well into the night, I suspect. This I do not intend to do, you'll be glad to know. Instead, let us narrow our gaze to one relatively small facet of this life-wide problem, the focus of our text from James, the need to bridle the tongue.
In the Old Testament, in Psalm 15, we read of the danger inherent in slandering with the tongue. In Psalm 34 we read, "Keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile"—not only to avoid speaking anything evil, but also to refrain from even thinking it.
A little further on—in Psalm 39—the psalmist apparently decided to take things in his own hands and to set for himself course of action. He decided he would, in fact, repress or suppress his feelings and desires. "I will not let my tongue make me sin... I will not say anything while evil men are near... not say a word, not even about anything good."
Did it work? No. "My suffering only grew worse, and I was overcome with anxiety. The more I thought, the more troubled I became."
Complete silence does not seem to be the answer. (Those of us who essentially earn our living by talking should be relieved to learn this.) No, the symbol of the bridle or restraint seems to be the direction in which one must move. Swedenborg, in reporting a meeting with spirits from another planet, said these extraterrestrial beings observed that "the spirits of our earth...speak much and think little" (Arcana Coelestia 8031). Not too flattering, but probably accurate.
In his work on Ethics, Spinoza noted that "the world would be much happier if men were as fully able to keep silence as they are to speak. But experience abundantly shows that men can govern anything more easily than their tongues."
He (Spinoza) may have been prompted in part to write that by the picturesque analysis in the third chapter of the letter of the apostle James, which reads in part:
"We put a bit into the mouth of a horse to make it obey us, and we are able to make it go where we want. Or think of a ship: big as it is and driven by such strong winds, it can be steered by a very small rudder, and it goes wherever the pilot wants it to go. So it is with the tongue: small as it is, it can boast about great things.
“Just think how large a forest can be set on fire by a tiny flame! And the tongue is like a fire. It is a world of wrong, occupying its place in our bodies and spreading evil through our whole being. It sets on fire the entire course of our existence with the fire that comes to it from hell itself. Man is able to tame and has tamed all other creatures—wild animals and birds, reptiles and fish. But no one has ever been able to tame the tongue. It is evil and uncontrollable, full of deadly poison. We use it to give thanks to our Lord and Father and also to curse our fellow-man, who is created in the likeness of God. Words of thanksgiving and cursing pour out from the same mouth. My brothers, this should not happen! No spring of water pours out sweet water and bitter water from the same opening. A fig tree, my brothers, cannot bear olives: a grapevine cannot bear figs, nor can a salty spring produce sweet water.
“Is there anyone among you who is wise and understanding? He is to prove it by his good life, by his good deeds performed with humility and wisdom. But if in your heart you are jealous, bitter and selfish, don't sin against the truth by boasting of your wisdom. Such wisdom does not come down from heaven: it belongs the world; it is unspiritual and demonic. Where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is also disorder and every kind of evil. But the wisdom from above is pure first of all; it is also peaceful, gentle and friendly; it is full of compassion and produces a harvest of good deeds; it is free from prejudice and hypocrisy. And goodness is the harvest that is produced from the seeds the peacemakers plant in peace.” (James 3:3-18)
We are forced to face the reality that there is no easy or "pat" answer to the problem of bridling the tongue. The early American political motto—"eternal vigilance is the price of liberty"—could as well have been spoken of the "battle of the tongue." May we paraphrase and say, "Eternal vigilance to restrain the tongue is the price of regeneration"?
In a provocative Diary entry, Swedenborg wrote: "When souls speak otherwise than they think, as if they speak good because it is to their advantage, there appears a sword, and the point of the sword appears, as it were, to be falling upon the head of the speaker. And this is the case even when no deceit is intended, but when it appears as though one ought to speak in this manner because the speaker observes it to be true, even though his mind does not feel the truth of what he says, but disagrees with it; in which case a sword appears behind the back, endangering the speaker" (Spiritual Diary 934). What a compelling word-picture to have in mind whenever we find ourselves "speaking guile!"
It is an axiom of the New Church that we are citizens of two worlds—that we are living simultaneously in both the natural world and the spiritual world. Further, that the two fold spiritual world profoundly influences us at all times—heavenly influences leading us to think and say heavenly things, hellish influences beguiling into thinking and saying hellish things. We dare never ignore the reality and presence of these influences. Nor can we take refuge in claiming, "The devil made me do it!" For the truth is that although "the devil" undoubtedly suggested it, we—you and I—decide whether or not to accept the suggestion.
“In the natural world man has a twofold speech, because he has a twofold thought, an exterior and an interior; for a man can speak from interior thought, and at the same time from exterior thought; and he can speak from exterior thought, and not from the interior, and even against the interior: hence come simulations, flatteries, and hypocrisies. But in the spiritual world man's speech is not twofold but single. He there speaks as he thinks: otherwise the sound is harsh, and offends the ear. But still he can be silent, and thus not divulge the thoughts of his mind: therefore when a hypocrite comes among the wise, he either goes away, or hurries himself into a corner of the room and makes himself inconspicuous, and sits mute.” (Apocalypse Revealed 294)
Can we set before ourselves an ideal? Yes. We find one in that short portion of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:33-37. It involves the danger in resorting to oaths and vows. Literally it sounds strange, as if we are not to make binding promises. But spiritually, we learn, it refers to the ideal state of those in the celestial or highest heaven. The Rev. William Bruce explains, "The command not to swear is a command not to confirm or uphold, by our own wisdom, the authority of divine wisdom, not to obtrude ourselves or our own wisdom into the domain of the eternal government, where the wisdom of God is everything."
He further explains that “if we loved good with our whole heart, and always followed it, if we hated evil in every form and constantly shunned it," we would then be able to obey the scripture, "Simply let your Yes be Yes and your No be No" (Matthew 5:37). But pending our reaching that exalted state, we do well to heed the words of our text: "If anyone considers himself religious, and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless."
