A MOTHER was speaking to her children one day about the government of the tongue, and explaining the meaning of the word “unruly.” She said:
“You know what it means as applied to children. Unruly children are those who are not subject to control, but are disobedient and wild. It is hard to keep the ‘little member’ that ‘boasteth great things,’ of which we read in James 2, 5-8, within proper bounds, and we need to pray,
The tongue is also called ‘a fire,’ and ‘behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!’
“Some children were one day playing near their own home on the outskirts of a forest,” she continued, “when one of them knocked together a piece of flint and steel which she had found. Immediately there issued some bright sparks, at which they all laughed and jumped in delight. They quite forgot in their excitement that they had been forbidden under pain of severe punishment to bring fire to that place. Again and again the flirt was struck, and a little heap of faggots kindled. Speedily the surrounding brushwood caught the flame which spread on all sides. With great difficulty the children were rescued, but ere night their pleasant home lay a heap of ashes, and they with their parents were penniless in the world.
“Even so is it with anger; the first unkind or evil word is the striking of the flint; then passion blazes and spreads, friendship is turned to hate, and desolation and sadness reign in the heart. O then; often use the prayer I have quoted, for only God can ‘set a watch’ over ‘the unruly member.’”
ML 05/14/1916