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XV.
Admonitions and Warnings
Chapter 171
:
Gossiping and Backbiting
1. WHAT does the ninth
commandment forbid?
"Thou shalt not bear false witness
against thy neighbor."
Ex. 20:16.
NOTE.-The evident object of this commandment
is to guard the rights, interests, and
reputation of our neighbor, by guarding our
conversation, and confining our words to
that which is strictly true.
2. What instruction did
John the Baptist give the soldiers who asked of
him advice regarding the way of life?
"And he said unto them, Do violence
to no man, neither accuse any falsely;
and be content with your wages." Luke 3:14.
3. What is one test of
a perfect man?
"If any man offend not in word,
the same is a perfect man, and able also
to bridle the whole body." James 3:2.
4. How did Christ teach
the importance of guarding our speech?
"But I say unto you, That every
idle word that men shall speak, they shall
give account thereof in the day of judgment. For
by thy words thou shalt be justified, and
by thy words thou shalt be condemned."
Matt. 12:36,37.
5. To whom are our
words all known?
"For there is not a word in my
tongue, but, lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it
altogether." Ps.139:4.
6. Of what are one's
words an index?
"Out of the abundance of the heart
the mouth speaketh." Matt. 12:34.
7. What conduct is
condemned by the Scriptures?
"Thou shalt not go up and down as
a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt
thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor: I
am the Lord." Lev. 19:16.
8. To what are the
words of a talebearer compared?
"The words of a talebearer are as
wounds." Prov. 26:22.
9. What is their
effect?
"He that covereth a transgression
seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter
separateth very friends." Prov. 17:9.
10. What would follow
if there were no talebearers? "Where
no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so
where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth."
Prov. 26:20.
11. Among other things,
what did Paul fear he would find in the
Corinthian church?
"For I fear, lest, when I come, I
shall not find you such as I would, and that I
shall be found unto you such as ye would not:
lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes,
backbitings, whisperings, swellings,
tumults." 2 Cor. 12:20.
12. What result follows
backbiting and like evils?
"For all the law is fulfilled in one
word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one
another, take heed that ye be not consumed one
of another." Gal. 5:14,15.
13. How may a
backbiting tongue be rebuked?
"The north wind driveth away rain:
so doth an angry countenance a backbiting
tongue." Prov. 25:23.
14. To whom is the
promise made of abiding in the tabernacle of the
Lord, and dwelling in His holy hill?
"He that walketh uprightly, and
worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in
his heart. He that backbiteth not with his
tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor
taketh up a reproach against his neighbor."
Ps. 15:2,3.
NOTE.-"Never carry a sword in your tongue to
wound the reputation of any man," says
Kirkle. Noah Webster laid down this rule:
"We should say nothing of a person in his
absence that we should be unwilling to say
if he were present." How few govern their
conversation according to this rule! See
Prov. 31:10,26.
15. What caution is
given in regard to receiving an accusation
against an elder?
"Against an elder receive not an accusation,
but before two or three witnesses." 1 Tim.
5:19.
NOTE.-"He that lends an easy and credulous
ear to calumny is either a man of very mean
morals, or has no more sense of
understanding than a child."- Menander.
16. Can man, unrenewed
by grace, control his tongue?
"For every kind of beasts, and of
birds, and of serpents, and of things in the
sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:
but the tongue can no man tame; it is an
unruly evil, full of deadly poison." James
3:7,8.
17. As a guard against
the misuse of the power of speech, therefore,
for what should we pray?
"Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth
j keep the door of my lips." Ps. 141: 3.
18. What vow did David
take against offenses of the tongue?
"I said, I will take heed to my
ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I
will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the
wicked is before me." Ps. 39:1.
19. What is a sure cure
for backbiting?
"Thou shalt love "thy neighbor as
thyself." Matt. 22:39. "Whatsoever ye would that
men should do to you, do ye even so to them."
Matt. 7:12. "Speak evil of no man." Titus 3:2.
See also James 4:11.
20. What are those
words like which are fitly spoken?
"A word fitly spoken is like
apples of gold in pictures of silver." Prov.
25:11.
"KEEP a watch on your words, my darlings,
For words are wonderful things:
They are sweet like bees' fresh honey;
Like the bees they have terrible stings;
They can bless like the warm, glad sunshine,
And brighten a lonely life;
They can cut in the strife of anger,
Like an open, two-edged knife." |
