02.03. Chapter 3 - Verse 10
James 3:10. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.
He amplifieth the absurdity by a repetition or new proposal of it. His meekness is observable, he might have reproved them sharply; but dissuading them from the evils of the tongue, he would himself give them a pattern of modesty and gentleness.
These things ought not to be so; that is, they should be quite otherwise. It is a phrase savouring of apostolical meekness; Paul useth it in almost a like case, 1 Timothy 5:13, ‘Speaking things they ought not;’ and Titus 1:11, ‘Teaching things which they ought not.’
Out of this verse observe:—
Obs. 1. That blessings and cursing do not become the same mouth. This is like him in Æsop that blew hot and cold with the same breath. A good man should be uniform and constant: the same heart cannot be occupied by God and the devil, nor the same tongue be employed to such different uses. The Pharisee prayed and censured at the same time, Luke 18:10; and many pray and curse, pray and rail, in the same breath. This is most unseemly; one part condemneth and destroyeth the other; the good aggravateth the evil, and the evil disproveth the good: railing is the worse because of the solemnity of the action; and praying is but a revengeful eructation, when thus managed and accompanied. When the tongue is employed in prayer, it is as it were hallowed and consecrated, and therefore must not be alienated to common and vile purposes. They were carnal wretches that said ‘Our tongues are our own,’ Psalms 12:4; thine is given up to God.
Obs. 2. From that ought not to be. We must look not to what we desire to do, but what ought to be done. Lust, or the bent of the spirit, is not the rule of duty. Many advise with no other counsellor but their own hearts; carnal constraints are an ill warrant. Beasts are led by strength of instinct and natural impulse; man is to be governed by an outward rule: there is an higher Lord than your own will. Look, then, not to the earnestness of your motions, but the regularity of them; not at what you would, but what you ought.