Page:Ninety-nine homilies of S. Thomas Aquinas upon the epistles and gospels for forty-nine Sundays of the Christian year (IA ninetyninehomili00thom).pdf/102

 “ Their tongue is as an arrow shot out, it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.” (2) The boastful tongue, which is proud and arrogant: Ps. xii. 3, “ The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaketh proud things.” (3) The serpent-like and poisonous tongue, which utters envies and detractions : Ps. cxl. 3, “ They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent, adders’ poison is under their lips.” (4) A lying tongue, that utters perjuries, falsehoods, and false witnesses: Prov. vi. 16, “Six things does the Lord hate, a proud look, a lying tongue,” &c. (5) The bland tongue, which utters deceits : Prov. vi. 24, “ Keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.” (6) The tongue of a third person, which utters seducements and allurements: Ecclus. xxviii. 19, “The tongue of a third person hath cast out valiant women, and deprived them of their labour.” The first tongue is in the deed of sensuality of the man loving the woman ; the second, that of the woman loved ; the third that of the herald or messenger who conveys the words of the lover to the beloved, and vice versa. (7) The wicked tongue, which utters flatteries: Prov. xvii. 4, “ A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips.” They are false lips which do evil by inciting flatterers. (8) The tongue which is sword-like, which consists of things angry and furious, and which slays many by railings and reproaches : Ps. lvii. 4, “ The sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.” (9) The deceitful tongue, which abides in false merchants and deceivers; they deceive the simple by recommending their wares, and defrauding by false weights, numbers, and measures : Prov. xxvi. 28, Vulg, “ A deceitful tongue loveth not truth,” i.e., Christ; “and a slippery mouth worketh ruin,” i.e., of body and soul: Prov. xxi. 6, “ The getting of treasures by a lying tongue,” i.e. in operation, “is a vanity, and tossed to and fro,” without soul and discretion, “ of them that seek death,” i.e., willingly or unwillingly. (10) Tongue of blasphemy, which is in those who blaspheme God and the saints. (11) Tongue without grace, which utters mockeries and derisions with those who willingly speak idle words: Ecclus. xx. 21, “A man without grace is as a vain fable.”

II. On the second head it is to be noted, that the man who does not bridle his tongue incurs many penalties—(1) Ruin: