E-text prepared by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, Stephanie Eason,
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
()
Author of “Cyclopædia of Illustrations of Moral and Religious Truths,” etc., etc.
| “Sacred interpreter of human thought, How few respect or use thee as they ought.”—Cowper. |
The power to talk, like every other natural power of man, is designedfor profit and pleasure; but in the absence of wisdom in its government,it fails to fulfil either.
The revelations of human life in the past show that the improperemployment of this power has brought upon individuals, families,churches, and empires some of their most grievous evils. The revelationsof human life in the present show that this power is still unwiselyused, and the cause of similar lamentations and woes. Every man in hisown circle, to go no farther, may learn the sad effects following theabuse of the faculty of speech. That member of the body, when “set onfire of hell” (and how often is this!) what conflagrations it bringsabout[Pg vi] wherever its sparks and flames are spread! As a lucifer match inthe hands of a madman, when struck, may be the occasion of blowing upcastles or burning down cities, so the tongue may “set on fire thecourse of nature.”
Not only are talkers the cause of evils on such a large scale, but ofevils which, while not so distinguished, are still evils—annoyancesthat mar the happiness and disturb the peace of individuals andsocieties—thorns in the flesh—contagion in the atmosphere, which, ifthey do not create disease, cause fear and alarm. Any one, therefore,who contributes to the lessening of these evils, does a beneficent work,and deserves the patronage and co-operation of all lovers of hisspecies.
The prominence given to the use and abuse of the power of speech, in theScriptures, at once shows the importance of the subject.
The connection between talkers and Christianity teaches that this bookbelongs as much to Christianity in its interests as to ethics in itsinterests.
[Pg vii]If in any of the illustrations there may seem to be an excess ofcolouring, the reader is at liberty to modify them in his own mind asmuch as he may desire; only let him not forget that “fact is strangerthan fiction,” and that what may not have come within the range of hisexperience, others may be familiar with.
It may be that the style in which some of the characters appear will notplease the taste of every one. It would be a wonder of wonders if itdid. Taste in respect to style in writing differs, perhaps, as much astaste in respect to style in dress. By the bye, one likes Dr. Johnson’sidea of dress, which is, that a man or a woman, in her sphere, shouldwear nothing which is calculated to attract more attention andobservation than the person who wears it. This is the author’s idea ofstyle in writing; whether he has embodied it in the following pagesothers must judge. His aim has been to show the character more thanthe dress in which it appears.