Ever shudder when the Doctor said "Let me see your tongue?" Sure you have. By observing your tongue, a good Doctor can determine the general state of your health. But, are you aware that your general spiritual condition is also revealed by your tongue? In an unguarded moment it may reveal some things that you would rather keep private. It may show that you are not REALLY as SPIRITUALLY MATURE as you would have others believe.
    The tongue expresses a person's thoughts; it clearly reveals whether he is being dominated by self will (requiring that all others think and speak as himself), or whether, through the power of the Holy Spirit, he is "casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity EVERY THOUGHT to the obedience of Christ", (2 Cor.lO:5).
    James rejected, as inadequate, a faith that produced no fruit; nor did he have any use for a censurious and mischievous tongue that runs wild over all who fail to meet its double standards.
    Sometimes the ability to hold one's tongue is a great virtue; but only a healthy tongue may be so controlled.
    HOW'S YOUR TONGUE??

    Having just returned from an extensive tourof the Holy Land -- fulfilling a deep desire to "walk once more where Jesus walked" -- my oldest brother, Eld. Wilson Garner of Pensacola, Florida, was summoned to meet our Heavenly Father in the early morning of March 14 -- just 11 days before he would have reached his 51st birthday.
    His sudden passing came as a shock to all of us. One does not expect to see a person so exhuberant in serving the Lord promoted so quickly to a realm wherein we may not share the fulness of his joy.
    It is not as though the light of his life has been suddenly extinguished; though relatively young in years, the candle of his life burned out in the service of the Christ whom he loved more than life itself. Nor has his light really gone out; so many others were kindled from his flame that his light will long shine -- enriching many to the ends of the earth.
    The words that someone wrote for Henry Martyn are appropriate to describe the attitude of my brother:

    What fools men are! Created in the image of God, and for His fellowship, we deliberately drive ourselves to wretchedness by excusing ourselves from the life for which we were made. Pitifully few among men ever pause to hear a call to the life that is real. The glory of the still, small voice of God is crowded out by the hurried rush of lesser things and the sickening scramble of humanity. Ill at ease, each one appears only to think of making a name for himself.
    When some rare individual does appear, who wants simply to walk with God in a path where life is real, beautiful and worthwhile -- whose only yearning is to be so fully abandoned and available to God that the life of Christ may reach others through him -- that man is cursed as a dreamer, a fanatic and a fool by the reckless multitude that has eyes, but cannot see, and ears, but cannot hear. Men refuse to understand the simple, the beautiful, the unpretentious, and the real.

    An abundance of riches is wasted on magnificient temples in which the builders refuse to worship. We employ spiritual counsellors, but give them no heed. We collect a beautiful assortntent of Bibles, in various translations; then do not read them. We profess to believe in God, but do not fear Him; He is treated as a crutch on which we may lean when all else fails. We acknowledge Christ -- His deity, life, death, resurrection, authority and coming Kingdom; then we neither follow nor obey Him. The master piece of God's creation has so perverted himself that he is controlled by an overpowering obsession for things that do not satisfy; they are not the things for which he was made.
    Isn't it a shame that man, with his vaunted "superior intellect", is the only part of God's creation that insists on wearing itself out in a lifelong pursuit of earthly honors and perishing things before he will pause to consider the prior claim of His Maker? to seek that which is unseen, but enduring?
    With ears deafened by the cannons of cruel violence and ceaseless warfare, man strains to hear a voice that will speak peace to his weary heart -- a voice that he has long refused to hear and now irritates him by its faintness. With eyes demmed by the glare of passing pomp and worldly glory, he searches in vain for the beauties of nature, and of holiness, which passed him by while he foolishly chased a mirage of satisfaction as conceived by his fleshly lust.
    Oh! that men were wise! That they would seek God in their youth, and walk with Him all their days'. If

    It is a hurried age in which we live. Such as travel the "strait and narrow" way are still in the midst of a maddening crowd set on its own destruction. Even on the Highway of Holiness there are certain speed regulations -- Rules of the Road -- that one violates at his own peril. The feet, hands and tongues of men must be controlled.
    In his letter to the Galatians, Paul wrote: "I marvel that ye are so soon (speedily) removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel", (1:6). "So soon" is a poor rendering of the Greek "taxeos", from "taxu", meaning "quickly or speedily". An honest look at the usage of this word in the Scriptures may be both enlightening and alarming.
    There are times when "speed" is commanded, commended or pictured as being desirable. An adversary must be dealt with in this manner, (Mt. 5:25). It is commanded: by the angel at the tomb of Jesus, (Matt. 28:7-8); that the Lord's house may be filled with guests, (Lk. 14:21); of Judas, concerning his treacherous plot, (Jn. 13:27); of Peter, by the liberating angel, (Acts 12:7); of Silas and Timothy, (Acts 17:15); of Paul, concerning his departure from Jerusalem, (Acts 22:l7-18) and of Timothy, by Paul, concerning his coming with the apostle's cloke books and parchments, (2 Tim. 4:9). Jesus commended it in the parable of the unjust steward, (Lk. 16:6). And the Hebrew writer requested the prayers of those to whom his epistle was addressed that he might be restored to them speedily, (13:19).
    This same word describes the rapidity with which God, in His

own time, will establish His authority in judgment and justice. This is how He will avenge His elect, (Luke 18:7-8); so will He recompence His enemies, (Isa. 5:26; Mal. 3:5; Joel 3:1-16). The Roman saints were to understand that God would make swift work of "bruising Satan" under their feet, at the proper time (16:20). It would be accomplished speedily, though Paul did not designate the specific time; he did not tell them "when", but "how" it would be done. The words of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, describing many mysterious events will be "speedily accomplished" at the appointed time, (Rev. 1:1; 2:6; 16; 3:11; 11:14; 22:6-7, 12, 20).
    But, there are times when such speed is forbidden or condemned. Paul, obviously, condemned it at Galatia, (1:6). He pleaded against it at Thessalonica, (2 Thes.2:l-2). Timothy is cautioned against the speedy laying on of hands, in the case of ordination, (I Tim. 5:22), and this compares well with James warning against haste in assuming the pastoral office; it is a costly move, (Jas. 3:1). And the man who speaks in haste, without making certain that he speaks wisely, is more hopeless than a fool, (Prov. 29:20).
    Such as run unsent in the Lord's service -- rejecting God's order, presumptuous and self-willed, preaching a message that God has not commanded -- are bringing upon themselves "swift destruction", (2 Pet. 2:1-3). Though the King's business requires haste, "feet that be swift in running to mischief" are an abomination in the Lord's sight.
    When one considers what tragic complications have developed be-

    When I was just beginning in the ministry Wilson was my closest confidant and counsellor. The bond of love, thus strengthened, was enduring. Though, in the providence of God, our paths of service put many miles between us, the bond of brother-love -- strengthened by a commonness of respect and devotion to the service of Jesus -- held firm to the end.
    From that bright realm to which he has been promoted we would not wish him back if we could. But the knowledge that he is "at home with the Lord" will make the unseen, spiritual world seem a little nearer -- our hope of its corning triumph over this rebellious planet a little dearer.

WRETCHEDNESS.....Continued
only we could realize the depths of His love, our hearts would not hesitate to bow before Him in loving humlity, and our lips would sing unashamedly in grateful praise!
    Do YOU really WANT TO BE WRETCHED? Then why don't you cease to strive with your Maker and, in His loving forgiveness and fellowship, know the peace -- the reality of joy and gladness -- that has always been just beyond your grasp? It may be yours today by allowing Jesus Christ to be the King of your heart and Lord of your life.

cause of either "haste" or "timidity", it is a joy to anticipate the coming Kingdom of God wherein "the heart of the rash (hasty) shall (finally) understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers, shall MAKE SPEED to speak plainly", (Isa. 32:4).

    In the meantime, by God's grace, I want the light of Christ to shine a little brighter through my own life -- until it, too, has fully "burned out" for Christ.