John Trapp on James 3:8

Verſe 8. But the tongue, &c.] Where then are our Juſticiaries with their pretended perfection? Davids heart deceived him, Pſal. 39.1. I ſaid I will look to my waies, I will bridle my tongue. But preſently after, he ſhews how ſoon he brake his word, My heart was hot, &c. and I ſpake with my tongue. Pambus in the eccleſiaſticall hiſtory, could never take out that one leſſon read him out of Pſal. 39.1.

An unruly evil] There be but five vertues of the tongue reckoned by Philoſophers. But there are 24. ſeverall ſinnes of the tongue, as Peraldus recounteth them. The Arabians have a proverb, Cave ne feriat lingua tua collum tuum. Take heed thy tongue cut not thy throat. An open mouth is oft a purgatory to the maſter.