John Trapp on Proverbs 12:18

Verſ. 18. There is that speaketh lies like the piercing, &c.] Falſe witneſſes do ſo, with a witneſs. As Doeg, Pſal. 52.2. And his fellow-hackſters with their murthering weapons in Davids bones, Pſal. 42.10. whereby they killed him alive, and buried him in their throats, thoſe gaping graves, open ſepulchres. Ahimelech and his fellow-Prieſts were killed with the tongue, as with a Tuck or Rapiet; ſo was Naboth and his ſons; ſo was our Saviour Chriſt himſelf. Reckon thou Shimei and Rabſhekeh among the firſt and chiefeſt Kil-Chriſts (ſaith one) becauſe ever an honeſt mind is more afflicted with words, than with blows.Act. 2.23. and 3.15. You ſhall finde ſome (ſaith Eraſmus) that if death bee threatned, can deſpiſe it; but to bee belied they cannot brook, nor from revenge contain themſelves. How was David enraged by Nabals railings? Moſes by the Peoples murmurings? Jeremy by the deriſions of the rude rabble? Chap. 20.7, 8,

But the tongue of the wiſe is health] Or, a medicine, as the Tench is to the wounded fiſhes, or as that Noble Lady Elianors tongue was to her Husband Prince Edward (afterward Edward the firſt) who being traiterouſly wounded by a poiſoned knife in the holy land,Speed. Camden. was perfectly cured by her daily licking his rankling wounds, whileſt hee ſlept, and yet her ſelf received no harm; So ſoveraign a medicine is a good tongue, anointed with the virtue of love and wiſdome. Wholeſome words, as certain ſalves or treacles, cure the wounds of afflicted hearts, and extract the poiſon infuſed by evil tongues.