Barking Dogs Catch No Game

“Hard speeches have a7i evil influoice in controversy, and do exasperate rather than convince. The dog that followeth the gaine with barking and bawling loseth the prey; and there is not a more likely way to under7nine the truth tha7i an unseemly defence of it. Satan is mightily gratified, if men had eyes to see it, with the ill managing of Gods cause:’ This lesson is a needful one. Zealots are apt to mistake hard words for arguments. The more in earnest we are, the more are we tempted to speak bitterly, and to overlook the better side of our opponents’ cause. Many who think with us applaud us most for those very utterances which deserve the censure of the wise; and this foolish commendation is apt to us on in the same unprofitable direction. They would be more judicious if, while approving our zeal, they hinted that we might use a sweeter method and be none the less strong.

We hope as we grow older to be able to hunt more quietly, with surer scent but with less barking. Certainly, as we grow in grace we shall more carefully distinguish between holy ardour which is kindled by the Spirit, and carnal heat, which is the wild-fire of unrenewed nature. God grant that as we grow prudent we may not also become lukewarm; else we may gain one way and lose another. We are poor creatures, for when we try to avoid an evil we generally swing like a pendulum to the opposite quarter, and commit another folly. The middle point, the golden mean of virtue, we do not readily reach.