But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
Ver. 36. That every idle word, &c.] Idle and waste words are to be accounted for; what then evil and wicked? Therefore "let thine own words grieve thee," as David somewhere hath it, thy frivolous and fruitless speeches; for among a thousand talents of common communication (saith Cassiodore), a man can scarcely find a hundred pence of spiritual speeches, imo nec decem quidem obolos, nay, not ten half-pence truly. It may be observed, saith another, that when men get into idle company (which, perhaps, they like not), the very compliment of discoursing extracteth idle if not evil speaking, to fill up the time. Plato and Xenophon thought it fit and profitable that men's speeches at meals and such like meetings should be written. And if Christians should so do, what kind of books would they be?