THE BLESSING OF QUIETNESS (Part II)
(Sermon by J R Miller – adapted from Grace Gems website)
 

There are other silences that are also to be deplored. People keep in their hearts unspoken, the kindly words they might utter - and ought to utter - in the ears of the weary, the soul-hungry, and the sorrowing about them. The ministry of good words is one of wondrous power, yet many of us are wretched misers with our gold and silver coin of speech. Is any miserliness so base? Oftentimes we allow hearts to starve close beside us, though in our very hands we have abundance to feed them. One who attends the funeral of any ordinary man and listens to what his neighbours have to say about him as they stand by his coffin, will hear enough kind words spoken to have brightened whole years of his life. But how was it when the man was living, toiling and struggling among these very people? Ah! they were not so faithful then with their grateful, appreciative words. They were too quiet toward him then. Silence was overdone. Quietness is carried too far, when it makes us disloyal to the hearts which crave our words of love and sympathy.

But there is a quietness toward others which all should cultivate. There are many words spoken which ought never to pass the door of the lips! There are people who seem to exercise no restraint whatever on their speech. They allow every passing thought or feeling to take form in words. They never think what the effect of their words will be - how they will fly like arrows shot by some careless marksman and will pierce hearts they were never meant to hurt! Thus friendships are broken, and injuries are inflicted - which can never be repaired. Careless words are forever making grief and sorrow in tender spirits. We pity the dumb whom sometimes we meet. Dumbness is more blessed by far than speech - if all we can do with our marvellous gift is to utter bitter, angry, abusive or sharp, cutting words.

Another kind of common talk that had better be repressed into complete silence is the miserable gossip which forms so large a part - let us confess it and deplore it - of ordinary parlour conversation. Few appreciative and kindly things are spoken of absent ones - but there is no end to criticism, snarling and backbiting. The most unsavoury bits of scandal are served with relish, and no blameless character is armour against the virulence and maliciousness of the tongues, which chatter on as innocently and glibly as if they were telling sweet stories of good! It certainly would be infinitely better if all this kind of speech were reduced to utter silence!

It is better that complete silence is used, in place of any conversation whatever if there is nothing to be talked about but the faults and foibles and the characters and doings of absent people! Will not some brave person preach a crusade against backbiting? Shall we not have a new annual “week of prayer” to cry to God for the gift of silence - when we have nothing good or true or beautiful to say? No victories should be more heroically battled for, or more thankfully recorded than victories of silence - when we are tempted to speak unhallowed words of others!

Silence is better, also, than any words of bickering and strife. There is no surer, better way of preventing quarrels, than by the firm restraining of speech. “A soft answer turneth away wrath,” but if we cannot command the “soft answer” when another person is angry, the second-best thing is not to speak at all. “Grievous words stir up anger.” Many a long, fierce strife, which has produced untold pain and heartburning would never have been anything more than a momentary flash of anger - if one of the parties had practised the holy art of silence!

Someone tells of the following arrangement which worked successfully in preventing family quarrels: “You see, sir,” said an old man, speaking of a couple in his neighbourhood who lived in perfect harmony, “they had agreed between themselves that whenever he came home a little contrary and out of temper, he would wear his hat on the back of his head - and then she never said a word; and if she came in a little cross and crooked, she would throw her shawl over her left shoulder - and he never said a word.” So they never quarrelled. He who has learned to be silent spares himself ofttimes from shame. Many men have owed their reputation for great wisdom, quite as much to their silence as to their speech. They have not spoken the many foolish things of the glib talker, and have uttered only few and well-considered words.

An English writer gives the story of a groom wedded to a lady of wealth. He was in constant fear of being ridiculed by his wife’s guests. A clergyman said to him, “Wear a black coat and hold your tongue.” The new husband followed the advice, and soon was considered one of the finest gentlemen in the country. The power of keeping quiet would be worth a great deal to many people whose tongues are forever betraying their ignorance, and revealing their true character. All true culture is toward the control and the restraining of speech. Christian faith gives a quietness which in itself is one of life’s holiest blessings. It gives the quietness of peace - a quietness which the wildest storms cannot disturb, which is a richer possession than all the world’s wealth or power.

“This should be your ambition: to live a quiet life.” The lesson may be hard to many of us - but it is well worth all the cost of learning. It brings strength and peace to the heart. Speech is good - but ofttimes silence is better. He who has learned to hold his tongue - is a greater conqueror than the warrior who subdues an empire! The power to be silent under provocations and wrongs and in the midst of danger and alarms - is the power of the noblest, royalest victoriousness! Amen.