SPEAK SLOW AND LOW

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 20, 1876

FromThe Review and Herald, Review and Herald, Vol. 48, No. 4.

SPEAK SLOW AND LOW.

“A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger.”

One of the most successful commanders ever connected with the American Merchant Marine, one who had had a wide experience in many waters, as well as of many years, often said, “Carelessness is the cause of all the shipwrecks and accidents on the ocean.” That some one has failed to “speak slow and low,” would probably be found to be the cause of a large majority of the quarrels in the world. That difficulty which grew into a lawsuit, costing thousands of dollars, would have been prevented if either of the contending parties, especially the one most aggrieved, had so in patience possessed his or her soul as to speak slowly and in gentle tones. Another trouble which resulted in bloodshed would have left those involved resting under the blessing promised to “the peace-makers,” instead of the curse on the murderer, if some one had learned to “speak slow and low.”

We could give many cases in point illustrative of this subject, which are among either our experiences or our observations; some of them thrilling ones. Among the latter is the following:—

A young German professor of languages and mathematics, who had been an officer in the Prussian and also in the American army, had been thrown out of employment for political reasons. There was nothing against his ability, character, or faithfulness. By acting as security for another, he had lost his slender accumulation of money. Chiefly because he or his wife had not practiced speaking “slow and low,” in times when there was danger of misunderstandings, the troubles above recited, together with meddlesomeness on the part of others, had resulted in their separation. Their babe was in a public nursery, and neither father nor mother had means to care for it; and as he sat beside us in our office, he told us he had been compelled to fast the last two days. He further told us plainly that he had decided to get out of it all by committing suicide! He said it very quietly, but there was a look in his eye that showed he was thoroughly in earnest.

Rationalistic principles, of which his mind was full, prevented the highest reasons we could present from being effective, but after accepting our invitation to dinner, he returned in better spirits. He then opened his heart in relation to his early history. His father had been a prominent Protestant clergyman in Germany, as likewise four of his maternal uncles, one of the latter a missionary to South America. He also read us a portion of a letter recently received from his widowed mother, living in Pomerania, near the shores of the Baltic. The letter showed him to be the son of a Christian lady of a high order of mind and culture.

We induced him to write a kind note to his wife, inviting an interview there the next day. She accepted the invitation, but unwisely added terms of reproach for their trouble, which decided him not to meet her. We succeeded in overruling the decision, and that eventide had the pleasure of giving up our place of business to them for a conference alone, with the earnest injunction—aside to him—that “no matter what she said, he should ‘speak slow, and speak low.’”

We allowed the half hour promised them to treble; and when we returned they were seated close to each other. They were speaking in the language of la belle France, her native tongue, and we could not understand a word they said; but the tones were such as those to which the angels love to listen, and the looks on their faces such as spoke of the happiness found only in the bowers of the Prince of Peace.

The following day we received a letter from him saying, “I am saved. I am reconciled to my wife. God bless you.”

He and she had learned to “speak slow and low”—learned to use one of the keys to the treasures of “peace on earth, good will to men.”—Pres. Journal.