p. 42 | Kind Words by C. H. Bliss

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 25, 1871

Kind Words.

By C. H. Bliss

There are but few who realize the importance there is attached to the manner in which we speak. What we shall say and when we shall say it, is very often thought upon to the exclusion of how we shall say it.

It is true, the Scriptures teach us that our words should be few and well chosen, and that we must give an account for every idle word we speak, and the importance of guarding them well cannot be overestimated; yet in our social intercourse with our fellow-men, more harm is sometimes done by the manner in which we speak than by the words we use. Offense is sometimes given, hearts grieved, and the dearest ties of friendship broken, simply by the manner in which we speak. The tone of voice we use has a great effect on the person addressed, and will tend to make them either more or less friendly. The man who speaks in a cold, crusty manner, will exert less influence, have less friends, and accomplish less good than the man who with a smile on his countenance speaks in a subdued tone of voice kindly and pleasantly to all around him.

It may be true that at times our words should be spoken with firmness and in a strong, commanding tone of voice; yet I think it is necessary on no occasion that they should be rough or harsh. Tenfold more can generally be accomplished by speaking in a calm, gentle tone of voice even to the brute creation. By speaking kindly and dealing gently with them, their wild, ferocious spirits become subdued. Thus horses, cattle, and many wild animals, are made so tame and gentle that a child may govern them. There seems to be something in the nature of every created thing, whether of the human species or the animal, which calls for love, sympathy, and kindness.

Kind and sympathic words to the afflicted sometimes produce great changes in their feelings. The sick are assisted to recover. The sad, gloomy, and desponding ones raise their heads with courage and hope because of the kind, cheering, sympathetic words spoken to them by those who they thought had but little love for them. The influence of kind words can hardly be estimated. The poet has truthfully said, “Kind words can never die.” They will reclaim the erring, soften the hard-hearted, and make the worst of enemies the best of friends. These words of kindness should not be spoken only occasionally, but at all times and in all places. If discouragement comes upon us, if trials and temptations press us sore, if disappointment is our lot, yet we should persevere in the even tenor of our way. The man who is one hour hopeful, cheerful, and kind, and the next sad, gloomy, cross, and fretful, thus permitting his mind to be controlled by surrounding circumstances, can have but little influence, and accomplish but little good. But the one who ever has his mind upward lifted, through gloom as well as sunshine, is a living fountain from which others will receive help and strength. Then let us seek to be filled with the Spirit, that its blessed fruits, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance, may be manifested by us in all the walks of life. C. H. Bliss.