Gentle Words | AdventAI

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Oct 18, 1877

Gentle Words.

THERE is a magic power in gentle words, the potency of which few natures are so icy as wholly to resist. Would you have your home a cheerful, hallowed spot, within which may be found that peace and happiness and joy which the world denieth to its votaries! Let no harsh words be uttered within its walls.

Speak gently to the wearied husband, who, with anxious brow, returns from the perplexities of his daily avocations; and let him, in his turn speak gently to the care-worn woman and wife, who, amid her never-ending round of little duties, finds rest and encouragement in the sympathy of him she loves. Speak gently to the wayward child; and a pleasant smile and a word will often restore good humor and playfulness. Speak gently to the dependent who lightens your daily toil; kind words insure respect, while the angry rebuke provokes impertinence and dislike. Speak gently to the aged; many are the trials through which they have passed, and now in a little while they will be missed from their accustomed places. The remembrance of an unkind word will then bring with it a bitter sting. Speak gently to the erring one; are we not all weak and liable to err? Temptations, of which we cannot judge, may have surrounded him. Harshness will drive him on the sinful way; gentleness may win him back to virtue.