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SILENCE

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 14, 1878

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 52, No. 20.

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SILENCE

By Eliza H. Morton

It has been said that “speech is silver, and silence is gold,” and there is much beauty in the statement. Words have power to move the heart, and language is a gift of God; but, like all other faculties, it is liable to be perverted. He who speaks the truth utters words graven on golden tablets. He who utters falsehood stains the white leaves of human life with unsightly blots.
It is an old adage that “the truth should not be spoken at all times,” which means that silence is often preferable to speech. When scandal is repeated in your ears, silence is well. When a friend utters impatient, thoughtless, cruel words, silence is sweet. When you are informed of circumstances that reflect on the character of your enemy, silence is divine.
Silence is power. The little noisy brook, dashing over the pebbles, makes a continual commotion; yet its strength cannot be compared with that of the mighty river which flows calmly and peacefully into the bosom of the great ocean. There is in some lives an undercurrent of power not revealed by the lips. This inner life makes human life sublime. All that is noble, all that is pure, all that is worthy of love, is hidden in the heart, and little acts often reveal what words never express.
Strength is born in silence. Thought is matured in secret chambers, and mind can be developed as well in the peaceful stillness of nature’s secluded haunts as in the bustle and turmoil of the great city. We would by no means decry those who seek to cultivate the faculty of speech. “Words fitly spoken are like apples of gold in pictures of silver,” and happy is the person who can use them aright. They either reveal the true sentiments of the heart, or cover the hideous deformity of the hypocrite. Although we may admire eloquence of speech, yet we should not despise the “halting tongue.” What is denied the one may be given the other, and silence may cover a depth of tender feeling, a mine of wonderful thought, and a wealth of soul beauty.
ELIZA H. MORTON.