IN the third chapter of Ecclesiastes the Preacher says, "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose." He illustrates this by enumerating antithetical situations, among which we find "a time to keep silence, and a time to speak."
"A time to keep silence"! How many of us, stopping to ponder this, find in it a rebuke to some hasty expression of opinion, some wordy outburst of anger, some outcry of wounded personal sense, some thoughtless betrayal of another's confidence, some unnecessary speech that pushed along the rolling ball of gossip and increased its bulk! There are probably few, indeed, who are not sharply self-accused of having erred in one or more of these ways. It may have been through no more than a wish to keep the conversation going that we have unintentionally introduced a topic redounding to our neighbor's discredit. Sometimes a tactless remark touches a sore spot in the hearer's consciousness and causes the smarting of an old wound. Occasionally we may be betrayed into an inaccuracy of statement through temporary forgetfulness, excitement, or confusion. Each slip recognized and repented of makes us more earnest in guarding thought and tongue, that we may at all times be found loving our neighbor as ourselves.
We do not so often err through maintaining silence. There are occasions, to be sure, when lack of moral courage has kept us from bravely speaking up on the right side, occasions when our silence may have been construed as consenting to some error. We have all realized the truth in the proverb, "A word spoken in due season, how good is it," when someone's kindly encouragement has pulled us out of the ditch of blundering, and given us heart to retrieve a situation that a moment before seemed hopeless; when a word of praise for the one commendable thing inspired us to bring the rest of our conduct into line; and where, because someone was brave enough to speak in defense of the absent, the trend of unkindly criticism changed, and all present breathed a purer atmosphere.
