In the hush of humility the Psalmist once prayed, "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer." A simple prayer, offered by a shepherd lad of long ago, perhaps in the silent pastures of ancient Israel; but how compelling its significance!
There is no task confronting students of Christian Science today more vividly imperative than that of echoing the spirit of David's prayer, and then working heartily to convert right desire into action. Our speech is a more accurate index to our individual progress than we may realize, because, as Jesus declared, "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." It is plain that stinging, resentful, critical words indicate a corresponding thought as their fount, a mental state which must be purified before any individual can proceed in Christian Science. Wise and loving words inevitably flow from a love-filled heart. Indeed, there is no other language known to a spiritualized consciousness.
Our loving Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, took a radical stand concerning the necessity of Christianly scientific speech among her followers, and nowhere in her numerous writings is she more specific on the subject than in one pertinent sentence in her textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 238,) where she asserts that "people with mental work before them have no time for gossip about false law or testimony."
