Article September 10, 1921 Issue

The Spoken and the Unspoken Word

IGERNA B. J. SOLLAS

The saying that "speech is silver; silence is gold" takes on new force and new meaning in the light of the teaching of Christian Science. No one can go very far in the study of that teaching without discovering the stress laid on the importance of silent prayer. In the very first chapter of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy discusses audible prayer and its effects, its advantages and dangers, and shows that the prayer may often be silent. It becomes clear that the ear of God, Mind, is not gained sooner by words than by thoughts and that silence of the lips is not all that is required but that the silencing of materialism is essential.

Having grasped this true nature of prayer, and having seen that it is possible to pray unceasingly in this way, the acquisition of the habit of unceasing prayer may seem to us a slow process, needing great patience and fortification against discouragement, seeing that it involves the correction of every erroneous thought. One may have learned fairly easily to rely on right thinking in illness and yet be beset by the temptation to be doing something materially in other difficulties of life. Experience gradually brings conviction of the efficacy of right thought, fosters the habit of relying upon right thought in every emergency, and even leads to the discovery that in some circumstances action or speech may be not merely less useful but actually harmful. As Mrs. Eddy says, "Rushing around smartly is no proof of accomplishing much" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 230), but it is often proof that one imagines that one can of one's self do something. Paul directed Timothy to "be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine." How to do this without becoming a nuisance and "planting thorns" is clear when one has learned that it can be done entirely by knowing the truth. The deeper one's sincerity of belief that the silent mental declaration of the truth heals, the less does one feel the need of speech.

When error is so provoking that one sympathizes with the sentiment expressed by Eliphaz the Temanite, "But who can withhold himself from speaking?" then is the moment when one can often help most by silence, for a sense aroused by error, of urgent need to speak, is evidence of a belief in error as present and powerful, in fact real, so that by combating it with speech one will be in danger of emphasizing this belief; but in the refuge of silence one may compass error's destruction by Truth. While Eliphaz and Bildad and Zophar expostulated with Job in vain, Eliphaz and Bildad each having three turns and Zophar two, and while Job copiously replied to each speech and was still continuing to sing his own praises and claim for himself righteousness, Elihu was silent, and in that silence he had opportunity to arrange his thoughts, so, when he spoke, he spoke with clearness, putting the essential truth foremost: "There is a spirit in man;" "The Spirit of God hath made me." So he was able to be that messenger whom he described as "one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness," and to Job, seeing his true and righteous self, was uncovered his error of self-righteousness. And because Elihu's lips had uttered knowledge clearly, Job perceived that he had darkened "counsel without knowledge" and repented: "Therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not." The utterance of Elihu then was the fruit of silence.

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