Editorial January 31, 1925 Issue

The Wisdom of Silence

Ella W. Hoag

PERHAPS there is no proverb more frequently quoted than the one which tells us that "speech is silvern, silence is golden." And still men have been very slow to learn the wisdom of silence. Many precious visions have been lost because they were heralded by the tongue before their lessons had been pondered and learned; many a priceless treasure of thought has been dissipated to the four winds through senseless chatter about it, when it should first have been considered and cherished that it might enrich and bless through its silent assimilation.

The Christian Scientist is often confronted with the great necessity of knowing when to speak and when to keep silent. In his warfare against error he is all too frequently betrayed into speech when silence would have been the more powerful and effective weapon. He is often found lamenting with the one of ancient time who "never repented that he had held his tongue, but often that he had spoken." He has constantly to remind himself that divine Mind is the only power, and that its perfect ministrations may be reflected as efficiently in right silence as in right speech.

In learning to understand and express the wonders of divine Mind, Christian Scientists find that Jesus became their Way-shower in the earliest events of his earthly career. After his birth, among the very first of these events to be recorded is that of the angel of the Lord appearing "to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him."

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