Article March 13, 1954 Issue

ON THE VALUE OF SILENCE

JAMES K. WESTOVER

Often alone upon the hills of Judah, the Psalmist long centuries ago discovered the value of silence. He called attention to the fact that one's ability to know God is contingent upon being quiet. "Be still," he said (Ps. 46:10), "and know that I am God."

Jesus required silence before he spoke the word of healing to Jairus' daughter. He put forth all who were making a tumult, thus establishing a quietness and calm before he commanded the child to arise. He recognized that the Christ, Truth, can best be demonstrated when the emotions are freed from activity and agitation. His magnificent demonstration of the resurrection was worked out in the silence of the Arimathean tomb—a demonstration of the allness and immortality of Life which for all time rendered irrefutable man's dominion over death.

Mary Baker Eddy knew the value of silence. She perceived, even as we still sometimes may observe, that human beings are inclined toward doubtful disputations and needless argument. She says in "Miscellaneous Writings" (P. 100), "Science speaks when the senses are silent, and then the evermore of Truth is triumphant." Doubtless she remembered the injunction of Habakkuk (2:20), "The Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him." It helps us all to have recourse to the quieting influence of such passages as these when dissolving the fears and frustrations of the day.

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