The power to communicate good which God has lodged in the human tongue is simply incalculable. It can impart knowledge; utter words that will shine like lamps in darkened hearts; speak kindly sentences that will comfort sorrow or cheer despondency; breathe thoughts that will arouse, inspire, quicken, animate heedless souls; even whisper the secret of life-giving energy to spirits that are dead. What good we could do with our tongues, if we would use them to the limit of their capacity, no human being can compute. The opportunity does not lie alone in formal speech, as in the sermon, or the lesson, or in the occasional serious talk, but it extends to all conversation, even to the most casual greeting on the street.
A good man once wrote to some friends: “I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift.” He knew the value of the gift of speech, and sought in every sentence he uttered to impart some help, some comfort, some warning or cheer. How it would change the current of conversation in parlour, office, shop, on the street, in the railway-car, if all Christian people were to utter only such words as would convey some spiritual blessing to those to whom they speak! What is the staple of conversation now among average Christian? Listen for a day, and make careful note of every word you hear. How much of it is worth recording? How many sentences are spiritually helpful, calculated to kindle higher aspirations or start upward impulses? How much of it is utterly empty and idle, mere chaff that feeds no heart-hunger, inspires no energy, kindles no joy, and helps no one to live better? How much of it is careless scandal, unjust and injurious criticism of the absent? How much of it that flatters and pleases is hypocritical and insincere?
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