No doubt there is a duty of silence. There are times when silence is golden. But there is also a duty of speech. There are times when silence is sin. There are times when it is both ungrateful and disloyal to God not to speak of his love and goodness, or witness before men in strong, unequivocal words.
We ought to speak out the messages given us for others. God puts something into the heart of every one of his creatures that he would have that creature utter. He puts into the star a message of light; you look up into the heavens at night, and it tells you its secret. Who knows what a benediction a star may be to a weary traveler who finds his way by it, or to the sick man lying by his window, and in his sleeplessness looking up at the glimmering point of light in the calm, deep heavens? God gives to a flower a message of beauty and sweetness, and for its brief life it tells out its message to all who can read it. Wordsworth says:
“To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.”
Who can count up the good even a flower may do as it blooms in the garden or as it is carried into a sick-room or into the cheerless chamber of poverty?
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