Elk City mining news. (Elk City, Idaho) 1903-1913, 1904-11-12
SPEAKING AND LISTENING.
BY Rev. w Ryerett johnson.

BY KEY. ". EVerefI Johnson.
Though 1 speak with the tongues Of |
men and of angels, and have not char
ity, am become as sounding brass, or
a tinkling cymbal-I. Cor, xiii, 1.
Every action of life is either one of
speaking or one of listening. Speaking
is the act of making known a thought
or idea We call any one great speak
er who is able to express his thoughts
with such clearness and force as to
make us listen with interest.
But speaking may be done not only
with the tongue or the pen. An artist
is one who is able to speak with q
brush; a musician, perhaps, with a VIC
lin; an architect with stones; cabinet
worker with a piece of furniture, or
any worker with the tools of his trade.
We are speaking all our lives in all
our work, and our success in worldly
sense is dependent on our ability to
speak well just what the world desires
to hear. The better we can satisfy
that desire the greater will be our
wage.
The noblest and most divine form of
speaking requires the ability to get the
world to listen to that for which it
has no desire. The great leaders for
Righteousness, therefore, must create
desire. The act of living righteously
is the most eloquent of all speech for
this purpose, and we all have this
power, which may be exercised every
day of our lives. A great orator re-
quires not only an eloquent tongue but
a most sensitive ear He must be
good listener; he must be able to hear
the thoughts, the feelings, the preju-
dices, the hopes, and the aspirations
expressed in the daily speech of those
to whom he speaks. We have all heard
speakers who possessed every device
= OF oratory in high degree, but who
: aroused no hearts to action because of
the lack of a trained ear.
: Many persons who speak of right
eousness by correct living do it in such
a manner that others are repealed and
refuse to listen for the same reason.
| Their ears are not trained; their lives
; and tongues speak of God, but their
ears are not opened to the speech of
l the children of men. Such may have
the tongues of men, and even of an
gels, without the power to listen to the
t imperfect, struggling lives around
them. and are as sounding brass or a
3 tinkling cymbal.
t And what is Christ? The word made
t flesh, the eloquence of the father, the
: sublime utterance of the divine wis
g dom in human speech. And how more
4 eloquent was Calvary than Small Fol
: there was the ear of God open in sub
: lime charity to the cry of poor wreck
t of human life. With what sweet mercy
e the curtain of darkness is drawn
around the cross, that the poor, falter
: ing lips may not be shamed by sigh
e and the quickening power of darkness!
|. may make more keen the ear of hin
t by whom are all thingsl How do the
t words of the thief on the cross mag
S Nifty the eloquence of the Sermon OF
e the Mount for all generations to come
s ST Paul sets forth the power of elo
e quence in human life; the tongues o
5 angels, the gift of prophecy, the posses
and at last, at the climax Of eloquence
J. the giving up of everything, even t,
the body for the burning. And yet al
the glory of such eloquence lost--a hi
. of sounding brass-without patient
. long suffering, loving, and mercifu
ability to listen. To pray is to speal
to God; to be reverent is to listen t
God: to live righteOusly is to speak +
- our fellows; but to be able to lovingl.
listen to every utterance of human life
- from saint to sinner, Jew or Gentle
- great or little one, is to possess tina
virtue which gives true purpose to tn
~ other three and makes life worth tn
living
Men are not driven to unbelief b.
y, y. the failure to comprehend the han
= which creates a universe, but to tn
~ ear which listens to the music of a
atom Sin is not continued and multi
~ piled on the earth for the lack Q
- tongues to utter righteousness, but fror
- the lack of sanctified ears on the PAL
~ of those who preach it, ears so kee
=. that they may hear among the discorC
~ ant sounds of earth every bit of hal
!, mony that speaks of hope for the lif
~ that utters it. "And now abidet
% faith. hope, charity, these three, bJ
the greatest of these is charity"
Ill RELIGION AND GOD.