The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1911-02-17

iet aii the edfln Keep slieuCe UeLOEc
Him. 's--Hab. z: 30.
Speech Is sllvern. silence Is golden;
speech Is human, silence Is divine. In
silence Is often found the highest form
of activity. There are greatest tenn
pests In the soul than rage in the
world without. Greater battles have
taken place in the realm OF thought
than have ever been waged in the
bloodiest conflict with malice and
musketry. But he who said, BE still
and know that / am God" also said.
THE Lord is in His holy temple:
let all the earth keep silence before
Him"
Silent hours will come unbidden to
every one sooner or later. They may
come when you feel your truest friend
has forsaken you. Real friendship is
spiritual. 1t is a cadence of d.
vine melody melting through the
heart" 1t Is one soul taking hold of
another. He who would have friends
must show" himself friendly. He
reaches out and with JOY and conf
dence receives another soul into the
inner circle and finds great pleasure in
it's companionship, but a beguiling
whisperer from the evil world turns
this delightful acquaintance aside
and leaves him to wonder In silence
why his friend Ia so indifferent.
Then silent hours that come unbid-
don may be when your loved ones are
taken from you by death, You and
they have spent many happy hours
together In conversation, laughter and
song. Your thoughts were about
livelihood, learning and love. You
had little thought of ever being sep
arated, but one day your loved one
grew sick and rapidly went from bad
to worse You spoke In a whisper,
told others to do so and walk lightly
1t seemed as IL the fowl and stock
about the bArnyard were more quiet
than usual.
Everything seemed to settle down
into perfect calm. and you watched
by the bed for hours in solitude. Fin
ally the end came. and you broke the
painful stiffness with a sigh, a groan
and sob. You followed on to the
tomb and found the people waiting
quietly at he church for the funeral
service. The minister spoke more
softly than usual and the choir sang
in an undertone. Then with few
words the body was placed away to
await the resurrection morning: and
you went quietly home and spent
many days alone.
Again these silent hours will come
when important personal questions
present themselves and demand an
immediate answer. With the young
person 1t may be deciding between
courtship. marriage and an education.
With the parent or teacher IL may
be solving the problem of how TO
reach, teach and beseech that way
ward boy and girl for good. With
others 1t may be financial problem.
Still with others 1t may be in trying
10 interpret the voice Of God as TO
ones life's work. oh. how some have
thought and prayed and wept Just
here all alone until the Holy Spirit
said tas He did at Antioch, In Syria } .
Separate me. BanAbas and Saul, for
the work whereunto / have called
them Then the silently struggling
soul was free with Gods benediction
and the stiffness was broken in Cos
pei tones, Every one living in our
Christian land has asked the cues
ton. What shall l do. then, with
Jesus which is called ChriSt?'' This
is personal question. and every one
Is giving IL an answer. Happy are
those who answer 1t In the afIirma-
tive.
again silent hours are greatly need
ed in every ones daily life. They are
needed In order to exercise seif-con-
trols4 ~tEka, that is Stow To anger Ii
better than the mighty. and he that
ruleth his spirit than he that taketh
a CITY," Self-controi 10 the highest
accomplishment OF man.
IF any stumble not In word, the
same Is perfect man. able to bride
The whole body also" IL one will be
quiet when the heat OF passion Is
raging until he can go alone and
n NJ Fr1 ~
other mans point Of view, then he
viii pray. If he has ever had the
spirit Of prayer. and Mi viii be veil
The mother needs constantly. to exer.
else self-controi that she may move
peaceably among her family and help
make happy home. The father
needs daily to exercise self control
that his homecoming may always be
greeted with delight. We control 9TH
ers In the same ratio that we control
ourselves. IL this 10 true. then we
sssed solitude for development.
Silent hours are needed for one to
think and decide for God. In an old
book there Is story OF q hayward
the point of death. sent for him to
come home and receive a message
from his lips The son came and went
with fear and trembling into the room
where his father lay The fatiner said
Il have one request to make. After
l am gone I desire that you spend
one hour each day alone in your
room" That was ALL The young
man was surprised and puzzled. for
he had expected that he was disin-
herited on account Of his wickedness
So soon as his father was buried
his son proceeded TO fulfill the prom
Ir~ h \
his father requested him to spend an
hour alone each day. but the mean
ing OF 1t all soon dawned upon him.
While shut up alone the myriad voices
which had deceived him were hushed,
and in silence he heard another voice
which he had not heard since he
was little child. 1t was the voice
OF God, Go in to silence, shut the
world out, shut yourself In with God