bling over with some piece of gossip, which the tattler cannot contain himself from discharging upon his neighbours, however much misapprehension it may occasion, or however much mischief it may do. It is chiefly, no doubt, as the Apostle intimates, idle or unoccupied people who may be expected to bubble over with idle words. Chiefly, but not by any means exclusively. The strain, which business or devotion puts for a time upon us, is apt to cause the mind to rebound when it is released, and amid the too profuse indulgence of talk, which follows such a strain, the words often escape which, when in our nightly self-examination we look back upon them, we could earnestly wish to have been unsaid, and which furnish an example of the truth of the wise man's wise saying, " In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin."

But has reason anything to advance in behalf of occasionally restraining the tongue, not only from light and frivolous, but also from useful and edifying utterances ? Has it anything to say in justification of the Psalmist's practice, "I held my tongue, and spake nothing: I kept silence, yea, even from good words; but it was pain and grief to me." (He found great difficulty in forbearing from words, but it appears that his forbearance was blessed to him by a strong rallying of the spiritual life at the heart, which is its centre, much as the pruning of the shoots of the vine causes the sap to rally in its inner resorts, and promotes instead of hinders the fertility of the branches; for he proceeds thus); "My heart was hot

nate verb is found in 3 John 10, where the Authorised and Revised Versions both render it, "prating against us."

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within me, and while I was thus musing" (not talking, but musing) "the fire kindled" (the fire of inspiration, falling from heaven upon the heart in a moment of quiet meditation): "and at the last I spake with my tongue," (spake well and effectively, because in truth it was not I that spake, but the Spirit of the heavenly Father who spake in me and by me).2 Yes, reason has its account to give of this keeping silence even from good words, and the happy effects of it. By the constitution of our nature we cannot always be giving out, either physically or mentally, without taking in. Our resources both of body and mind are limited. Bodily toil, however useful and productive, exhausts a man; his strength must be renewed by taking food and rest at intervals. The mind observes a similar law. It cannot exert itself in seeking to benefit others by means of the tongue, unless the springs of its own moral and spiritual life are fed by internal self-communing, by prayer and meditation, not merely formal and stated, but pursued at intervals during the day. And, to give room for these intervals, silence must be kept for a space, be the space never so short. No man ever yet succeeded in living the spiritual life without constant ejaculatory prayer, without at all events (if not actual petitions, yet) supplicating mental glances directed all day long to the Divine Master-glances by which we court his eye, ask his guidance, seek his help and blessing, thank him for his mercies. These mental glances are in fact the respirations of the soul of man, the life of which, like bodily life, is carried on by successive

1 Psalm xxxix. 3, 4. P.B.V.

2 See 2 Sam. xxiii. 2, with St. Matt. x. 19, 20.

acts of respiration, that is, by receiving the Spirit of God into the inner man, that we may send Him forth again in efforts to bless and benefit others. The sending forth cannot be sustained without the continual reception. We cannot make spiritual impressions upon others without continually deepening such impressions in ourselves. Even the most

edifying conversation will gain in power and real influence for good by such retreats into the hidden chamber of the heart, that we may be there alone with God. The vision of angels at the Nativity,what they announced to men, and what adoration they presented to God,-was blazed abroad by the shepherds, who were the first human preachers of the Gospel,1 and was no doubt blessed to the souls of many of the hearers, who kept their eyes on the holy Child from that day forward. One of those who had heard the shepherds' story repeated it to others, and there was much talk and a general circulation of the intelligence.2 "But Mary," it is said, "kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart." 3 She did not talk like the outside world; she mused, tried to evolve the significance of the heavenly vision, the meanings which it might have for herself, for Israel, for the world. She kept silence, even from good words, and deeply pondered the glad tidings; and we can well conceive that while she was thus musing the sacred fire fell upon her heart, and kindled there an adoration of God for his purposes of grace to man, similar to that which the multitude of the heavenly host had rendered, when the anthem of the Nativity had burst from their lips; 1 See St. Luke ii. 17.

VOL. II

2 Verse 18.

3 Verse 19.

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Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”1 And thus we are brought to speak of the experience of spiritual persons as confirming, no less than reason, the Scriptural censure of talkativeness and idle words, and the Scriptural precept of bridling the tongue and refraining the lips.

We have been engaged in a lively and very animated conversation, which, partly from the geniality and social qualities of persons in the company, partly from the happy and somewhat rare accident of their having a community of interests and sympathies, has greatly entertained us and drawn us out. Nothing has been said, it may be, which was even questionable in its character, nothing which has even jarred unpleasantly upon that very delicate, sensitive, and highly-strung instrument, the conscience of a real Christian. No word has been dropped of ungenerous disparagement, or of unkind criticism upon a neighbour's character and conduct, or of irreverent jesting upon sacred subjects, or of immodest innuendo, though of how very few animated conversations, even in a company of persons high-principled and rightminded in the main, can this be said! But there has

1 St. Luke ii. 14. In connexion with the rule of occasional silence, even from good words," the following beautiful passage from Scupoli's Spiritual Combat will be read with pleasure:

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"Be ready to speak of God, and especially of His Love and Goodness, but with guardedness, lest you fall into some error concerning Him and rather delight to hear others speak of Him, treasuring up their words in your inmost heart.

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"Let the sound of men's words strike only upon your ear, and let your heart be lifted up to God; and, if you must listen to what they say in order to know how to reply to them, still forget not to raise your eyes thoughtfully towards Heaven, where God dwells, and contemplate His loftiness, as He deigns to regard your vileness."-Chap. xxiv. "How to Rule the Tongue."

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been talking more than enough, and abundance of pointed repartee, and laughter loud and ringing, and much innocent merriment, and it has carried away for the time, we have been fully absorbed in it. How does it all look when we review it in making up the spiritual accounts of the day in our nightly self-examination? Well, we are wearied and fatigued, even if we have nothing to accuse ourselves of; it has been a whirl of conversation, and anecdote, and joke; social intercourse has done its utmost for us in the way of amusement, and has left a certain barrenness and emptiness behind. And the secret of this barrenness and emptiness, when we come to analyse our state of mind, is seen to be that there has been no pause in the flow of conversation, it has been one tumult of talking and laughing without a moment's repose. There has been a multitude of words; and if, as far as our own retrospection is concerned, no sin has transpired in them, that has been accidental, we ourselves were not self-possessed, were not "taking heed to our ways," and so might at any moment quite thoughtlessly and indeliberately have “offended with our tongue."

And as regards good words, such as are uttered with the design of edifying others, and of which it might at first appear that it would be impossible to say too many, what does the experience of any earnest Christian preacher teach him? Is it not that the exigencies of his position may easily,—do, as a fact, very often,-demand from him much more preaching than is good for him? How does that continually giving out in the way of religious instruction tend to impoverish his mind, and by