5.14.2013 TALKATIVENESS

taken from a many years old tract by christ's home press, warminster, pa.

and that ye study to be quiet,
and to do your own business
and to work with your own hands,
as we commanded you.. I thess. 4.11

talkativeness is utterly ruinous to deep spirituality.
the very life of our spirit passes out in our speech
and hence all superfluous talk is a wast of
the vital forces of the heart.
in fruit growing it often happens that
excessive blossoming prevents a good crop
and often prevents fruit altogether;
and by so much loquacity
the soul runs wild in word, blooms and bears no fruit.
i am not speaking of sinners,
nor of legitimate testimony for Jesus,
but of that incessant loquacity of nominally spirityal persons
-of the professors of pruifying grace.
it is one of the greatest hindrances to
deep, solid union with God.
notice how people will tell the same thing over and over
-how insignificant trifles are magnified by a world of words;
how things that should be buried are dragged out into gossip;
how a worthless non-essential is argued and disputed over;
how the solemn deep things of the Holy Spirit
are rattled over in a light manner
-until one who has the real baptism of divine silence in his heart,
feels he must unceremoniously tear himself away
to some lonely room or forest,
where he can gather up the fragments of his mind,
and rest in God.

not only do we need cleansing from sin,
but our natural human spirit needs a
radical death to its own noise and activity and wordiness.

se the evil effects of so much talk.

first, it dissipates the spiritual power.
the thought and feeling of the soul
are like powder and steam
-the more they are condensed, the greater their power.
the steam that if properly compressed
would drive a train sixty miles an hour,
if allowed too much expanse would not move it an inch;
so the true action of the heart,
if expressed in a few Holy Ghost selected words,
will sink into the minds to remain forever,
but if dissipated in any rabling conversation,
is likely to be of no profit.

second, it is a wast of time.
if the hours spent in useless conversation
were spent in secret prayer or deep reading,
we would soon reach a region of spiritual life and divine peace
beyond our present dreams.

third, loquacity inevitabley leads to saying
unwise or unpleasant of unprofitable things.
in religious conversation we soon churn up
all the cream our souls have in them
and the rest of our talk is all pale skim milk,
until we get alone with God,
and feed on His green pasture
until the cream arises again.
the Holy Spirit warns us that
'in the multitude of words there lacketh not sin'.
it is impossible for even the best of saints to talk
beyond a certain point,
without saying something
unkind
or sever
or foolish
or erroneous.
we must settle this personally.
if others are noisy and talkative
i must determine to live in constant quietness and humility of heart.
i must guard my speech as a sentinel does a fortress
and with all respect for others.
i must many a time cease from conversation
or withdraw from company
to enter into deep communion with my precious lord.
the cure for loquacity must be from within;
sometimes by an interior furnace of suffering that burns out
the excessive effervescence of the mind
or by an over mastering revelation to the soul
of the awful majesties of God and eternity,
which puts an everlasting hush upon the natural faculties.
to walk in the Spirit we must avoid
talking for talk's sake
or merely to entertain.
to speak effectively we must speak in God's appointed time
and in harmony with the indwelling holy Spirit.

'he that hath knowledge spareth his wors
and a man of understanding is of a cool spirit. prov. 17.27 rv

'in quietness and in confidence shall be
your strength. isa. 30.15; eccl. 5.2-3   selected.