Another life rule of James (Windisch) is “slow to speak.” One must not
forget Homer’s “winged words,” for words can be laden with messages of
joy and life and peace and love. Eloquence has its place, real eloquence
of the soul—words on fire that blaze and burn, words that thrill and
electrify, words that make life and death noble and high, words like
those of Jesus that are spirit and life (John 6:63). But when all is
said, there is something deeper than mere speech, higher than just
words, nobler than talk. If speech is silvern, silence is often golden.
Sorrow may be too unutterable for words. Joy may pass beyond all speech.
The proverb also has it that “many a man has had to repent of speaking,
but never one of holding his peace,” unless silence is guilty or
cowardly. But it is easy to be voluble with the tongue and slack in
life. Sirach says: “Be not violent with thy tongue, and in thy deeds
slack and remiss.” Volubility is certainly not a sign of power. The
silent man, like Moses, is more likely to be a man of power and
performance. The parrot and the owl form good examples of the weakness
of chatter and the wisdom of silence. Zeno calls attention to the
obvious fact that we have two ears and one mouth and should therefore
listen twice as much as we talk.
James does not, of course, mean that men should be slow and dull talkers
after they begin to talk. He means slow to talk, not slow in talking.
Often the least interesting men are the very ones who talk most
frequently and at the greatest length. We are to think twice before we
speak. Sometimes, if we do that, we shall not speak at all. At any rate,
we shall be more likely to have sense in our speech. We shall speak to
more purpose if we speak after silence and out of the reflection from
silence.
McLaren has a good phrase, “Spread out our souls to the truth.” “Be
still, and know that I am God.” Mary “kept all these sayings, pondering
them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). She could only listen to God. The
Quakers have some ground for their plea for meditation in the Christian
life. Introspection can, of course, be overdone, but the present age is
not given to reflection and contemplation. Practical mysticism is the
best type of Christianity. Indeed, Christianity without mysticism is
empty and formal.
It is quite possible (Johnstone) that the free conversational style
employed in the early Christian meetings was taken advantage of by
contentious persons, with the result of serious wranglings, as in the
church at Corinth (cf. 1 Cor. 14). “In the multitude of words there
wanteth not transgression; but he that refraineth his lips doeth wisely”
(Prov. 10:19). Such violent talkers break up the spiritual life of a
church. The less they know, the more they talk. They have positive
opinions on every subject of politics or religion. They know how their
neighbors should act in the smallest details and criticize everybody and
everything. They are happiest when all is agog with talk of some sort;
and the more gossipy it is, the better they like it. “They cannot think,
and it is a relief to them to hear their own voices” (Dale). Epictetus
(Ench. xxxiii, §5) has the same idea as James: “Let there be silence for
the most part or let that which is necessary be said in few words.”