These four men, no doubt, had some superstitious idea that mischief
might come to them in the darkness. But they expressed a truth when
they said, 'If we be silent, some evil'--or, as the word might be
translated, 'some _punishment_ will find us.' I desire to lay this on
your hearts, dear brethren, that like all other selfish things, the
silence of the Christian does him harm instead of good.
For instance, if you want to learn anything, set yourself to teach it.
In trying to spread the name of Jesus Christ by your own personal
effort, you will get a firmer hold of the truths that you attempt to
impress upon others. I do not know any better cure for a great deal of
unwholesome and superfluous speculation than to go into the slums and
see what it is that tells there. That is a test of what is central and
what is surface, in Christianity. I do not know any better discipline
for a man whose religion is suffering from too much leisure and
curiosity than to take a course of evangelistic work. He will find out
then where the power is, and a great many cobwebs will be blown away.
Be sure of this, that convictions unspoken, like plants grown in a
cellar, will get very white in the stems, and will bear no fruit. Be
sure of this, that a religion which is dumb will very soon tend to lose
its possession of the truth, and that if you carry that great gift hid
away in your heart it will be like locking up some singing-bird in a
box. When you come to open it, the bird will be dead. There are, I have
no doubt, many whom I am now addressing whose religion has all but, if
not entirely, ebbed away from them, mainly because they have all their
days been dumb Christians. That is one part of the punishment.
And another part is that silence is avenged by the dying out of the
sympathies which inspire speech. It is the punishment of the selfish
man that he becomes more selfish. It is the punishment of the heart,
which never expands in sympathy, that its walls shrivel and contract,
until there is scarcely blood enough between them to be impelled
through the veins. Feelings which it is joy and nobleness to possess
are nurtured and strengthened by expression; and the silent Christian
is punished by becoming at last utterly indifferent to the woes of the
world and to the spread of the Gospel. I think I could lay my finger,
if I dared, on some of my audience who have got perilously near to that
point.
And then again let me remind you that there is another form of the
punishment, and that is the loss of all the blessed experience of the
reaper's joy; and let me point you in a sentence to the final time of
retribution. There shall stand in that last day, as Scripture teaches
us, humble workers before the Throne who will say, 'Behold! I, and the
children whom Thou hast given me.' And there will stand some before the
Throne, solitary; and I wonder if they will not feel lonely when they
go into heaven, and find not a soul there to look them in the eyes and
say, 'Thou didst lead me to the Christ, and I am here to welcome thee.'
'He that soweth and he that reapeth shall rejoice together.' Do you not
think that then there will steal a shadow of shame across the spirit of
the servant who stood idle in the market-place all the day with the
wretched excuse, 'No man hath hired me,' when the Master had hired him
beforehand, and given him such wages in advance?
O dear brethren! the cure for silence is to keep near that Master, and
to drink in His Spirit; and then, as I beseech you to do, think, think,
think of your obligations in the light of the Cross until you can say,
'Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints is this _grace
given_,' not this burden imposed, 'that I, even I, should preach' the
Name that is above every name. 'Open Thou my lips, and my mouth _shall_
shew forth Thy praise.'