Danger in Talking Too Easily

The man who can talk easily, and tell what  he knows without embarrassment and with­out special preparation, is in danger. The danger is that he will make this gift of ready utterance a substitute for accuracy of informa­tion. He may come to think that because he can tell people anything he knows without diffi­culty, that he can tell them anything he does not know just as easily.

Consequently, he neglects to study, fails to think, allows his mind to become barren, empty, fallow. And then, possessed of his dangerous gift of easy speech, he will proceed to speak for half an hour without saying anything, and deluge the ears of his hearers with a flood of idle, empty, vapid, commonplace talk.

To really instruct the people, men must them­selves either think or study. No harm will come from doing both. A thoughtful man may need less aid from books. And a studious man may succeed if he has less originality of thought.

I do not mean that a man must of necessity think or study with particular reference to each particular point or each particular occa­sion upon which he speaks, but that his habit of mind must be one of study and thought. This will mean that his general preparation for all occasions will include the special prepara­tion which will equip him to speak quickly upon many subjects which lie within his gen­eral range of thought. Then he can at once speak with force and clearness upon a subject which may suggest itself, because he has at some time studied or thought on that subject. So a man of general information answers ordinary questions with ease because he is familiar with the facts which are involved.

Some preachers have ceased to study their Bibles. They content themselves with repeat­ing things^—they have known and repeated^—for^­ years. The result is bound to be that intelli­gent hearers will become disgusted with the unvarying monotony, and leave them to waste their words upon ears and minds as barren and empty as their own.

Whoever takes it upon himself to instruct and profit the church of Christ or the world by speaking the words of everlasting life, must study deeply and lovingly the word of the Lord. He must have the word of Christ dwell­ing in him richly. He will then, like a scribe well instructed, bring forth from the treasure house things both new and old. Such a man will glow with the freshness of perpetual youth. Lodging under the shadow of the Almighty, the secret of the Lord will be with him. And the people, gladdened with the riv­ers of living water that flow forth from him, and studying to learn the secret of his wisdom and his power, will say as one did of William Bramwell, "Brother Bramwell lives so near the gate of heaven that he hears a great many things which we do not know anything about."

So, men called of God, "search the Scrip­tures." Let their hallowed fragrance fill your own heart with perpetual sweetness. Then let what you know and feel and practice of their power and excellence, fit you to bear to others the words of life which are such a joy and blessing to your own soul.

Lansing, Mich.