Proverbs 12:23 - Homilies By E. Johnson

Experimental truths: 1. Prudent reserve and foolish babbling

I. PRUDENCE HAS REGARD TO TIME , PLACE , AND PERSONS ; FOLLY HAS NONE .

II. PRUDENCE KNOWS THAT THERE IS A TIME FOR SILENCE ; THE FOOL WILL STILL BE TALKING . A quiet tongue shows a sound head.

III. ANXIETY TO MAKE KNOWN OUR OPINIONS MAY BE BUT ANXIETY TO EXALT OURSELVES . Great talkers are great nuisances. The ambitious aim to shine cannot be hidden. The fool talks as if he were ambitious to be known for a fool.

IV. SILENCE IS ALWAYS SEASONABLE IN REFERENCE TO SUBJECTS WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND . Were this rule observed, conversation would be generally more entertaining and more profitable. At the same time, a great many pulpits would be emptied, and publishers and printers would have a sorry time of it. Let us confess that there is a great deal of the fool in every one of us.—J.