ture justify.
"This was," as Taylor observes, "to make amends for committing many sins
by omitting many duties; and, instead of digging out the offending eye,
to pluck out both, that they might neither see the scandal nor the duty;
for fear of seeing what they should not, to shut their eyes against all
light." The wiser course for you to adopt is the practice of silence for
a time, as a discipline for the correction of the fault into which you
have fallen. Pray as did the Psalmist, "Put a guard, O Lord, unto my
mouth, and a door unto my lips." "He did not ask for a wall," as St.
Gregory remarks, "but for a door, a door that might open and shut." It
is said of Cicero, he never spake a word which himself would fain have
recalled; he spake nothing that repented him. Silence will be a cover to
your folly, and a disclosure of your wisdom.

"Keep thy lips with all diligence."

"A man that speaketh too much, and museth but little and lightly,
Wasteth his mind in words, and is counted a fool among men:
But thou when thou hast thought, weave charily the web of meditation,
And clothe the ideal spirit in the suitable garments of speech."

Note well the _discretion of silence_. What man ever involved himself in
difficulties through silence? Who thinks another a fool because he does
not talk? Keep quiet, and you may be looked upon as a wise man; open
your mouth and all may see at once that you are a simpleton. Ben Jonson,
speaking of one who was taken for a man of judgment while he was silent,
says, "This man might have been a Counsellor of State, till he spoke;
but having spoken, not the beadle of the ward."

Lord Lytton tells of a groom who married a rich lady, and was in fear as
to how he might be treated by the guests of his new household, on the
score of his origin and knowledge: to whom a clergyman gave this advice,
"Wear a black coat, and hold your tongue." The groom acted on the
advice, and was considered a gentlemanly and wise man.

The same author speaks of a man of "weighty name," with whom he once
met, but of whom he could make nothing in conversation. A few days
after, a gentleman spoke to him about this "superior man," when he
received for a reply, "Well, I don't think much of him. I spent the
other day with him, and found him insufferably dull." "Indeed," said the
gentleman, with surprise; "why, then I see how it is: Lord ---- has been
positively talking to you."

This reminds one of the story told of