THIRD LETTER
OF THE USEFULNESS OF SILENCE AND SOLITUDE
Dear Beloved,
I know of your great urge to progress spiritually and your desire to attain unto union with God. But I do recommend silence and solitude to you. Until you learn to walk alone, and give diligence to the practice of silence, you will barely attain unto that end. Personally, I do not think a man can have any great encounter with God without first learning to be alone.
Trust me, brother, there is barely a word God whispers to us in the company of other men. If you so desire to have a great encounter with that God of Abraham, then you ought to first learn to walk alone.
Moses for example was alone when he first met with the wonder of God at Mamre via the burning bush. Every shred of evidence also points to the fact that Gideon, the son of Joash, was alone threshing the wheat by the winepress when he met with the angel of God.
How sweet and solemn was that night when Jesus was betrayed by Judas. There in the midst of Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and far apart from the other disciples, he gently withdrew himself and wrestled all alone in tears and prayers there in that profound darkness that covered Gethsemane. He knew the cross was his alone and that he had to carry it alone. He knew He was destined to die on it alone.
Most of the saints of old were men apart. They were men that loved to spend much of their time alone. They always spent a greater part of their time engaging God in a sweet discourse within the inner chamber of their soul. Their separation from men always sent them before God. For often times, it is in loneliness that men are thrown back upon God.
Let the worst of hooligans be denied his friends and relative. Let them all avoid his company and never say a word to him, and he would be a man apart and alone. There in that loneliness following his denial, that man is likely to meet up with God. The knowledge of The Holy is very likely to unwind in him as he begins taking journeys alone.
When they are very few that share in our interest, we are forced to walk alone. And such loneliness is good for piety and devotions.
Brother, I know for sure that the world cannot afford you the companionship you seek. For this reason I recommend the angels to you. I urge you to make the Holy Spirit your friend by frequently engaging Him in a discourse within. And what but silence can bring this joy to you.
Silence is the surest way to enjoy God. It is the simplest route that leads creation to the inner chamber, the dwelling place of The Spirit. If only you would learn to practice silence, you would KNOW . . . You will KNOW that He’s God. Yes, there are great knowledge in books. But the greatest of wisdom is discovered in stillness. In stillness, He declares His majesty. How I wish you could taste of this wonderful fruit.
That practice of silence is not to forbid us from mingling with contacts or holding conversations with friends and neighbors who come to us. They are only to help us retire within and to refresh our soul with good and holy thoughts.
WHY SHOULD WE FAINT AND FEAR TO LIVE ALONE
By John Keble
Why should we faint and fear to live alone,
Since all alone, so Heaven has will'd, we die,
Nor e'en the tenderest heart, and next our own,
Knows half the reasons why we smile and sigh?
Each in his hidden sphere of joy or woe
Our hermit spirits dwell, and range apart,
Our eyes see all around in gloom or glow--
Hues of their own, fresh borrow'd from the heart.
And well it is for us our GOD should feel
Alone our secret throbbings: so our prayer
May readier spring to Heaven, nor spend its zeal
On cloud-born idols of this lower air.
For if one heart in perfect sympathy
Beat with another, answering love for love,
Weak mortals, all entranced, on earth would lie,
Nor listen for those purer strains above.
Or what if Heaven for once its searching light
Lent to some partial eye, disclosing all
The rude bad thoughts, that in our bosom's night
Wander at large, nor heed Love's gentle thrall?
Who would not shun the dreary uncouth place?
As if, fond leaning where her infant slept,
A mother's arm a serpent should embrace:
So might we friendless live, and die unwept.
Then keep the softening veil in mercy drawn,
Thou Who canst love us, tho' Thou read us true;
As on the bosom of th' aërial lawn
Melts in dim haze each coarse ungentle hue.
Thou know'st our bitterness--our joys are Thine--
Why should we faint and fear to live alone
No stranger Thou to all our wanderings wild:
Nor could we bear to think, how every line
Of us, Thy darken'd likeness and defiled,
Stands in full sunshine of Thy piercing eye,
But that Thou call'st us Brethren: sweet repose
Is in that word--the LORD who dwells on high
Knows all, yet loves us better than He knows.