In Proverb 15, Solomon tells us how the peace may be kept, that we may know how in our places to keep it; it is by soft words. If wrath be risen like a threatening cloud, pregnant with storms and thunder, a soft answer will disperse it and turn it away. When men are provoked, speak gently to them, and give them good words, and they will be pacified, as the Ephraimites were by Gideon's mildness (Judges 8:1-3); whereas, upon a like occasion, by Jephthah's roughness, they were exasperated, and the consequences were bad,
(Judges 12:1-3). Reason will be better spoken, and a righteous cause better pleaded, with meekness then with passion; hard arguments do best with soft words.
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