Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1892-02-05
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine'S Sun.
day Sermon.
Subjects "Busy is Heaven"

es active with wheels AMI wings ana orcnes.
tras and professions mounted or charioted.
But my text describes a space when the
wheels ceased 10 roll, and the trumpets TO
sound, and the voices TO chant The riders
on the white horses reignc1 in their
chargers. The doxologies wera hushed and
the professions hllted. The hai1 of arrest
was put upon all the splendors. stop,
heaven cried an omnipo-ent voice and II
stopped. For thirty minutes everything
celestial stood still. There was silence in
heaven for half an hour
From all we can learn it is the only time
heaven ever stopped. 1t does not stop os
other cities for the night, for there IS no
night there. II does not stop for plague,
for the inhabiiGnt never says, Il am sick.
1t does not stop for bankruptcies for its in
habitants meyer fail. 1t does not stop for
impossible streets, for there are no fallen
|. SHOWS nor sweeping freshets. What, then,
stopped It for thirty minutes, Grotius and
Professor Stuart think it was at the time OF
the destruction OF Jerusalem. Mr.. Lord
thinks it was in the year 3ll between the
close of the Diocletian persecution and the
beginning of the wars by which Constantine
gained the throne. But that was all guess,
though learned and brilliant guess. dc
not know when il was and do not care
when it was, but of the fact that such an in.
tain. There was silence In heaven for half
an hour"
And first of all we may learn that God
! and all heaven honored silence. The longest
and widest dominion that ever existed Is
| that over which stillpess was queen. For
| an eternity there had not been sound.
| World making was a later day occupation.
For unimaginable ages 1t was mute uni
verse. God was the only being, and as
there was no one TO speak to there was no
utterance. But that silence has been all
broken up into worlds aud it has become
noisy universe Worlds in upheaval, worlds
in congelation, worlds in confagration,
worlds in revolution. If biologists are right
and l believe they are-there has not
been moment of silence since this world
began its travels, and the crashings and the
splittings, and the uproar, and the hub
bu6 are ever in progress,
But when among the supernals voice
cried, "Hushl' and for half an hour heaven
was still, silence was honored. The full
power of silence many OF Va have yet to
| learn. We are told that when Christ was
! arraigned, He answered not q word" That
silence was louder than any thunder that
ever shook the world. Oftentimes, when we
/ are assailed and misrepresented, the might
/ lest thinZ to say is nothing, and the nlghtiest
/ thing to do is nothing. Those people
who are always rushing into print TO get
themselves set right accomplish nothing but
! their own chagrin. Silence. Do right and
| leave the results with Col. Among the
/ Crandest lessons the world has ever learned
/ are the lessons OF patience taught by those
who endured uncOmplainingly personal or
domestic or social or political injustice.
Stronger than any bitter or sarcastic or
revenyeful answer was the patient Silenca
] e. n- of ffhal-aa n
complished as much by his silent patience as
/ by bis pen and tongue. He had asthma that
| for twenty-five years brought him out OF MS
couch at two O'clock each morning. His
! four sons and daughters deal. The remain
/ ing child by sunstroke made insane The
| afflicted man said, AT this moment there
is not An inch OF my body that is not filled
with agony Yet, he was cheerful, trium'
/ phana silent. Those who we.a in his pres
/ ence said they felt as though they were in
the gates Of heaven.
Oh the power Of patient silence' Bschy'
lus. the immortal poet was condemned 70
death for writing something that offended
the people All the pleas in his behalf were
of no avail until his brother uncovered the
arm Of the prisoner ami showed that his
hand had been shot off at Salamis That
silent pea liberated him. The lOudest thing
on earth is silence if it be of the right kind
and at tho right time. There was quaint
old hymn, spelled in the old style, an1 once
sung in the churches;
The race is not forever got
By him who fastest rams.
Nor the Dattel By those peOpo
Tha. s1oo. with the longcs, g1nA
Nv friends, the tossing Sea OF Galilee
scented most 70 offend Christ by the amount
OF noise it made, for He said to it, "Be stillp
Heaven has been browning kings and queens
unto God for many centuries, yet heaven
never stopped moment for any such occur
renee but it stopped thirty minutes for the
coronation OF Silence. There was silence
in heaven for half an hour
Learn also from my text that heaven must
be an eventful ani active place from the
fact that it could afford only thirty minutes
o. recess. There have been events on earth
and in heaven that seemed to demand a
whole day or whole week or whole year Tor
celestial consideration. II Grotius was right
and this silence occurred at the time of the
destruction of Jerusalem. that scene was so
awful and so prolonged that the Inhabitants
of heaven could not have done Justice to 1t
in many weshS.
After fearful besieZement Of the two for
tresses of Jerusalem-Antonio and Hlpplcus
had been going on for long while,a Roman
soldier mounted IN the shoulder OF another
soldier hurled into the window OF the tenn
ple a firebrand, and the temple was all
afiame. and after covering many sacrifices
TO the holiness of God, the building itself
became a sacrifice to the rage OF man. The
hunger OF the people in that city during the
besiegement was so great that as some out
laws were passing a doorway aud inhaled
the odors OF food, they burst open the door,
threatening the mother OF the household
with death unless she gave them food. and
she took them aside and shovel them it was
her own child she was cooking for the ghast-
ly repast.
Six hundred priests were destroyed on
Mount Zion because the temple being gone
there was nothing for them TO do Six thou.
sand people in one cloister were consumer.
There we're one million one hundred thou.
sand dead, according to Josephus. Grotius
t inks that this was the cause OF silence IN
heaven for half att hour Ii Mr.. Lord was
| right and this silence was during the Mocle'
,ian prosecutions, by whica eight hundred
and forty-sour thousand Christians suffered
death from sword and fire and Punishment
and exposure. WY did not heaven listen
throughout at least one of those awful years!
No. Thirty minutes The fact is that the
celestial programme is s)crowled with spec
tacle that it can afford only one recess in all
eternity and that for a short space.
While there are great choruSe5 IN winch
all heaven can join, each soul there has q
story of divine mercy peculiar to itself and
Il must be q solo. How can heaven &c
through with all its recitatives, with al
Its cantos, with all its grand marches wits
all its victoriesi Eternity is too short &c
utter all the praise. In my text heaven
spared thirty minutes, but it will never
again spare one minute. In worship IL
earthly churches, when there are many tC
take part. we have TO counsel brevty, but
how will heaven get Oh rapidly enough t.
let the one hundred aud forty-four thou
sand get through each with his own story
and then the one hundred and forty foul
million. and then the one hundred and
forty-four billion, AMI then the one hundred
and forty -four trillion.
toNot only are all the triumphs Of the pasl
be commemorateJ. but all the triumphs
TO come. Not only what now know oil
God, but what we will know of Him aftel
everlasting study of the Deific. IL my tex
had said trere was silence in heaven foi
thirty days, | would not have been startled
at the announcement, but il indicates thirty
minutes. Why there will be so many friend;
10 hunt up; SO many Of the greatly goo ! ani
useful that we will want TO see; so many oil
the inscrutable things Of earth we will neel
explained; 50 many exciting earthly exper-
fences we will want to talk over, and all the