Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1892-02-12
REV. Or. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUM-
DAY SERMON.
SUBJECT: "llEAvEN.-

about the space Of haif an r."-Revela-
tion viii, !.
The busiest place in the universe is heaven.
IL is the center from which all good in
fuences start. It Is the goal at which all
,ood results arrive. The Bible represents it
as active with wheels and wings and orches-
tras and professions mounted or charioted.
But my text describes "A space when the
wheels ceased TO roll, and the trumpets to
sound, and the voices TO chant. The riders
on the white horses reigned in their
chargers. The doxologies were hushed and
the professions haltoi The hand OF arrest
was put upon all the splendors 'Stop,
heavenp cried an omnipotent 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 as
other cities for the night, for there is no
night there II does not stop for a plague,
for the inhabitant never says, 81 am sick"
1t does not stop for bankruptcies, for its in
habitants never fail. 1t does nor stop for
impossible streets, for there are no fallen
SHOWS nor sweeping freshets. What then,
stopped 1t for thirty mnutes' 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
beginning of the wars by which Constantine
gained the throne. But that was all guess,
though a learned and brilliant guess. do
not know when it was and | do not care
when IT was, but of the fact that such an in
terregnum of sound took place, | am GER
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
anl xyiIast thaf pYiGta1 ia
that over which stiffness was queen. For
an eternity there had not been sound.
World making was later day occupation.
For unimaginable ages 1t was mute uni.
verse. God was the only being, and as
there was no one 10 speak to there was no
utteranCe. But that silence has been all
broken up into worlds, and it has become
noisy universe Worlds in upheaval, worlds
In C1ngeatiun, worlds in cOnllgration,
worlds in revolution. lfgeologists are right
and | believe they are-thcrs has not
been n moment Of silence since this world
began its travels, and the crashin,S and the
sphttinGs and the uprOar, aut the hub
Gub are ever in progress.
But when among the supernals voice
cried, Hush ana for hall an hour heaven
was still, silence was honorel The full
power OF slencs many OF Us have yet to
iearn We are told that when Christ was
silence was louder than any thunder that
sver shook the world. Oftentimas when we
are assaled AMI misrepresented, the might
lest thing to say is nothing and the miGhtiest
thing to do is nothing. Those people
who nre always rushing into print TO get
themselves set right accomplish nothing but
their own c.:aCrln. Silence! Do right and
leave the results with God. Among the
grandest lessons the world has ever Learned
l.Sgn,s nf ati4up4 tanpht hy those
who endured unc0mpainingly personal or
domestic or socla, or political injustice.
Stronger than any bitter or sarcastic or
! revenEetul answer was tie patient silence.
| The famous Dr.. Morrison, OF Chelsea. ac-
complished q 5 mucl by his silent patience Il:
! by his pen and ton-ue. He had asthma that
| tor twenty-five wears brought him out OF his
| couch at two O'clock each morning. Ills
four sons and daughters deal. The remain
ing child by sunstroSe made insane. The
/ afflicted man said, AT this moment thera
is not an inch OF my body that is not filled
with agony Yet, he was cheerful, trium'
phant, silent. Those who were in his pres
euce said they felt as though they were IN
the gates Of heaven.
Oh the power OF patient silencal ESchy
Ius. the immortal poet, was condemned &c
death for writing something that offended
the people. All the pleas i'll his behalf were
OF no avail, until his brother uncovered the
arm Of tho prisoner and showed that hi;
hand had been shot off at Salsmis. Tha
silent pea liberated him. The loudest thinl
on earth is silence If it be of the right EinC
and at the right time. There was II quain
old hymn, spelled in the old style, anu one
sung in the churches;
The race is not forever got
BY him who fastest runs
Nor the Battel by those peopell
That shoot with the longest guns
Nv friends, the tossing Sea OF Galile
seemed most to offend Christ by the amour
Of nose it made, for He said TO it. "Be still
Heaven has been crowning kings and queen
unto God for many centuries, yet heave
never stopped moment for any such occur
renee but it stopped thirty minutes for tn
coronation OF Silence. There was sienc
in heaven for half an hour"
Learn also from my text that heaven mus
be an eventful and active pace from th
fact that it could affori only thirty minute
o. recess. There have been events on cart
and in heaven that seemed TO demand
whole day or whole week or whole year fC
celestial consideration. IL Grotius was rigt
and this silence occurred at the time OF Il
destruction OF Jerusalem, that scene was
awful and so prolonged that the inhabitan
of heaven could not have done Justice to
In many weeks.
Alter ltullul Dtolt1ellltllb VI bilo b"O ~
tresses of Jerusalem-Antonio and Hippic
had been going on for long while, a Romt
soldier mounted on the shoulder of anoth
soldier hurled into the window OF the ten
ple q tirebran1, and the temple was
aiame, and after covering many sacriiic
to the holiness OF God, the building itse
became a sacrifice to the rage OF man. III
hunger OF the people in that city during d
besiegement was SO great that as some ou
nd nj al
the odors of food, they burst open the doc
threatening the mother OF the househo
with death unless she gave them food a
| she took them aside and showed them 1t W
, her own child she was cooking for the CHA
, ly repast
Six hundred priests were destroyed {
, Mount Zion because the temple being go
$ there was nothing for them to do. Six the
sand people in one cloister were consume
There we're one million one hundred the
sand dead, according to Josephus. Croft
= thinks that this was the cause of silence
=, heaven for half All hour. IL Mr.. Lord W
right and this silence was during the Dioc
J tian prosecutions, by which eight hundr
: and forty-four thousand Christians suffer
death from sword and fire and banishmC
- and exposure, why did not heaven list
throughout at least one of those awful yea
v Mol Thirty minutesl The fact is that
Il celestial programme Is socroWueu WIN sp
l. tacle that II can afford only one recess in
10 eternity and that for short space.
= While there are great choruses in VIII
l. all heaven can join, each soul there ha
4 story of divine mercy peculiar to itself a
n must be n solo. How can heaven
L through with all its rectatves, with
II its cantos, with all its grand marches, W
II all its victories' Eternity Is too short
" utter all the praise. In my text hea'
lc spared thirty minutes, but 1t will ne
L. again spare one minute In worship
earthly churches, when there are many
take part, we have to counsel brevity,
ID how win heaven get on rapidly enough
/. let the one hundred and forty-four th
< sand get through each with his own st:
" and then the one hundred and forty 4
m million, and then the one hundred
- forty-tour billion, and then the one hund
and forty four trillion.