The southern argus. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Cherokee County, Kan.) 1891-1???, 1892-02-04
SILENCE In HEAVEN.
DIR. Talmage Discourses on the
Strange Event.
lessons Drawn From the Text Great
Powers in Silence-Quiet Resignation
to Great Trouble-Glfmpse of the
GlorIes of Heaven.

In a late sermon at Brooklyn Rev. T
| Dewitt Talmage took his text from
| Revelations viii l: There was silence
! in Heaven about the space of half an
| hour" DIR. Talmage said:
| The busiest place in the universe is
Heaven. It is the center from which
all good influences start; it is the goa
at which all good results arrive. The
Bible represents it as active with wheels
and wings and orchestras and process
sions mounted or charioted. But my
text describes space when the wheels
ceased to roll and the trumpets to
sound and the voices to chant The
riders on the white horses refined in
their chargers The doxologies were
hushed and the procession halted. The
hand of arrest was put upon all the
splendors. ''Stop, Heaven" cried an
omnipotent voice, and it stopped. For
thirty minutes everything cele stial
stood still There was silence in
Heaven for the space of half an hour 81
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. 1t does not
stop for a plague, for the inhabitant
never says, II am sick. 1T does not
stop for bankruptcies, for its in
habitants never fail 1t does not stop
for impossible streets, for there are no
fallen SHOWS or sweeping freshets
What, then, stopped it for thirty min
utes? Prof. Stuart thinks it was at the
time of the destruction of Jerusalem.
Mr.. Lord thinks it was in the year 81,
between the close of the Diocletian
persecution and the beginning of the
wars by which Constantine gained the
throne. do not know when it was and
/ do not care when it&was, but of the
fact that such an interregnum of sound
took place, am certain. There was
silence in Heaven for the space of half
an hour"
And. first of all, we may learn that
God and all Heaven then honored si-
lence. The longest and widest domin-
ion that ever existed is that over which
stiffness was queen. For an eternity
there hal not been a sound. Word
making was a later day occupation.
For unimaginable ages it was a mute
universe. God was the only Being,
and, as there was no one to speak to,
there was no utterance. But that ST.
lence has been all broken up into
words, and it has become a noisy uni
verse. Worlds in upheaval, worlds in
congelation, worlds in confagration,
worlds in revolution. If biologists are
right land | believe they are) there has
not been a moment of silence since
this world began its travels and the
,rashings and the sphttings and the
uproar and the hubbub are ever in
progress. But when among the SUI
pernals voice cried: "Hush!" and
for half an hour Heaven was
still, silence was honored The
full power of silence many of
US have yet to learn. We are told that
whon Christ was arraigned, "He an
swered not word" That silence was
louder than any thunder that ever
shook the world. Oftimes, when we
are assailed and misrepresented. the
mightiest thing to say is to say moth.
ing, and the mightiest thing to dc, is to
do nothing. Those people who are al
ways rushing into print to get them
selves set right accomplish nothing but
their own chagrin. Silence! Do right
and leave the results with God. Among
the grandest lessons the world has ever
learned are the lessons of patience
taught by those who endured uncom-
plainingly personal or domestic or
social or political injustice.
Eschylus, the immortal poet, was
to death for writing some
thing that offended the people. All
the pleas in his behalf were of no
avail, until his brother uncovered the
arm of the prisoner and showed that |
MS hand had been shot off at Salamis. |
That silent plea liberated him. The
oudest thing on earth is silence if it be |
IF the right kind and at the right time.
My friends, the tossing sea of Galilee |
seemed most to offend Christ by the |
amount of noise it made, for He said to |
t: "Be STILL" Heaven has been
kings and queens unto God
or many centuries, yet Heaven never |
stopped a moment for any such occur
'ence, but it stopped thirty minutes for
he coronation of silence There was
silence in Heaven for the space of half
IN hour"
Learn also from my text that Heaven
must be an eventful and active place
rom the fact that it could afford only
hirty minutes of recess There have
,een events on earth and in Heaven
hat seemed to demand a whole dav or
whole week or whole year for celestial
If Grotius was right
nd this silence occurred at the time of
he destruction of Jerusalem. that
Gene was so awful and so prolonged
hat the inhabitants of Heaven could
lot have done justice to it in many
weeks.
After besiegement of the two fcrt-
esses of observation-disclosures and Hip
'icus-had been going on for a long
While, Roman soldier mounted on the
boulder of another soldier hurled into
he window of the temple firebrand,
nd the temple was all afame, and
fter covering many sacrifices to the
Ioliness of God, the building itself be-
anne sacrifice to the rage of man.
The hunger of the people in that city
uring the besiegement was so great
hat as some outlaws were passing a
COR way and inhaled the odor of food.
hey burst open the door, threatening
/