The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1892-02-11
a VIEW OF HEIA Y EIN.
Multitudes of Men and Women Who
Got no Crown on Earth Will Have
One in Heaven.
The First Half Hour of the Soul There
Will Be Spent in Being Honored
for Its Earthly Struggles.

lalmaSe mas OF late been preaching on
texts Of Scripture that seem to have
been neglected and hereis sermon on
beautiful text which probably was
never before selected for q discourse.
Revelation 8: l, '"There was silence in
heaven about the space OF nalf an
hour"
The busiest place in the universe is
heaven. 1t is the center from which
all good influences start; it is the goal
at which all good results arrive. The
Bible represents it as active with
wheels and wings and orchestras 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
refined in their chargers. The doxol-
ogies were hushed and the PROFESSIONS
halted. The hand OF arrest was put
upon all the splendors. "Stop,
Heaven!" cried an omnipotent voice,
and it stopped. For 80 minutes
everything CELESTIAL stood still. "There
was silence in heaven for the space of
half an hour"
From all that we can learn it is the
only time heaven ever stopped. It
does not stop, as other cities for the
night, for there is no night there. 1t
does not stop for plague, for the in
habitant never says: II am sick"
1t does not stop for bankruptcies, for
it's inhabitants never fail. 1t does
not stop for impossible streets, for
there are no fallen SHOWS nor sweep
ing freshets. What, then, stopped it
for 80 minutes? Grotius and Prof.
Stuart think it was at the time of the
destruction OF Jerusalem. Mr.. Lord
thinks it was in theyear 81, 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
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 interregnum of sound took place, 1
am certain. "tIhere 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 SILENCE.
The longest and widest dominion
that ever existed is that over which
Stiffness was Queen. For an eternity
there had not been a sound. World
making was a later day occupation.
For unimaginable ages it was q mute
universe. 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
W.
universe. Worlds in upheaval, worlds
in congelation, worlds in confagra-
ton, worlds in revolution. If geolo-
giists are right, and I believe they are,
there has not been moment OF
silence since this world began it's
travels and the crashing and the split
ting and the uproar and the hubbub
are eyer in progress. But when among
the supernals a 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
Oh, the power of patient silence!
Eschylus, the immortal poet, was con-
demned to death for writing some
thing that offended the people. All
the pleas in his behalf we're of no
avail, until his brother uncovered the
arm of the prisoner and showed that
his arm had been shot off at Salamis.
That silent plea liberated him. Heav-
en- has been GROWING kings and
queens unto God for many centuries,
yet heaven never stopped q moment
for any such occurrence, but stopped
thirty minutes for the coronation of
Silence. "There was silence in heaven
for the space of half an hour
Learn also from my text that heov-
en- must be
AN EVENTFUL AND ACTIVE PLACE d.
from the fact that it could afford on
ly thirty minutes of recess. There
have been events on earth and in
heaven that seemed to demand q
whole week or whole year for 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 it in many
weeks. After fearful besiegement of
two fortresses of Jerusalem
t11lo AAAPH lStlo llc1lA UCCl SOiIS Ol1 I'LL "
long while, a Roman soldier mounted
on the shoulder of another soldier
hurled into the window Of the temple
firebrand, and the temple was all
ahame, and after covering many sacri-
fees to the holiness OF God, the build
ing 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 outlaws were
passing q doorway and inhaled the
odor OF food, they burst open the door
threatening the mother of the house
hold with death unless she gave them
some food, and she took them aside
and showed them that it was her own
child she was cooking for the CHASTITY
repast. Six hundred priests were de-
stroyed on Mount Zion because the
temple being gone there was nothing
for them to do. Six thousand peo-
pie in one cloister were consumed.
There were 100000 dead, &C
cording to Josephus. Grotius thinks
that this, was the cause of silence in
heaven for half an hour. II Mr.. Lord
was right and this silence was during
the Diocletian prosecutions by which
S44, 600 Christians suffered death from