The Hazel Green herald. [volume] (Hazel Green, Wolfe County, Ky.) 1885-19??, 1892-03-11
IN HEAVEN.
No Sickness Is There, Nor Age,
Nor Poverty,
hut Happy Faces. Glowing with Immortal
Iiealth-waiIs OF Jasper and Rivers
Bright-Sermon by Rev. DIR.
TalmRgc. II. ID.

DR. Talmagc's text on Sunday was
Revelations viii. 1: There was silence
in Heaven about the space of half an
hour"
Tne busiest place in the universe is
Heaven. 1t is the center from which
all rood 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 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 professions halted. The
hard of arrest was put upon all the
splendors. 'Stop, IIeaven" cried an
omnipotent voice. and it stopped. For
thirty minutes everything celestial
stood still. There was silence in
Heaven for the space of half an hour"
From all VIC 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 plague, for the inhabitant
never says: II am sick" It does not
stop for bankruptcies, for its inhabit-
ants never fail. 1t docs not stop for
I'M passable streets, for there are no fall
en- SHOWS nor sweeping freshets. What,
then. stopped it for thirty minutes?
Gcotius and Prof. Stuart think it was at
the time of the destruction of Jerusa-
lem Mr.. Lord thinks it was in the
year I'll, between the close of the Dio.
cletian persecution and the beginning
of the wars by which Constantine gain
ed the throne. But that was all guess,
though learned and brilliant guess.
l do not know when it was, and i 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 ST.
lence. The longest and widest domin-
ion 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 manageable ages it was mute
and, as there was no one to speak to,
there was no utterance. But that ST.
lence has been all broken up into
worlds, and it has become a noisy uni
verse Worlds in upheaval, worlds in
cougelation, worlds in confagration,
worlds in revolution. If biologists are
right, and believe they are, there has
not not been n moment of silence since
this world began its travels, and the
crashings and the splittings and the up
roar and the hubbub are ever in prog
rcss, but when among the supernals a
voice cried "IIush" and for half an
hour Heaven was still, silence was hon
ored The full power of silence many
of us have yet to learn. We are told
that when Christ was arraigned "He
answered not n word" That silence
was louder than any thunder that ever
shook the world. Ofttimes, when we
are assailcd and misreprcsented, the
mightiest thing to say is to say nothing,
and the mightiest thing to do is to do
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 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 So
cial or political justice. Stronger than
any bitter or sarcastic or revengeful |
answer was the patient silence.
The famous Dr. Morrison, Of Chelsea, |
accomplished as much by his silent |
patience as by his pen and tongue. He |
had asthma that for twenty-five years |
brough thin out of his couch at 2 o'clock |
each morning. His four sons and |
daughters dead; the remaining 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,
triumphant, silent. Those who were |
in his presence said they felt as though |
they were in the gates of Heaven. Oh,
the power of patient silence! Eschylus,
the imperial poet was condemned to
death for writing something that Of
Tended the people. All the pleas in his
behalf were of no avail until his
brother uncovered the arm of his
brother and showed where his hand |
had been shot off at Salamis. That
silent plea liberated him. The loudest
thing on earth is silence IL it be Of the
right kind and at the right time There
was a quaint old hymn spelled in the
old style and once sung in the churches:
The race Is not forever got
by him who fastest runs.
Nor the battle by those people
That shoot with the longest guns.