Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1892-02-04
DR.. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
SILENCE LASTED BUT THIRTY
MINUTES.
Or. Talmege breaches from the Beautiful
Text In Revelation That Tells OF the
Only Interlns ssion Ever Known in Para
disc.
Silence In Heaven.

DR.. Talmage has of late been preach
Ing on texts of Scripture that seem to
have been neglected, and there is SER
mon on beautiful text which probably
was never before selected for discourse.
Rev. viii, /, There was silence III
Heaven about the space of half 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 process slons
mounted or charioted But my tex de-
scribes o 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 charges.
The doxologies were hushed and the pro-
cessions halted. The hand of arrest was
put upon all the splendors. stop,
Heaven!" cried an omnipotent voice, and
it stopped. For thirty minutes every
thing 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. 1t does not stop
for plague. for the inhabitant never
says, 81 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 sweeping
freshets. What, then, stopped it for
thirty minutes? Grotius and Prof.
Stuart think that 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, But
that was all a guess though learned
and brilliant guess. | do not know
when it was and L do not care when it
regnum 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 and widest dominion that
ever existed is that over which stiffness
was queen. For an eternity there had
not been sound. World making was a
later day occupation. For unimaginabe
ages it was mute universe. God was
the only being, and as there was no one
to speak to there was no utterancc. But
that silence has been all broken up into
worlds, and it has become q noisy uni
verse. Worlds in upheavel, worlds in
congelation, worlds III contlagration,
worlds in revolution.
If biologists are right (and / believe
they are) there has not been moment
of silence since this world began its
travels, and the crashings, and the split
tings, and the uproar, and tho hubbub
are ever in progress. But when among
the supernals voice cried, 'Hush'! and
for half an hour Heaven was still, sill
ence was honored. The full power of
silence many of us have vet to learn. We
are told that when Christ was ar
raigned 'He answered not a word"
That silence was louder than any thunder
that ever shook the world.
Outlines, when we are assaled and
misrepresented, the mghtiest 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.