The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1892-02-11
A VIEW OF HEAVEN.
DR.. TALMAGE TELLS OF A THIRTY
MINUTES GLIMPSE OF PARADISE.

"There Was Silence III Heaven About
the Space Of Half an Hour"
BROOKLYN, Jan. 31.-Dr. Talmage
has of late been preaching on texts of
Scripture that seem to have been neg
lected, and here is sermon on beau
tiful text which probably was never be-
fore selected for a discourse. Revela-
tion viii, 1, "There was silence in heay.
en- 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. 1t 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
10 sound, and the voices to chant. The
riders on the white horses reined in
their chargers. The doXologies were
hushed and the professions halted. The
hand CT arrest was put upon all the
splendors. "Stop, heaven" cried an
omnlpotent voice. and it stopped. For
thlrty minutes everything celestial
stood still: "There was silence in heav-
en- for half an hour"
From all we can learn it is the only
e.A'S AiSh'Sh SNOA oGoppCu. IL uOCS IlOU
stop as other cities for the night, for
there is no night there. 1t does not
stop Tor plague, for the inhabitants
never says, 81 am sick" 1t does not
stop for bankruptcies, for its inhabi-
tants never fail. 1t does not stop for
lmpassable streets, for there are no
tallen SHOWS nor sweeping freShets
What, then, stopped it for thirty minu-
tes? Grotius and Professor Stuart
thlnk 1T was at the time Of the deStruc-
tlon 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 Con.
stantine gained the throne. But that
was all d guess, though a learned and
brilliant guess. | do not know when
1t was and L do not care when it was
but OF the fact that such an interreg.
mum OF sound took place. | am certain
"Inere was silence in heaven for half
an hour"
The full power of silence many Of us
have yet to learn. We are told that
when Christ was arralgned "IIe an,
swered not Il work., That silence was
louder than any Thunder that ever
shook the world. 0ttentimes, when
we are aSSailed and miSrepresented, the
mightiest thing to Say Is to say moth
ing, and the mightiest thing to do is tt
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 cvel
learned are the lessons of patience
taught by those who endured uncom
plaln1ngly personal or domestic or so
clal or political inj ustice.
On, the power of patient silence
Eschylus, the immortal poet, was con
demned to death for writing something
that offended the people. All the plea!
In his behalf were OF no avail, until hi
brother uncovered the arm of the pris
oner and showed that his hand haC
been shot Off at Salanis. That slen
plea liberated him. The loudest thint
on earth is silence If it be of the right
Kind and at the right time. There was
aauaint old hymn, spelled in the ole
style, and once sung in the churches:
The race is not forever got
by him who fastest runs,
Nor the Battci by those pcODell
That shoot with the longest guns.
My friends, the tossing Sea of Galilee
seemed most to offend Christ by the
amount of noise it made, for he said tC
it. "Be still" HEAVIER has been crown
ing kings and queens unto God fol
AAiNiJ SShIullSo, yCU uIOfCll uCfCl
stopped a moment for any such occur
renee, but it stopped thirty minutes
for the coronation of Silence. "There
was silence in heaven for half an hour
Learn also from my text that heaven
must be an eVentful and active place
from the fact that it could afford only
thirty minutes of recess. There have
been events on earth and in HEAVIER
that seemed to demand a whole day o.
whole week or whole year for celeStia
consideration. IL Grotius was rgh
ana this silence occurred at the time O.
The destruction Of Jerusalem, that scene
was so awful and so prolonged that tn,
inhabitants Of heaven could not hay,
done justice to it in many weeks
After fearful besiegement of the two
10rtreSSeS of JeruSalem-AntOniO an(
Hippicus-had been going on for a Ions
while, Roman soldier mounted on Tho
shoulder of another soldier hurled into
the window Of the temple lirebrand
ana the temple was all allame, and af
ter covering many sacrifices to the holi
ness or God, the building itself became
sacrifice to the rage of man, The
hunger of the people in that city dur
ing the besiegement was so great tha
as some outlaws were passing a door
way and inhaled the odors Of food, They
burst open the door, threatening thu
mother of the household with death un
less she gave them some food, and sht
took them aside and showed them Il
was her own child she was cooking fo1
the CHASTITY repast.
Six hundred priests were destroyed
on Mount Zion because the temple be
ing gone there was nothing for then
to do. Six thousand people in one
cloister were consumed. There were
one million one hundred thousand dead
according to Josephus. Grotius thinks
that this was the cause of silence il
heaven for half an hour. If Mr.. Lor,
was right and this silence was durin1
the Diocletian prosecutions, by whicl
eight hundred and forty-four thousant
CHRISTIANS suffered death from swOr(
and ire and Punishment and exposure
why did not heaven listen throughou
at least one of those awful years? No
Inlrty minutes! The fact is that tn,
celestlai programme Is so crowded will
spectacle that it can afford only one re
cess in all eternity and that for a shor
space.