Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1892-02-05

BROOKLYN, y. V. Jan 81, 1899. DIR.
Talmage has of late been preaching on
texts of Scripture that seem TO have
been neglected and here is a sermon
on n beautiful text which proba bly,
was never before selected for dis
course. Revelation 5: /. There was
silence in heaven about the space of
half an hour"
The busiest place in the universe is
heaven II 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 n space when
the wheels cease to roll and the trum-
pets 10 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 hand Of arrest was put upon all the
splendors. "Stop, Heaven" 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 we can learn it is the only
time heaven ever,stopred. 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: Il am sick. 1t does not
stop for bankruptcies, for its inhabi-
tants never fail. 1t does not stop for
impa ssa BILE streets, for there are no
fallen SHOWS nor sweeping freshets.
What, then, stopped it for thirty min
utes? Grotius and Prof, Stuart
think it was at the time of
the destru ,tion of Jerusalem. Mr..
Lord thinks 1T was in the year 81, be-
tween the close of the Diocletian per-
secution 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 | dc
not care when il 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"
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 haye
been events on earth and in heaven
that seemed to demand a whole day or
whole week or whole year for celestial
consideration. If Grotius was right
and this silence occurred at the time
of the destruction of Jerusalem. that
scene was so awful and 50 prolonged
that the inhabitants of heaven could
not have done Justice to it in many
weeks. After fearful besiegements Of
the two fortrcsses of Jcrusale m-An-
tonic and Hippicus-had been
going on for long while.
a Roman soldier mounte on
the shoulder OF another sol
der hurled into the window of the tenn
pie fire brand and the temple was all
afame, and after covering many sacri-
fees to the holiness of God the build
ing itself became IL sacrifice to the rage
of man. The hunger of the people in
that city during the Disagreement was
so great that as some outlaws were
passing a doorway and inhaled the
odors of food, they burst open the door,
threatening the mother of the house
mold with death unless she gave them
some food, and she took them
aside ana showed them that it
was her own child she was cooking for
the ghastly repast. Six hundred priests
were destroyed on Mount Zion because
the temple being gone there was moth
ing for them TO do. Six thousand peo-
pie in one cloister were consumed
There were one million one hundred
thousand dead, according TO Jose phus.
Grotius thillis that this was the cause
of silence in heaven for half an hour
If Mr.. Lord was right and this silence
was during the Diocletian persecu-
tions, by which eight hundred and
forty four thousand Christians suf-
fered death from sword and fire,
and Punishment and exposure, why did
not heaven listen throughout at least
one Of those awful years? No! Thirty
minutes. The fact is that the celestial
programme is so crowded with spec
tacle that it can afford only one recess
in all eternity and that for a short
/ space. While there are great choruses
/ in which all heaven can join. each
soul there has a story of divine mercy
peculiar TO itself, and it must be q
solo How can heaven get through
with all its recitatives, with all its
cantatas, with all its grand marches
with all its victories? Eternity is toe
short TO utter all che praise. In my
text Heaven spared thirty minutes, but
it will never again spare one minute
In worship in earthly church, when
there are many to take part, we have
to counsel brevity, but how will Heav
en- get on rapidly enough to let the on,
hundred and forty-four thousand ge
through each with his own story ant
then the one hundred and forty -four
million, and then the one hundred ant
forty-four billion, and shen the on,
hundred and forty-four trillion.
My subject also impresses me with
the immortality of half-hour. That