Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1892-02-11
A VIEW OF HEAVEN.
DR.. TALMAeE TELLS OF A THIRTY
MINUTES GLIMPSE OF PARADISE.

Iected Text from Revelation viii. 1.
There Was silence in Heaven About the
space of Half AN Hour"
BROOKLYN. Jan 3l.-Dr Tamage has of
late been preaching Oh texts of Scripture
shat seem to have been neglected, and here
is sermon on beautiful text which prob
ably was never before selected for dis
course Revelation viii, / There was
silence in heaven about the space of half
an hour.
The busiest place in the universe is
heaven 1t il the center from which all
good Influences start. Ii is the goal at,
which all good results arrive The Bible
represents it as active with wheels and
wings aud orchestras and professions
mounted or charioted. But my text de
scribes 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 Phe dox
ologies were hushed and the professions
halted The hand of arrest was put upon
all the splendors Stop, heavenf cried
an omnipotent voice. and it stopped For
thirty minutes everything celestial stood
still There was silence in heaven for
half an hour
4
heaven ever stopped Il 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, III am sick"
It does not stop for bankruptcies for its
inhabitants never fail 1t does not stop
for mpaSsable streets for there are no
fallen SHOWS nor sweeping freshets. What,
then, stopped il for thirty mintuesy Grotius
and Professor Stuart think 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 Con
stantine gained the throne But that was
all "A guess, though 1t 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, am certain "There was silence in
heaven for half an hour
HoNORED SILENCE
And first of all we may learn that God
and all heaven honored silence The long
est 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 il was a mute uni
verse God was the only being, and as
there was no one To speak to there was no
utteance But that silence has been all
broken up into worlds, and it has become
a noisy universe Worlds in upheaval
worlds in congelation, worlds in conaagra-
ton 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 crishings
and the splittings and the uproar. and the
hubbub are ever in progress.
But when among the supernals voice
cried, "Hushr' and for half an hour heaven
was still, silence was honored The full
power Of silence many OF US have yet to
learn. We are told that when Christ was
arraigned "He answered not a word. That
silence was louder than any thunder that
ever shook the world Oftentimes, when we
are assailed an d misrepresentd, the might
lest 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 accom-
plish nothing but their own chagrin. 81
lence 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 I'M
complainingly personal or domestic or so
cia or political injustice
stronger Lidu any blAitF OF SaftttSllC Ut
revengeful answer was he patient silence.
The famous Dr. Morrison, Of Chelsea, ac-
complished AS much by his silent patience
as BY his pen and tongue He had asthma
that for twenty 1--WE years brought him out
Of his couch at two O'Clock each morning
His four SONS and daughters dead The
remaining child by sunstroke made in
sane The afflicted man said, AT this
moment there is not an inch Of my body
that is not filed 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 silencel Eschy
Jus, the immortal poet was condemned to
death for writing something that offended
the people All the pleas in his behalf
were of no avail, until his brother uncov-
cred the arm of the prisoner and showed
that his hand had been shot off at Salamis.
That silent plea liberated him. The loud
est thing on earth is silence If il be Of the
right kind aud at the right time. There
was 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 Rattel by those peopell
That shoot with the longest guns
Nv friends. the tossing Sea of Galilee |
seemed most to offend Christ by the /
amount Of noise il made, for he said to it, |
BE stillr' Heaven has been browning |
kings and queens unto God for many cen
turtles yet heaven never stopped moment /
for any such occurrence. but it stopped /
thirty minutes for the coronation Of ST /
lence. There was silence in heaven for |
half an hour.
HEAVEN AN ACTIVE PLACE
Learn also from my text that heaven
must be an eventful and active place, from
the fact that il could afford only thirty |
minutes of recess There have been events
gu earth and in heaven that seemed to de
mand 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 50 awful and so prolonged that
the Inhabitants Of heaven could not have