The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1902-04-10
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
"sILENcE IN HEAVEN FOR THE
SPACE OF HALF AN HOUR"

Only That Short Space in all the
Eternities of Time Given to Silence
Importance of These Fragments of Our
copyright, 1902, Louis Klopsch. N. W
Washington, April EN- the follow
Ing discourse, prepared by DR.. Talmage
before his illness, a vivid glimpse Of
the splendors and glories Of heavenly
life is presented; text, Revelation viii,
I. There was silence in 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
PROFESSIONS mounted or charioted. But
my text describes 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. The doXologies were
hushed and professions halted. The
hand OF arrest was upon all the splen-
doris. stop, heayen!" cried an omnip-
otent voice. and it stopped. For thirty
minutes everything celestial stood still.
There was silence in heaven about
the space of half an hour
~ 4 to- hn Np1x,
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" 1t does not
stop for bankruptcies, for its inhabi
tants never fail. 1t does not stop for
impossible streets, for there are no
fallen SHOWS or sweeping freshets.
What, then, stopped it for thirty min
utes? Grotius and Professor Stuart
think 1t was at the time of the destruc-
ton OF Jerusalem. Mr.. Lord thinks it
was in the year 311, between the close
OF the Diocletian persecution and the
beginning of the wars by which Con-
stantine gained the throne. do not
know when it was, and do not care
when 1t was, but of the fact that such
an interregnum of sound took place l
am certain. There was silence in
heaven about the space of half an
hour
II biologists are right-and believe
they are-there has not been a moment
OF silence since this world began it's
travels, and the crashing and the split
ting and the uproar and the hubbub
are ever In progress. But when among
the supernals voice cried, "Hush!"
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 che answered not
word" That silence was louder than
any thunder that ever shook the world.
Oftentimes when we are assaulted and
misrepresented the mightiest thing to
say is to say nothing and the mightiest
thing to do is to do nothing. 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 en-
dured uncomplainingly personal or do
nestle or political injustice. Stronger
than any bitter or sarcastic or revenge
full answer is che patient silence.
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 heaven
that seemed to demand 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 so prolonged
that the Inhabitants Of heaven could
not have done justice to it in MANY
weeks. Six hundred priests were de-
stroyed on Mount Zion because, the
temple being gone, there was nothing
for them to do Six thousand people in
one cloister were consumed. There
were 100000 dead according to jose
phus. Grotius thinks 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
prosecutions, by which $4,000 Chris
tians suffered death from sword and
FIRE and Punishment and exposure, why
did not heaven listen throughout at
least one of these awful years? No,
Thirty minutes! The fact is that the
celestial program is so crowded with
spectacle that it can afford only one
recess in all eternity, and that for a
short space.
In my text heaven spared thirty
minutes, but it will never again spare
one minute. In worship in earthly
churches where there are many to
take part we have to counsel brew
ity, but how will heaven get on rap
idly enough to let one hundred and
forty-four thousand get through each
with his own story and then one hun
dred and forty-four million and then