Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1902-04-09


glories of heavenly life is presented; text,
Revelation g: /, 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 rsuits arrive. The
Bible represents it as active with
wheels and wings and orchestras and
professions mounted or c.harioted. 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 charges. The doxologies We're
hushed and professions halted. The
hand of arrest was upon all the splendors.
stop. heaYenr cried an omnipotent
voice. and it stopped For thirty min
utes everything celestial stood still.
There was silence in heaven about the
space Of half an hour
From all we can learn it is the only
time heaven ever stopped. 1t does not
stop rs other cities for the night, tor
there is % night there. 1t does not stop
for plague. for the inhabitant never
says, Il am sick" 1t does not stop for
bankruptcies, for its inhabitants never
fail Ii does not stop for Impossible
streets for there are no fallen SHOWS or
sweeping freshets. What, then, stopped
1t for thirty minutes? Grotius and Pro-
fesso@ Stuart think it was at the time Of
the destruction of Jerusalem. MIR. 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 guess, though learned and
brilliant guess | do not know when 1t
was, and / do not care when it was. but
of the fact that such an interregnum OF
sound took place | am certain. III re
was silence in heaven about the spalc
of half an hour
And first of all. we learn that God
and all heaven then 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 Il
later day occupation. For unimaginabe
ages it was a mute universe. God was
the only being, and as there was no one
to speak to there was no utt.'ance. But
that silence has all been broken up into
worlds, and it las become noisy uni
verse. Worlds in upheaval, worlds in
eongelation, worlds in confiagratlon,
worlds In revolution.
The Power of Silence.
II biologists are Highland | believe
they are-there has not been a moment
of silence since this world began its
travels. and the crashing and the split
ting and the uproar and the hubbub are
ever in progress. But when among the
supernals a 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. 0ftentimes when we are as
sailed and misrepresented the mightiest
thing to say is to say nothing cad lac
mghtiest 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! De right and leave the results
with God. Among the grandest lessons
the world has ever learned are the les
sons of patience taught by those. who en-
dured uncomplainingly personal or dones-
tic or political injustice. Stronger than
any bitter or sarcastic or revengeful an
swer is the patient silence,
The famous DR.. Morrison of Chelsea
achieved as much by his silent patience
as by his pen and tongue. He had asth-
ma that for twenty-five years brought
him out of his cough at o'clock each
morning. His four sons and daughters
dead the remaining child by sunstroke
made insane, the afflicted man once said
LAT this moment there is not an inch of
my body that is not filled 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 81
lencc! Aeschyius, the immortal poet, was
condemned to death for writing some
thing that offended the people. All the
pleas in his behalf were of no avail until
his brother uncovered the arm of the
prisoner and showed that his hand had
been shot off at Salamis That silent
plea liberated him. The loudest thing
on earth is silence il it be of the right
kind and at the right time. There was
a 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 Battel by those peopel
That shoot with the longest guns.
My friends, the tossing sea of Galiloe
seemed most to offend Christ By the
amount of noise it made for he said
to it, BE Stir" Heaven has been
browning kings and queens unto God for
many centuries, yet heaven never stopped
a moment for any such occurrence. but it
stopped thirty minutes for the corona
ton OF silence. There was silence in
heaven about the space of half an hour.
Heaven an EventfuI Place.
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 a whole day or whole
week or whole year for celestial eOnsid-
GRAFTON. If Grotius was right and this
silence occurred at the time of the de-
struction Of Jerusalem. that scene was so
awful and 50 prolonged that the inhab-
itants Of heaven could not have done jus
tcc to It in many weeks. After fearful
besiegement Of the two fortresses Of
Jerusalem. Antonio and Hippicus, had
been going on for long while. a Roman
soldier. mounted on the shoulder Of an
other soldier hurled into Tie window OF
the temple a firebrand, end the Temple
WIS all adIme and after covering many
sacrifices 10 the holiness of God the built-
ing itself became a sacrifice to the rage
Of man The hunger Of the people in
that city during the npsip cement " -.s