The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-04-08
was silence In heaven about the space
of half an hour"

LtdiH aiSo iIOIn my text tuaI heaven
must be an ~eventful and active place
from the fact that it could afford only
thirty :linutes 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
consideration. If Grotius was right
II 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. After fearful besiegement OF
the two fortresscs of Jerusalem. Anto-
mia AMI Hippicus. had been going on for
O long while. n Roman soldier. mounted
on the shoulder OF another soldier.
hurled into the window OF the temple
q tirebrand. and the temple was all
afame. and after covering many sacri-
fees 10 the holiness Of God the build
ing itself became a sacrifice to the
rage OF man. The hunger Of the peo-
pie in tnat city during the besiege-
ment was so great that as some put
laws were passing a doorway and in
hailed the odors OF food they burst
open the door. threatening the mother
OF the household with death unless
she gave them some food. and she took
them aside and showed them that it
was her own child she was cooking for
the CHASTITY repast. Six hundred priests
were destroyed on Mount Zion because.
the temple being gone. there vas moth
ing for them TO do. Six thousand peo-
pie in one cloiSter were consumed.
There were 100000 dead according
to JOsephus. 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 Diocle.
tan prosecutions. by which $4,000
Christians suffered death from sword
n fire and punishment and exposure,
why did not HEAVIER listen throughout
at least n of those awful years? No.
Thirty minutes. The fact is that the
celestial programme is so crowded
with spectacle that it can afford only
! one recess in all eternity. n 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 n solo,. How can heaven get
through with all its recitatives. with
all it's cantatas, with all it's grand
marches. with all its victories? Eter-
nifty is too short to utter all the praise.
In my text heaven spared thirty min
utes. but it will never again spare one
minute. In worship in earthly church
es where there are many to take part
we have to counsel brevity, out how
will heaven get or rapidly enough to
let one hundred and forty-four thou
sand get through each with his own
story and her one hundred and forty
four million and then n hundred and
forty-four billion and then n hundred
and forty-fOur trillion? Not only are
all the triumpbs of the past to be com
memOrated, but all The triumphS to
come. Not only what we now know OF
God. but what we will know of him
after everlasting study of the deific. If
my text had said there WAS silence in
heaven for thirty days. | would not
have been startled NJ the
ment, but il indicates thirty minutes.
Why, there, will lie 80 many friends TO
uuill uI. ~ a.s'sAAN vi IL iNdRA SNoN
and useful that we will want TO see. so
many of tl:r inScrufnhiP things If earth
We will need explained. so n.an CEcit-
ing earthly experiences, we will want
to ak over .iId all the other spirits
and all the a-rs will want the same.
that there will bp no more opportunity
for cessation How busy we will be
kept in hav:u- !n.njrJ out 10 lis The
heroes ARD l.; .'s.:> that the w2rid
never fully aIl!.r=;iad the yellow
fever II chol-ra JOcTurS who died. not
flying from Their POSTS: the female
nurses who faced rtstileuce in the laZa-
rettoS; the railroad engineers who stay
! ed at their places III order 10 save the
train. though they themselves persisted.
Hubert Coffin. the master miner, who,
landing from the bucket 1T the bottom
of the mine just as he heard the waters
rush in IND when II jerk of the rope
would have lifted him into safety. put
in the bucket Il blind miner who want
ed to go to his sick child and jerked
the rope for him to be pulled up. cry
ing, Tel them the water has burst in
and we are probably lost. but we will
seek refuge Ut Tue OlueT Suu vi iut
right gallery" and then giving the com,
mand to the other miners till they dig
ged themselves so near out that the
people from the outside could come 70
their rescue. The multitudes Of men
and women who got no crown on cart.
we will want to see when they get their
crown in heaven. | tell you heaven will
have no more half hours TO spare.
Besides that, heaven is full of chill
dren. They are in he vast majority
No child on earth who amounts to any
thing can be kept quiet half an hour
and how are you going to keep five hun
ired million of them quiet half an hour
You know HEAVIER is much more of O
place than it was when that recess Of
thirty minutes occurred. Its popula
ton has quadrupled. sextupled, cen
tupled. Heaven has more on hand
more Of rapture. more Of knowledge
more OF intercommunication. more O
~ l-.l.-- -s.4o ~.