The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1902-04-16
TALMAGE's SERMON.
Heaven ::ri Evcntful Place: Silent
Once for Thirty Minutes. e.

vivid glimpse of the splendors and
glories of heavenly life is presented:
text. Revelation viii, /, There was
silence in heaven about the space Of
half iii 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 space when the
wheels ceased to rCll and the trumpetS
to sound and the voices to chant. The
riders on the white horses reined in
their chargers. The doXologies were
hushed and professions halted. The
hand of arrest was upon all the splen-
doris. stop, heaven" cried an omni-
potent voice, and it stopped. For
thirty minutes 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 as other cities for the night, for
there is no night there. 1t does not
stop for plague, for the inhabitant
never says, 4 am sick" 1t does not
stop for bankruptcies, for its inhab-
itants 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 it was at the time of the destruc-
| tiOn Of Jerusalem. Mr. Lord thinks it
was In the year 31l, between the close
of the Diocletian persecution and the
beginning of the wars by which Con-
stantine gained the throne. But that
was all guess, though learned and
brilliant guess. I do not know when it
was, and do not care when it was,
but of the fact that such an interreg-
mum of sound took place l am certain.
There was silence in heavenabut the
| SpdCS VI lldlA el llOul.
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 still
ness was queen. For an eternity there
had not been sound. World making
was later day occupation. For un-
imaginable ages it was a mute uni
verse. God was the only being, and
as there was no one to speak to there
was no utterance. But that silence
has all been broken up into worlds,
and it has become d noisy universe.
Worlds in upheaval, worlds in congela-
tion, worlds in conhagration, worlds in
revolution.
Ifgeologists are right-andI believe
they are-there has not been 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 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 arranged "he answered not a
word" That silence was louder than
any thunder that ever shook the world
OftentimeS when we are aSsailed and
misrepresented the mightiest thing 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 &C
complish nothing but their own cha
grin. Silence! DO right and leave the
results with God. Among the grand
est lessons the world has ever learned
are the lessons Of patience taught by
those who endured uncomplalnly per-
sonal or domestic or political injustice.
Stronger than any bitter or sarcastic
or rerengeful answer 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 couch at , o'clock each
morning. His four sons and daughters
dead, the remaining child by sunstroke
made insane, the afflicted man once
said, sat this moment there is not an
inch OF my body that is not filed with
agony" Yet be was cheerful, trium-
phant, silent. Those who were in his
presence said they felt as though they
were in the gates Of heaven. Oh the
power Of patient silence! EschyluS,
the immortal poet, was condemned to
death for writing something that Of
Tended the people All the pleas in his
behalf were Of no avail until his broth
er uncovered the arm Of the prisoner
and showed that his hand had been
shot off at SalmiS. That silent plea
liberated him. The loudest thing on
earth is silence if it be Of the right
kind and 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 Battel by those peOpell
That shoot with the longest guns.
My friends, the tossing sea of Galilee
seemed most to offend Christ by the
amount Of noise it made. for he said
to it. BE still" Heaven has been
crowning kings and queens unto God
for many centuries, yet heaven never
stopped a moment for any such occu-
renee, but it stopped thirty minutes
for the cornation Of silence. There
was silence in heaven about the space
of half an hour"
Learn also from my text that heaven
must be an eventrul 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