The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-05-23
DR.TALnAGE's sERnON
Preached a Short Time Before
His Death.

Hour In Eternity,
WASHINGTON, D. C.-In the following
discourse, prepared by DIR. Talmage before
his illness, a vivid glimpse of the splen-
doris and glories OF heavenly life Is pre-
sented; text, Revelation vni, /, There
was silence in heaven about the space OF
half an hour"
The busiest place in the universe is
heaven. IL is the centre from which al
good influences start; il 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 de-
Bcribes 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 doxol-
ogies were hushed and professions halted.
| The hand OF arrest was upon all the splen-
| dor. "Stop heavenl" cried an omnipo-
tent voice, and II stopped. For thirty
minutes everything celestial stood still.
There was silence IN heaven about the
space Of half on hour"
From all we can learn Il is tho only
| time heaven ever stopped. II does not
stop as other cities for the night, for there
is no night there. It does not stop for a
! plague, for the inhabitant never says, 81
| am sick" 1t does not stop for bankrupt
cies, for its inhabitants never fail. IL
| does not stop for impossible streets, for
| there are no fallen SHOWS or sweeping
| freshets. What, then, stopped it for thir
| " minutes? 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 Do
| cletian persecution and the beginning OF
the wars by which Constantine gained the
throne But that was all q guess, though
learned and brilliant guess. l do not
know when it was and do not care when
it was, but Of the fact that such an inter
regnum of sound took place / am certain.
There was silence in heaven about the
space Of half an hour"
And, first of oil, we learn that God and
all heaven then honored silence. The
longest and widest domain that ever ex-
listed 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
1t was a mute universe. God was the only
being, and as there was no one to speak
to there was no utterance. But that ST.
lence has all been broken up in to worlds
and it has become a noisy universe
Worlds in upheaval, worlds in congela
ton, worlds in conhagration, worlds il
revolution.
If biologists are right-and I believe
they sre-there has not been moment o.
silence since this world began its travels
and the crashing and the splitting and the
uproar and the hubbub are ever in pro
gress. But when among the supernals {
voice cried, "Hush" and for half an hour
heaven was still, silence was honored. Tit
full power of silence many of us have ye
to learn. We are told that when Chris
was arraigned He answered not a word.
That silence was louder than any thunder
that ever shook the world Oftentime
when we are assaulted and misgepresentet
the mightiest thing to say is to say moth
ing, and the mightiest thing to do is to d.
nothing. Those people who are Away
rushing into print to get themselves Sc
right accomplish nothing but their owl
chagrin. Silence! Do right and leave tn
results with God Among the grandest les
sons the world has ever learned are tn
lessons of patience taught by those VIII
endured uncomplainingly personal or 40
mestlc or political injustice. Stronge
than any bitter or sarcastic or revengefu
answer is the patient silence.
The famous DIR. Morrison, of Chelsea
achieved as much by his silent patience a
by his pen and tongue. He had asthm
that for twenty-five years brought hir
out of his couch at O'Clock each morning
In my text heaven spared thirty min
utes, but it will never again spare one mir
ute. In worship in earthly churche
where there are many to take part W
have to counsel breyity, but how wi
heaven get on rapidly enough to let on
hundred and forty-four thousand &c
through each with his own story and the
one hundred and forty-four million an
then one hundred and forty-four billio
and then one hundred and forty-four tril
ion?
Not only are air the triumphs of tn
past to be commemorated, but all tn
triumphs to come. Not only what we no
know of God but what we will know
Him after everlasting study of the deif
II my text had said there was silence j
heaven for thirty days, would not hay
been startled at the announcement, but
indicates thirty minutes.
Why, there will be so many friends I
hunt up, so many of the greatly good an
useful that we will want to see so man
OF the inscrutable things of earth we Wi
need explained, so many exciting earthl
/ experiences we will want to talk over, an
/, all the other spirits and all the ages wi
= want the same, that there will be no MOI
, opportunity for cessation.
How busy we will be kept in havir
pointed out to us the heroes and heroin,
, that the world never fully appreciated-tl
yellow fever and cholera doctors who die
not flying from their posts; the fema
nurses VINO Iaceu pestuence in the laz
rettos; the railroad engineers who stage
at their places in order to save the trail
O though they themselves persisted. H
bert Coffin, the master miner, who, Ian
4 ing from the bucket at the bottom of Il
e mine just as he heard the waters rush
q and when one jerk of the rope would ha,
;, lifted him into safety, put in the bucket
Y blind miner who wanted to 60 to his sit
|. child and jerked the rope for him to
}. pulled up, crying, "Tell them the wat
! has burst in and we are probably lost, b
we will seek refuge at the other end of Il
e right. gallery" and then giving the cor
n mand to the other miners till they diggt
n themselves so near out that the peop
: from the outside could come to their re
> cue. The multitudes of men and womt
Win got no crown on earth we will wa
o to see when thew Get their Drown i'm hea