Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1902-04-07

ing discourse, prepared by Or. IalmaSe !
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 charges. The doxologies were
hushed and professions halted. The
hand of arrest was upon all the splen-
doris. stop, heaven! cried an Omnipo-
mt voice, and it stopped. For thirty
inutes 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, Il am sick" 1t does not
stop for bankruptcies, for it's 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-
ton of Jerusalem. Mr.. Lord thinks it
was in the year 81, between the close
of the DiOcletian persecution and the
beginning of the wars by which Con-
Btantine gained the throne. But that
was all guess, though Il learned and
brilliant guess. | 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 | am certain.
There was silence in heaven about the
space 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 still
had not been a sound. World making
was a later day occupation. For I'M
imaginable ages it was 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 q noisy universe.
Worlds in upheaval. worlds in congela-
ton, worlds in confagratiOn, worlds in
revolution.
The Power of silence.
If biologists are right-and l 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 Il voice cried, "Hushr'
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 "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 is 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 ac-
complish nothing but their own cha
grin. Silence! Do right and leave the
results wits God. Among the grand
est lessons the world has ever learned
are the lessons of patience taught by
those who endured uncomplainingly
personal or domestic or political injus-
tice. Stronger than any bitter or sar-
castle or revengeful answer is the pa
tent 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. AT this moment there is not an
inch of my body that is not filed with
agony" Yet he was cheerful, trium
plant, 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 tc
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 beer
shot off at Salamis. That silent pies
liberated him. The loudest thing OF
earth is silence if it be of the RICH
kind and at the right time. There wa
quaint old hymn spelled in the oil
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