The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1902-04-11
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
SILENCE IN HEAVEN FOR THE
SPACE or HALF AN HOUR"
Only That short space In all the
KternitIes of Time Given to silence
Importance of These Fragments OF Our
Livss-A Glimpse OF the Kingdom.


before his illness. vivid glimpse OF
the splendors and glories OF heavenly
life is presented; text. Revelation Will.
/. There was silence In heaven about
the space OF half an hour
The busiest place In tho universe Is
heaven. II is the center from which
all good influences start; II is the goal
al which all good results arrive. The
Bible represents IL as active with
wheels and wings and orchestras and
professions mounted or charioted. But
my text describes a space when the
wheels ceased 20 roll and the trumpets
TO sound and the voices 10 chant. The
riders on the white horses refined In
their chargers. The doxologies were
hushed and professions halted. The
hand OF arrest was upon all the splen-
doris. stop. heaven" cried an omnip-
otent voice. and II 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 Il is the only
time heaven ever stopped. II does not
stop as other cities for the night. for
there Is no night there. II does not
stop for a plague. for the inhabitant
never says. II am sick" II does not
stop for bankruptcies. for its inhabi-
tants never fail. IL does not stop for
impossible streets. for there are no
fallen SHOWS or sweeping freshets.
What. then. stopped II for thirty min
'utes? Grotius and Professor Stuart
think e was at the time OF the destruc-
ton OF Jerusalem. Mr.. Lord thinks Il
was In the year 3l1, between the close
OF the Diocletian persecution and the
beginning OF the wars by which Con-
stantine gained the throne. ! do not
know when II was and / do not care
when Il was. but OF the fact that such
an interregnum OF sound took place |
am certain. There was silence In
heaven about the space OF half an
hour"
IL biologists arc right-and I believe
they are-there has not been n 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 n voice cried. Hush, :"
and for half an hour heaven was still.
silence was honored. The full power
OF silence many OF MS have yet 20
learn. We are told that when Christ
was arraigned "he answered not a
word" That silence was louder than
any thunder that ever shook tne world.
Oftentimcs when we are assailed and
misrcproscnted the mighticst thing 10
say is 20 say nothing and the mlghtiest
thing TO do Is To DO nothing. Silence.
DO right and leave the results with
God. Among the grandest lessons the
world has ever learned are the lessons
OF patience taught by those who en-
cured uncomplainingly personal or do
nestle or political injustice Stronger
than any bitter or sarcastic or revenge
ful answer Is the patient silence.
Learn also from my text that heaven
must be an cycntful and active place
from the fact that Il could afford only
thirty minutes OF recess. There have
been events on earth and in heaven
that seemed 90 demand a whole day or
whole week or whole year for celestial
consideration. II Grotius was right
and 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 20 Il In many
weeks SIX hundred priests were de-
stroyed on Mount Zion because. the
temple being gone. there was nothing
for them 20 do. Six thousand people In
one cloister were consumed There
were 100000 dead according TO Jose
phus. Grotius thinks that this was
the cause OF silence In heaven for half
an hour. II Mr.. Lord was right. and
this silence was during the Diocletian
prosecutions. by which S44 900 Chris
tians suffered death from sword and
fire and Punishment and exposure, why
did not heaven listen throughout at
least one OF these awful years? No,
Thirty minutes! The fact Is that the
celestial program is so crowded with
spectacle that II can afford only one
recess in all eternity. and that for a
short space.
In my text heaven spared thirty
minutes. but IL will never again spare
one minute. In worship In earthly
churches where there arc many 20
take part We have 10 counsel brew
lily, but how will heaven get on rap.
idly enough TO let one hundred AMI
forty-four thousand get through each
with HIS own story and then one hun
dred and forty-fouT million and then
one hundred and forty-four billion
and then ono hundred and forty-foui
trillion? Not only are all the trl-
umphs OF the past 20 be commemo-
rated. but all the triumphs TO come.
Not only what we now know OF God.
but what We viii know OF him after
everlasting study OF the deifc. IL my
text had said there was silence 60