The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-04-13
DR. TALMAGES SERMON.

Washington. April s.-In the following discourse, prepared by pr. Talmage be- fore his illness. a vivid glimpse of the splendors and giories of heavenly iife is presented; text. Revelation viii, l. There was silence in Heaven about the space of half an hour
 The busiest place in the universe IS Heaven. It 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 processions mounted or charioted. But my text de. scribes a space when the wheels ceased the voices to chant. The riders on the white horses refined in their charges. The doxologies were hushed and processions halted. The hand of arrest was upon all omnipotent 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 1t is the only time Heaven ever stopped. It does not stop as other cities for the night. for there is no night there. It does not stop for plague for the nha6itant nds s,on meyer yer bankruptcies. for its inhabitants never fail. It does not stop for impossible streets. for there are no fallen snows~or sweeping freshets. What, then, stopped of the destruction of Jerusalem. MT. Lord thinks it was in the year sil. Ae- c.an tns ns2,ecStss sSss aSd Sd .se see begin ming of the wars by which Constan- tine gained the throne. But that was all a guess. though a learned and brilliant guess. do not know when 1t was and do not care when it was. but of the fact that such an interregnum of sound took place. l am certain. There was silence in Heaven about the space of half
 And, first of all. we learn that God and all Heaven then honored silence. The longest and widest dominion that ever ex isted Is that over which stiffness was been a sound. World making was a later day occupation. For unimaginable ages it was mute universe. Cpd was the only being and as there was no one to speak to there was no inference But that silence has all been broken up into worlds, and it has become q noisy uni verse. Worlds in upheaval. worlds tn eongelation. worlds in conhaxration.
 The Power of Silence.
 If Reologists are right-and I believe they are-there has not been moment of silence since this world began tts travels, and the crashing and splitting end the uproar and the hubbub are ever In progress. But when among the su- pernals a voice cried. Hush and for half an hour Heaven was still, silence was honored. The full power Of silence told that when Christ was arraigned, "He answered not a word." That sil. ence was louder than any thunder that ever shook the world. Ofentfmes when we are asailed and misrepresented the mightiest thing to do is to do nothing. Those people who arc always rushing into print to get themselves set right accomp- ence! Do right and leave the yesults with God. Among the grandest lessons the world has ever learned are the lessons of patience taught by those who endured political injustice. Stronger than any bit- ter or sarcastic or reVengeful answer Is the patient silence.
 The famous Dr. Morrison of Chelsea achieved as much by his silent patience as by his pen and tongue. lie 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 nlled with ag ony.'' Yet he was cheerful, triumphant, client. Those who were in his presence raid they felt as though they were in the gates of Heaven. Oh. the power of patient silence. Aeschylus the Immortal was sOndemned to dssth 1sf for .~rit wrt All the pleas in his behalf were of no avail until his brother uncovered the arm of the prisoner and showed that his hand had been shot of at Salamis. That sil- ent plea liberated him. The ioudest thing on earth is silence. if 1t be of the right kind and at the right time. There was Q 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 BatteI by those peopell
 That shoot 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 1t, Be still" Heaven has been crown ing kings and queens unto God for many centuries, yet Heaven never stopped moment for any such occurrence, but it stopped thirty minutes for the coronation of silence. There was silence in Heaven about the space of half an hour"
 That Immortal Half Hour.
 Learn also from my text that Heaven must be an eventful and active place from the fact that it could afford only shirty minutes of recess. There have 'een events on earth and in Heaven that