Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1902-04-09

In the following discourse, pre-
pared by DIR. Talmage before his ill
ness, vivid glimpse of the splendors
and glories of heavenly life is pre-
sented; text, Revelation viii, /:
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; 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 describes a space when
| the wheels ceased to roll and the
| trumpcts TO sound and the voices to
| chant. The riders ON the white
horses reined in their charges. The
doNologics were hushed and process
sions halted. The hand of arrest was
upon all the splendors. stop, Heav-
en-" cried an omnipotent voice. and
ii stopped. For 80 minutes everything
celestial stood still. There was 81
| lence 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 inhabi-
tant never says: 81 am sick" 1t
does not stop for bankruptcies, for
its inhabitants never fail. 1t does not
stop for impossible streets. for there
are no falling SHOWS or sweeping
freshets. What, then. stopped il for
| 30 minutes? Grotius and Prof. Stuart
| think ii was at the time Of the de-
struction of Jerusalem. Mr. Lord
thinks it was in the year 81, be-
tween the close of the Diocletian per-
secution and the beginning of the
wars by which Constantine gained
the throne. But that was all a guess.
though learned and brilliant guess.
| l do not know when it was and do
not care when If 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
| 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
stiffness was queen. For an eternity
there had not been a sound. World
making was a later day occupation.
For nimaginable ages it was a mute
universe. God was the only Being.
and as there was no one to speak to
there was no uttcrance But that 81
lence has all been broken up into
worlds, and il has become noisy uni
| 4
eongelation, worlds i'm conhagration.
worlds in revolution.
If biologists are right-and | be-
icve they are-there has not been n
moment Of silence since this world
began its travels, and the crushing
and the splitting and the uproar and
The hubbub are ever in progress But
when among the supernals n voice
Gied: "Hush!" and for half an hour
Heaven was still, silence was hon
pred. The full power of silence MANY
Of us have vet to learn. We are told
hat 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 misrepre-
tented the mightiest thing to say is
20 say nothing and the miphtiest
thinR to do is to do nothing. Those
people who are always rushing into
print TO get themselves set right nc
'omplish nothing but their own cha
grin. silence! Do right and leave
he results with God.
Learn also from my text that
Heaven must he an evcntfuI and ac-
i've place from the fact that il could
afford only 30 minutes Of recess.
There have been events on earth and
II Heaven that seemed TO demand q
whole day or whole week or whole
year for celestial consideration II
'rotlus was right and this silence
occurred at the time Of the destr,,c-
non Of Jerusalem, that scene was so
awful and so prolonged that the in
1abitants OF Heaven could not have
ione Justice 10 it i'm many weeks
After fearful bcsiegcmcnt Of the two
tortr~sses Of Jerusalem. Antonio and
| Hippicus, had been going ON for
| oug while. a Roman soldier. mount
sd 90 the shoulder Of another SOLE
1ier, hurled into the window of the
temple frebrand and the temple
| vas all ahame. and after covcriu,,
many sacrifices 10 the holiness of
'od the building itself became sac
ritics TO the rage of man. The hun
ger of the people iu that city dur
ing the besieRcmcut was SO great
that as some outlaws were passing
n doorway and inhaled the odor- OF
food they burst open the door.
threatening the mother Of the house
hold @ith death unless She gave them
some food, and she took them aside
and showed them that 10 was her
own child she was cooking for the
CHASTITY repast. Six hundred priests
we're destroyed ON Mount ZION be-
cause. the temple being gone. there
was nothing for them to do. Six
thousand people in one cloister were