The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-04-08

Washington. April Gin the follow
ing discourse. prepared by DR.. Talmage
before his iIlpess, n vivid glimpse Of
the splendors and glories Of hea venly
FIFE is presented; text, Revelation viii,
]. There w2s silence in heaven abou
;he 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 M
professions mounted or charioted. But
my text describes a space when the
wheels ceased to roll and the trumpets
10 sound and the voices to chant. The
ELDERS on the white horses refined in
their charges. The doxOlogies were
bushed and professions halted. The
hand OF arrest was upon all the spIen-
doris. Stop. heaven cried an omnipo-
tent voice, and il 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
nine heaven ever stopped Il does not
stop as other cities for the night. for
there is no night there. 1t does not
stop for u plague. for the ~inhabitant
never says. Il am sick. 1t does not
stop for bankruptcies. for its iuhab
itantS never fail. 1t DOES not stop for
im~passable streets. for there are no
fallen SHOWS or swCepiu. freShets.
What. then. stopped ii for thirty min
.utCS? GrOtius and Professor Stuart
think il WAS ut 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-
stantine gained the throne. But that
was all Il guess, though a 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-
nnm of sound took place | am certain.
There vas silence in heaven about III
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
ness was queen. For an eternity there
had not been a sound. World making
was Il later day occupation. For un-
imaginable ages it was Il mute uni
verse. God was the only being. and
as there vas no N to speak to there
was no utterance. But that silence
has all been broken up into worlds.
and il has become q noisy universe.
Worlds in upheaval. worlds in congela-
ton. worlds il conflagration, worlds in
revolution.
The Power of Silence.
Ii biologists are r~ight-and | believe
they are-there has not been n 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 i'm 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 us ave yet TO
learn. We are told that when Christ
was arraigned "he answered not n
word" That silence was louder than
any thunder that ever shook the world
OftPntimeS when we are aSSailed n
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 he
results with 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
aim out OF his couch at . o'clock each
morning. His four son n 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 filled with
agony" Yet he was cheerful. trium-
h ut. 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! I2schylus'
tlie immortal poet. WAS condemned to
death for writing something that Of
fruded the people. All the pleas in bis
ti.t.alf were OF no avail until his broth
er uncovered the arm of the prisoner
and showed that his hand a beer
shot oT ut SaIamis- That silent pies
hhprGted him The loudest thing on
earth is silence if it be of the right
Kin and at the right time. There was
4 quaint old hymn spelled In the ole
style and once sung in The churches:
The race is not forever got
Hy him who fastest runs
Nor the Battel by those peopel
That shoot with the longest guns
Ny friends. the tossing sea OF Galflet
seemed most TO offend Christ by the