Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1892-02-20

SnS iuScG uAtftt thugs Oh P&t III We Aiit iiG1I
explained; 50 many exciting earthly eyoer-
fences we will want to talk over. and all the
other spirits and all the ages will want the
same. that there will be no mere opportunity
for cessation.
How busy We will be ke7t II having
pointed out to Us the heroes AMI hero,nes
that the world never fully apr eciatei-the
yellow fever an! cholera doctors who. diei,
not flying from their posts; the female
nurses who faced nestilence in the iaZarattos:
the railroad engineers who sta.d a. th.ir
;.less ii orler to save tia train though
tlev themseivps re-ishe1.
Hub-rt Gofhl, the master miner, who.
landing from the bucket at the bottom Of
tue mine. just IS he hearl the waters rush
III. and whel one Jerk of the rop. would
have lifted nin into safety. put z bland miner
WHO wanted to 20 20 his SICK child III the
tucket AMI jerAed the rope for him to De
pulled up. crying, Tell them the water has
burst IN and we are probably lost. but we viii
seek refU &c at theother end OF tie right gal
lery," and tnen giving the command to the
other miners iii they diggei themselves 50
near out that the people from the outside
could come to taeir rescue. The multltudes
Of men AMI women who got 10 crown on
earth We VIII want to see when they get
thar crown III heaven. l tell you heaven
Will have no more half hours to spare.
Besides that. heaven = full or children:
They are in the vast majority. No child on
earth that amounts to anything can be kept
quiet half an hour, and how are you going
TO keep five hundred million OF them quiet
half an hour. You know heaven Is much
more OF a place than it was when that recess
of thirty minutes occurred Its population
has quadrupled, sextupied, centup.el.
Heaven has more on hand, more OF rapture,
more Of knowledge. more Of intercomolunica
ton, more OF wOrshIp.
There is not SO much difference between
Brooklyn seventy-ive years ago, when there
We're a few houses down on the East river
and the village reached up only to Sands
street. as compared with what this great
city IS now-yea, not 50 much difference be-
tween New y orlt when Canal street vas far
up town., and now when Canal street is far
down town, than there is "A difference be-
tween what heaven was when NV text was
written and what heaven is now. The most
thrilling place We have ever been in is stupid
| compared with that, and If We now have no
time TO spare we viii then have no eternity
to spare. Silence IN heaven only hale an
hour.
Ny subject also inapresses me- with the in
mortality Of q half hour. That half hCur
mentioned in my text is more widely known
than any other period III the calendar of
heaven. None of the whole hours of heaven
are measured of, none OF the years, none of
the centuries. OF the millions of ages past
and the millions of ages to come not one is
especially measured off in the Bible. The
iall lttlI Ol my tt&U 1 > IllaIc llIi lti. L up
only part OF eternity that wasever measured
| by earthly tinepiece was measured by the
minute hand of my text.
Oh, the half hours. fhev decide every
thing. AN not asking hat you will do
with the years or months or days OF your
life. but what of the half hours. Tell me
the history Of your half hours and | will
te!l'you the story Of your whole life on earth
and the story of your whole life. i'll eternity.
The right or wrong things you can think in
thirty minutes, the right or wrong things
you can say IN thirty minutes, the ri ght OF
wrong things you can do in thirty minutes
are glorious or baleful, inspiring or despar-
ate. Look out for the fragments of time.
They are pieces of eternity.
II was the half hours between shoeinr
horses that made Elihu Burritt the learned
blackslnith; the half hours between pro-
fessional calls as a physician that made
Abercrombie the Christian philosophers; tho
half hours between his duties as school
master that made Salmon L. Chase chief
Justice; the half hours between shoe lasts
that made Henry Wilson vico president OF
the United States; the half hours between
canal boats that made James a. Garfield
president.
The half hour a day for goo1books or bad
books. the half hour a day for prayer or in
dolence, the half hour IA day for ohelpins
others or blasting others, the half hour be-
| fore you 90 to business aud the half hour
after your return from businass-tnat makes
the difference between the scholar and the
ignoraInus. between the Christian and the
intidel, between the saint and the demon, be-
tween triumph and catastrophe, between
! heaven and hell. The most tremendous
things of your life and mine were certain
half hours.
The half hour when in the parsonage Of a
country minister | resolved to become u
Christian then and there; the half hour
when | decided to become a preacher Of the
Gospel: the half hour when | first realizei
that my son was dead, the half hour when
| stood on the top of my house III Oxford
street and saw our church burn; the half
hour in which [ entered Jerusalem, the
half hour i'll which I ascenced Mount CAL
vary: the half hour in which [ stood on
Mars hill; the half hour in Which the dedi-
catOrv prayer of this temple was made, and
about ten or fifteen other half hours are the
Chief times of my life. You may forget the
name of the exact years or most OF the i'm
portant events of your existence, but those
half hours, like the half hour of my text, will
be immortal.
do not query what you will DO with the
Twentieth century. 90 not query what
You will DO vita 1892, but what viii YOU do
with the next halt hour Upon that hinges
your destiny. And during that some of YOU
will receive the Gospel and make comnieca
surrender, and during that others OF You
viii make final and fatal rejection Of the
tuil and tree ami urgent and impass4one1
offer Of life eternal. Oh, that the next nalf
hour might be tue most glorious thirty min
uteso t your earthly existence.
Far back IN history a great geo-ranhnr
stood with a sailor looking a. a g.ob. tlat
represented our planet, AMI h. pointed % a
place on the globe where he though there
was an undiscovered continent. That IN
discovered continent was America. The
geographer who pointed where ne thought
there was a new world was Martin BehaIm,
and the sailor 70 whorn h. showed il was
Columbus. This last was not satisfied iii h-
had picked that gem out Oh t.e SCH ana set i
in the crown Of the worlds geography. On,
ye who have been sailing up and cow tne
rough seas Of sorrow and SIN. let me p0..'
out 70 you another continent, yea, another
world, that YOU may yourselves find 4 rap
turou, worl and that Is the world n hall
hour II which we HOW study. Oh, set sal
tor it Here is the ship and here axe ths
rompasses-
In other words, make this half hour. h.
ginning at twenty minutes to twelve hr mr
watch, the g~raniest half hour Of your !iE.
and become a Christian. Pray for a re-en.
Grated spirit. Louis XIV, while walking IN
the garden at Versailles. met Mansar.i. tn
creat architect. and the architect took off
IIC tAN <IA a-- hE-A E.-