The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-02-17

burst III and we are DroDaoiy lOSu, OuI we VIII
| seek refuge at the other end Of the right GAL
! lery;" and then giving the command to the
| other miners till they digged themselves SO
near out that the people from the outside
| could come to their rescue. The multltudes
! of men and women who got no crown on
earth we will want to see when they get
| their crown in heaven. I tell you heaven
| will have no more half hours to spare.
Besides that, heaven is full OF 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
more of place than it was wher that recess
of thirty minutes occurred. Its population
has quadrupled, sexGupled, centupled.
Heaven has more on hand, more OF rapture,
more of knowledge, more Of intercommunfca'
ton, more of worship.
There is not so much difference between
Brooklyn seventy-fve years ago, when there
were 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 so much difference be.
tween New York when Canal ytreet was far
up town. and now when Canal street is far
down town, than there is q difference be-
tween what heaven was when my 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 will then have no eternity
tospare. Silence In heaven only half an
hour.
My subject also impresses ma with the i'm.
mortality Of half hour. That half hour
mentioned in my text is more widely known
than any other period in the calendar OK
heaven. None OF the whole hours OF heaven
are measured off, none Of the years, none OF
the centuries. Or the millions of ages past
and the millions Of ages to come not one is
especially measured of in the Bible. The
half hour of my text is made immortal. The
only pa- t of eternity that was ever measured
by earthly timepiece was measured by the
minute hand Of my text.
Oh, the half hours! They decide every.
thing. 1 Iam not asking what 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 hslt hours and will
tel you the story of your whole life on earth
and the story of your wholelife in eternity.
The right or wrong things you cal think In
thirty minutes, the right or wrong things
you can say in thirty minutes, the right or
wrong things you can do in thirty minutes
are glorious or baleful, inspiring or desper-
ate. Look out for the fragments OF time.
They are pieces Of eternity.
horses that made Elihu Burritt the learned
blacksmith; the half hours between pro
fessional calls as q physlciaE that made
Abercrombie the Christian philosopher; the
half hours between his duties as school.
master that made Salmon 2. Chase chlef
Justice, the half hours between shoe Lasts
that made Henry Wilson vice president OF
the United States; the half hours between
canal boats that made James A. Garfield
president.
The half hour day for good books or bad
books. the half hour day for prayer or in
dolence, the half hour day for helping
others or blasting others, the half hour be-
fore YOU 20 to business ard the half hour
after your rJturn from business-taat makes
the difference between the scholar and the
ignoramus, between the Christian and the
,infidel between the saint and the demon, be-
tween triumph and catastrophe, between
things Of your Lie and mine were certain
half hours.
The half hour when in the parsonage Of q
country minister resolved to become
Christian then and there; the half hour
when decided to become preacher OF the
GOSPEL. the half hour when / first realized
that my son was dead: the half hour whan
I stood on the top OF my house In oxford
street and saw our church bura; the half
hour in which I entered Jerusalem; the
half hour in which ascenced Mount Cal
vary; the half hour in which 1 stood on
Mars hill; the half hour in which the dedl.
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. do not query what
YOU will do with 1892, but what win you do
with the vt half hour? Upon that hinges
your destiny. And during that some of you
will receive the Gospel and make complete
surrender, and during that others of you
will make final and fatal rejection of the
full and tree and urgent and i1cpassionei
offer of life eternal. Oh, that the next half
hour might be the 1nosJ glorious thirty min
utes of your earthly existence.
Far back in history a,great geographer
stood with sailor looking at a globe that
represented our planet, AMI he pointed to
place on the globe where he thought there
was an undiscovered continent. Ihat un-
discovered continent was America. The
geoerapher who pointed where he thought
there was a new world was Martin Behaim,
and the sailor to whom he showed 1t was
Columbus. This last was not satisfied till no
had picked that gem out Of tue sea and set 1t
in the crown of the worlds geography. Oh,
We who have been Sailing up and down the
rough seas of sorrow and sin, let me point
out to you another continent, yea, another
world. that you NAV yourselves find rap
turous world. and that is the world half
hour of which we now study. Oh, set sail
, for it! Here is the ship and here are the
compasses.
In other words, make this half hour, be-
ginning at twenty minutes to twelve by my
watch, the grandest half hour OF your IRE
and become Christian. Pray for regen-
Grated spirit. Louis XIV, while walking in
the garden at Versailles, met Mansard. the
great architect, and the architect took off
his hat before the king. "Put on your hat. /"
said the king, "for the evening is damp and
cold" And Mansard, the architect, the rest
of the evening kept on his hat. The dukes
and marquises standing with bare heads be.
fore the king expressed their surprise at
Mansard, but the king said, II can make
duke or marquis but God only can make
Mansard." And l say to you my hearers. God
only by His convincing andconverting grace
can make Christian, but He is ready this
very half hour to accomplish it.
Again my text suggests way OF studying
heaven so that we can better understand 1t.
The word eternity" that we handle SO
much is an immeasurable word. Knowing
I that we could not understand that word the
Bible uses it only once. We say, Forever
and ever" but how long is forever and
ever" am glad that my text puts under
our eyes heaven for thirty minutes. AS
when you would see great picture you put
a sheet OF paper into scroll and look
through it, or join your forefnger to your
thumb and look through the circle between,
| and the picture becomes moro intense, SO
this masterpiece Of heaven by st. John is
more irnpressiye when we take only thirty