Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1892-02-05

thlng am not asking wnat you VIII
do with the years and months or days
of your life, but what of the half
hours. Tell me the history of your
half-hours, and / will tell you the
story of your whole life on earth and
the story of your whole life in eternity.
The right or wrong things you can
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 inspir-
ing or desperate. Look ont for
the fragments of time They are
pieces OF eternity. 1t was the half-hours
between shoeIng horses that made
Elihu Burritt. the learned bla .ksmith,
the hours-hours between professional
calls as a physician that made Aber-
crombie the christian philosopher, the
half hours between his onties as
school-master that made Salmon L.
Chase chief Justice, the half hours be-
tween shCe-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-houra day for prayer or Incidence;
the nalf-hour day for help
ing others or blasting others: the half
hour before you go TO business. and
the half-hour after your return from
business; that makes the difference
between the scholar and the ignor-
anus between the christian and the in
fidel, between the saint and the de-
mon, between triumph and catastro-
phe, between heaven and hell. The
most tremendous thing of your life
and mine were certain half-hours.
7 he half-hour when in the parsonage
of country minister | resolved to be-
come a christian then and there; the
half-hour when | decided to become
a preacher of the gospel; the half hour
when | first realized that my son was
dead; the half-hour when | sto d on the
top of my house in Oxford street and
saw our church burn; the hals-hour in
which | entered Jerusalem; the half
hour III which | assembled Mount Cal
vary. the half hour in which stood on
Mars Hill; the half hour in which the
dedicatory PRAYER of this temple was
made; ana about ten or fifteen other
half-hours, are the chief times of my
life. You NAV forget the name of the
exact years or most of the important
events OF your existence, but
those half-hours, like the half hour
of my text, will he immor-
tai. do not query what you will do
with the Twentieth century, | do not
query what you will do with 1892, but
what will YOU do with the next half
hour? Upon that hinges your destiny.
And, during that some of you Will re-
Ceive the gospel and make complete
surrender, and during that others of
YOU will make final and fatal rejection
of the full and free and urgent and
impassioned offer of life eternal. Oh,
that the next halfh hour might be the
most glorious thirty minutes OF your
earthly existence Far back in history
"A great geog-apher stood with "A sailor
looking at "A globe that represented
our planet, and he pointed TO place on
the globe where he thought there was
disco, cred continent was America.
The geographer who pointed where he
thought there was new world was
Martin Behaim. aud the sailor TO whom
he showed il was Columbus This last
was not satisfied tlll he had picked
that gem out of the sea ana set 1t in
the crown of the world S geography.
Oh, We, win, have been sailing up ana
down the rough seas of sorrow and sin,
let me point out TO you another CONT
nent, yea, another world, that you
NAV yourselves find. a rapturous
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, beginning at
twenty minutes of twelve by my
watch, the grandest half hour OF your
, life and become a Christian. Pray for
regenerated spirit Louis NV,
while walking in the garden at Yer
sailles met Mansard, the great archi'
tect, 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 archi-
tect, the rest Of the evening
kept on his hat. The dukes and mar
quises standing with bare heads before
the king, expressed their surprise at
Mansard, but the king said: II can
make duke or marquis, but God
only can make Mansard.' And | say
to you. my hearers, God only by his
convIcting and converting grace can
make Christian, but he is ready this
very half-hour to accomplish it.
have strangely beautiful book con
tanning the pictures of the medals
struck by the English Government in
honor of great battles; these medals
pinned over the heart OF the returned
heroes of the army, on great oc
casions, the Royal family present, ant
the Royal bands playing: the Crimear
medal, the Legion of Honor, the Vic
toria Cross the Waterloo medal IL
your first half-hour in heaven in some