The Bossier banner., 1892-04-07

I1oOh out lOr lHe fragments OF LlIne.
They are pieces of eternity. Itwas the
half hours between shoeing horses that
made Elihu Burritt the learned
blacksmith, the half hours between
professional calls as a physician that
made 'Abercrombie the Christian phil
osopher, the half hours between his
duties as schoolmaster that made SAX
mon P. Chase chief justice, the hall
| hours between shoe-lasts that made
Henry Wilson vice-president of the
United States, the half hours between
canal boats that made James A. Gar.
field president. The half-hour a day
for good books or bad books; the half.
hour day for prayer or Incidence; the
half-hour a day for helping others OF
blasting others; the half-hour before
you go to business, and the half-houi
after you return from business,
that makes the difference between
the scholar and the ignoramus,
between the Christian and 1.-The
in6del, between the saint and
the demon, between. triumph and
catastrophe, between Heaven and hell.
The most tremendous thing of your
life and mine were certain half hours.
The 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 / stood on the
top of my house in Oxford street and
! saw our church burn; the half hour in
which | entered Jerusalem; the half
hour in which I assembled Mount
Calvary; the half hour in which l stood
on Mars hill; the half hour in which
| the dedicatory prayerot this temple was
made, and about ten or fifteen other
| balf hours, are the chief times of nv
| life.
But you ask: Where are the asy.
lums for the old?" l answer: '"The
inhabitants are all young "Where
are the hospitals for the lame?" "They
are all agile" ''Where are the infirma-
ries for the blind and deaf?" They
all see and hear" Where are the
aims houses for the poor?' "They
| are all multi-millionaires" "Where
are the inebriate asylumsP' ''Why,
there are no saloons" Where
are the grave yards?" why,
they never die" Pass down those
boulevards of gold and amber and sap.
phire and see those interminable
streets built by the Architect of the
| universe into homes, over the thresh-
hold of which sorrow never steps, and
out of whose windows faces, once pale
with earthly sickness, now look rubi-
cund with immortal health. s'Oh, let
me go in and see them," you say. No,
you can not go in. There
are those there who would
never consent to let you come
out again. You say: Let me
stay here in this place where thew
never sin, where they never suffer,
where they never part" No, no! Our
time is short our thirty minutes are al
most gone. Come on! We must get
back to earth before this half hour of
heavenly silence breaks up, for in your
mortal state You can not endure the
pomp and splendor and resonance
when this half hour of silence is ended.
The day will come when you can see
Heaven in full blast, but not now.
l am now only showing you Heaven
at the dullest half hour of all the
eternities. Come on! There is some
thing in the celestial appearance which
makes me think that the half hour of
silence will soon be over. Yonder are
the white horses being hitched to
chariots. and yonder are seraphs finger
ing harps as if about to strike them
into symphony, and yonder are con-
querors taking down from the blue
halls of Heaven the trumpets of
victory. Remember, we are NOR
tai yet, and can not endure
the full roll of heavenly harmonies
and can not endure even the silent
Heaven for more than half an hour,
Hark! the clock in the tower of Heaven
begins to strike, and the half hour is
ended. Descend! Come back! Come
down! till your work is DONE ShouI-
der little longer your burdens. Fight
little longer your battles. Weep a
little your griefs. And then take
Heaven not in it's dullest half hour. but
in its mightiest pomp, and instead of
taking it for thirty minutes take it
world without men.
But how will you spend the first half
hour of your heavenly citizenship after
you have gone in to stay? After your
prostration before the throne in wor-
ship of Him who made it possible for
you to get there at all, / think the rest
of your first half-hour in Heaven will
be passed in receiving your re-
ward, if you have been faithful.
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 occasions.
the royal family present, and the royal
bands playing; the Crimean medal, the
Legion of Honor the Victoria Cross.
the Waterloo medal. In your first half
hour in Heaven in some wav
you will be honored for the
earthly struggles in which YOU
won the day. Stand up before all the
royal house of Heaven anu receive the
insignia while you are announced as
victor over the droughts and freshets of