Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1892-02-05

more Of knowldge, more Of intercommunicl
ton, more OF worship.
There is not 50 much difference between
Brooklyn seventy-five years ago, when there
were few houses down OH 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 street was far
up town, and now when Canal street Is far
down town, than there is a difference be-
tween what heaven was when my text was
written and what heaven is now. The mos
thrilling place We have ever been in is stupid
compared with that and IL we now have no
time TO spare we will then have no eternity
10 spare. Silence IN heaven only half an
hour
My subject also impres5es mo 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 OF
heaven None Of the whole hours OF heaven
are measured off, none OF the years none OF
the centuries OK the millions OF ages past
and the millions OF ages TO como not one IS
especially measured off in the Bible. The
half hour Of my text is made immortal. The
only part of eternity that was ever MEASURED
by earthly timepiecs was measured by the
minute hand of my text.
~.
thing. an 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 half hours aud 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, inspiring or desper-
ate. Look out for the fragments OF time.
They are pieces OF eternity.
1t was the half hours between shoein8
horses that made Elihu Burritt the learned
blacksmith; the half hours between pro
fessional calls as a physician that made
Abercrombe the Christian philosopher; the
half hours between his duties as school.
master that made Salmon 2. Chase chief
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
Tue half hour a 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 90 70 business and the half hour
after your return from busineSs-tnat makes
the QlIeTeQCe D9IWcIn Tue du4 bhr
ionoramus, between the Christian and the
i1fidel. 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
country minister / resolved to become
Christian then aud there; the half hour
when | decided to become a preacher OF the
GOSPEL: the half hour when | first realizel
that my son was dead; the half hour when
| stood on the top of my house IN Oxford
street and saw our church burn; tue hall
hour in which | entered jerusalem; the
half hour in which I ascenced Mount Cali
vary; toe half hour in which l stood on
Mars hill; the half hour in which the dedi-
catory PRAYER Of this temple was made, and
about ten or fifteen other halt hours are the
chief times of my life. You may forget the
name of the exact years or most OF tue 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 Wnst
YOU will do with 1892, but what will you do
with the next half hours 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 impassione1
offer of life eternal. Oh, that the next half
hour might be the most glorious thirty min
utes Of your earthly existence.
Far back in history a great geographer
stood with a sailor looking at globe that
represented our planet and he pointed 70 a
Mace on the globe where he thought there
rtsal r.nf1
discovered continent was America The
georrapher who pointed where he thought
there was a new world was Martin Behaim
md the sailor 70 whom he showed 1t was
Columbus. This last was not satisfied till he
had picked that gem out Of the sea and set II
in the crown Of the worlds geography. On,
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 may yourselves find rap
turOus world and that is the world half
hour Of which we now study. Oh, set sail
for IL 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 halt hour Of your life
and become a Christian. Pray for a regen-
Grated spirit. Louis XIV while walking IN
the garden at Versailles, met hanSari. the
great architect, AMI the architect took OF
his hat before the king. Put on your hat,
said the king. ".or the evening Is damp and
cold" And Mansard, the architect the rest
OF the evening kept on his hat. Tne 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 a marquis but God only can make
Mansard" And say 70 YOU, my hearers, God
\
can make n Christian, but He Is ready this
very half hour to accomplish it.
Again my text suggests a way Of studying
heaven 50 that we can better understand 1t.
The word eternity" that we handle 50
much is an immeasurable word. knowing
that we could not understand that word the
Bible uses it only once. We say, Forever
and ever" but how long is forever and
everF am glad that my text puts under
our eyes heaven for thirty minutes AS
when you would see q great picture you put
a sheet of paper into a scroll and look
through it. or Join your fOrehnger to your
thumb and look through the circle between,
and the nirfnra becomes more intense 81
this masterpiece OF heaven by st. John is
more impressive when we take only thirty
minutes Of it at a time. Now we have some
thing that we can come nearer TO grasping,
and il is a quiet heaven. When we discourse
about the multitudes of heaven it must be
almost nervous shock TO those who have
all their lives been crowded by many peo'
pie and vino want quiet heaven.
For the last thirty-five years have been
much OF the time in crowds and under public
scrutiny and amid excitements, and have
sometimes thought for a few weeks after
reach heaven would like to go down in
some quiet part OF the realm with few
friends and for some little while try COM
parative solitude. Then there are thoss
whose hearing is 50 delicate that they get no
satisfaction when you describe the crash OF
the eternal orchestra, and they feel like say
ing, as a good woman in Hudson, n. Y,
said. after hearing me- speak of the mighty
chorus OF heaven. That must be great
heaven. but what will become OF my poor
headS' Yes this half hour of my text is a
still experience.
"rnere was silence in heaven for half an
hour" You will find the inhabitants all
at home. Enter the Kings Palace ani take
only glimpse, for we have only thirty min
utes for all heaven. as that Jesusy' YES"
Just under the hair along His forehead is the
mark of wound made by a bunch OF
twisted brambleS AMI His foot on the throne
has on the round Of His instep another mara
OF a wound made by a spike. and scar ON