Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1893-01-27

Thank God for chronological achievements
which have ushered in calendars and al
rnanacs and clocSs and watches, and at 50
cheap a rate all may possess them Chron-
oIoyy. beginning by aporeciatinE the value
of Years and the value o. days has kept on
mill il cries out "Man, imuorta,; woman.
immortal: look out for that minute; LOOK out
for :aaI second!
We talk a great deal abo1t the value of
time but will never fully appreciate its
value until the last fragment OF IL has passed
out of our possession forever. The greatest
fraud a man can commit is to rob another
of his time Hear il, We laygards and re-
pent! All the fingers OF chronology point TO
punctuality as one of the graces. The min
lister or the lecturer or business man who
comes to his place ten minutes after the ap-
pointed time commits crime the enOrmity
of which can only be estimated by multiply
ing the number Of persons present by ten.
If the engagement be made with five per-
sons, he has stolen fifty minutes, for he is
ten minutes too late, and he has robbed each
of the five persons OF ten minutes apiece,
and ten times five are fifty.
II there be 500 persons present and he be
ten minutes too late, he has committed
robbery of 5000 minutes, for ten time 500
are 5000 and 5000 minutes are eighty-three
hours which make more than three days,
The thief Of dry goods, the thief OF bank
bills, is not half so bad as the thief OF time.
DR.. Rush, the greatest and busiest ply
sician Of his day, appreciated the value of
time and when asked how he had been
able to gather so much information for his
books and lectures he replied: 81 have been
able to do it by economiZing my time. L
have not spent one hour in amusement in
thirty years" And taking blankoook
from his pocket he said, 81 fill a book like
this every week with thoughts that occur to
me and facts collected in the rooms OF my
patients"
Soj ha az
when the sun was sinking upon Waterloo,
and he thought that little more time
would retrieve his fortunes, and he pointed
to the sin king sun ana said, Nv hat would L
not give to be this day possessed or the
power Of Joshua and enabled to retard thy
march for two hours The good old woman
appreciated the value Of time when at
ninety-three years of age she said, "Ihe
Judge of all the earth does not mean that
shall have anv excuse for not being prepared
to meet Him.
Voltaire, the blatant infidel. appreciated
the value of time when in his dying mo-
ments he said to his docto Il will give you
half of what 1 am worth if you will give me
six months of life" and when told that he
could not live six weeks he burst into tears
aud said, "Then l shall go to hell!' John
Wesley appreciated the value Of time when
he stood on his steps watching for a delayed
carriage to take him to an appointment,
saying 81 have lost ten minutes forever"
Lord Nelson appreciated the value OF time
when he said, II owe everything in the
world to being always a quarter of an hour
beforehand"
A clockmaker in one Of the old English
towns appreciated the value OF time wneu
he put on the front of the town clock the
words, "Now or whenw Mitchell, the as
tronomer, appreciated the value Of time
when he said, II have been in the habit OF
calculating the value of a thousandth part
of second" That minister o. the Gospel
did not appreciate the value OF time who,
during a season OF Illness instead OF employ
ing his time in useful reading or writing,
wrote silly religious romance, which in
some unknown way came into the possession
of the famous Joe Smith, who introduced
the book as a divine revelation, which be-
came the foun lation of Mormonism. the
most beastly abomination Of all time.
They best appreciate the value of time
whose Sabbaths have been wasted and
whose opportunities of repentance and use
fulness are all gone. and who have nothing
left but memories, baleful aud eleglac.
They stand in the bleak September, with
bare feet, on the sharp stubble Of a reaped
wheat field, crying, The harvest is past"
And the sough of an autumal equinox
means forth in echo, The harvest is past!
But do not let US get an impression from
chronology that because the years or time
have been 80 long in procession they are to
go on forever. Matter is not eternal. No,
day or two days, as once did TO see mill
tary procession, you remember the last
brigade, and the last regiment, and the last
company finally passed on. and as we rose to
go we said to each other, 1T IS all over"
So this mighty procession Of earthly years
will terminate. Just when have no power
to prognosticate, but science confirms the
Bible prophecy that the earth cannot always
last Indeed there has been fatality OF
worlds. The moon is merely the corpse of
what it once was, and scientists have again
and again gone up in their observatories to
attend the deathbed Of dying worlds, and
have seen them cremated. SO | am certain,
both from the Word Of God and science,
that the worlds chronology will sooner or
later come to its last chapter.
The final century will arrive and pass on,
and then will come the final de cade, and
then the final year, and the final month, and
the final day. The last spring will swing its
censor of apple blossoms and the last winter
bank its SHOWS. The last sunset will burn
like Moscow and the last morning radiate
the hills. The clocks will strike their las
hour. and the watches will TICK their last
second. No jncendiaries will be neeiel to
run hither ana yon with torches to set the
world on fire.
Chemistry teaches us that there is a very
inhammable element in water. While oxy-
gen makes up part Of the water the Other
part of the water is hydrogen, and that is
very combustible. The oxygen drawn out
from the water, the infammab.e hydrogen
will put instantly into confagration the
Illusions and Savannahs and Mlssissippis and
Rhines and Urals and Danu oes. and Atlantic
and Pacific and Indian and Mediterra mean
seas And then the angel OF God, de-
Sending from the throne, might put one
foot or the surf of the sea and the other on
the beach and cry TO the four winds of
heaven, Time was, but time shall be no
longer~ Yet, found in Christ, pardoned
and sanctiied, we shall welcome the day