Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1893-01-06

y
were not born any sooner than
we were born. How could we
have endured the disaster of
being born in the eighteenth or seven
teenth or sixteenth century? Glad am
/ that are in the regiment now pass
ing the reviewing stand and that our
children will pass the stand in still
better regiment God did not build
this world for slaughter-house or
den of infamy. A good deal of clean
ing house will be necessary before this
world becomes as clean and sweet as it
ought TO be, but the .brooms and the
scrubbing brushes and the upholster-
ers and plumbers are already busy, and
when the world gets fixed up as it will
be, if Adam and Eve ever visit il, as
expect they will, they will say
to each other: swell, this beats
Paradise when we lived there, and the
pears and the plums are better than we
plucked from the first trees, and the
wardrobes are more complete, and the
climate is better" Since / settled in
my own mind the fact that God was
stronger than the devil, have never
lost faith in the emparadisation of this
planet. With the exception of a retro
ment of the world has been on and on.
and up and up, and have two jubilant
Reconnaissance for the closing year
and the other for the new year.
But the other thought, coming out OF
this subject is that Biblical chronology,
and indeed all chronology, is urging
the world to more punctuality and i'm
Indebtedness. What an unsatisfactory
and indefinite thing it must have been
for two business men in the time of
Ahaz to make an appointment, saying:
"We will settle that business matter
tomorrow when the shadow of the
dial of Ahaz reaches the tenth step
from the top" or. II will meet you in
the street called Straight in Damascus
in the time of the new moon," or,
when asked in court room, what time
an occurrence took place, should an
swer: cit was during the time of the
latter rain" or, lit was at the time of
the third growing of the barnyard. I.
You and | remember when ministers of
the Gospel in the country, giving out a
notice of an evening service, instead OF
saying at or z or o'clock would
say, "rhe service will begin at early
candle-light." Thank God for chrome
logical achievements which have ush-
cred in calendars and almanacs and
clocks and watches, and at so cheap "a
rate all may possess them. Chrome
logy, beginning by approaching the
value of years and the value of
days, has kept on until it cries
out: "Man, immortal; woman, immorss
tai; look out for that minute; look
out for that secondp' We talk great
deal about the value of time, but will
never fully appreciate its value until
the last fragment of it has passed
out of our possession forever The
greatest fraud man can commit is to
rob another of his time. Hear it, ye
laggards, and repent All the fingers
of chronology point to punctuality as
one of the graces. The minister or
the lecturer or business man who
comes to his place ten minutes after
the appointed time commits n
crime, the enormity of which
can only be estimated by
multiplying the number Of persons
present by ten. If the engagement
be made with five persons, 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. IL
there are five hundred persons present,
and he be ten minutes too late, he has
committed a robbery of five thousand
minutes, for ten times five hundred are
five thousand, and five thousand
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
physician 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
Il have been able to do it by economic
ing my time. / have not spent orc
hour in amusement in thirty years. "
And taking a blank book from his
pocket, said, al fill book like this
every week with thoughts that occur
| to me and facts collected in the rooms
of my patients. Napoleon appreciated
| the value of time when the sun was
sinking upon Waterloo, and he thought
| that little more time would retrieve
his fortunes, and he pointed to the sink
| ing sun and said: what would i moi
give to be this day possessed of the
| power of Joshua and enabled to retard
thy march for two hours?" The good
| old woman appreciated the value OF
time when ut % years of age, she said
The Judge of all the earth does MOI
mean that / shall have any excuse fol
not being prepared to meet him. ,
Voltaire, the blatant infidel, appre
ciated the value of time. when, in his
dying moments, he said to his doctor
81 will give you half of what l an
worth if you will give me six months o
life" and when told that he could not
| live six weeks, he burst into tears
and said: "Then, / shall go to hell.
John Wesley appreciated the value o
time when he stood on his steps wait
! ing for delayed carriage e
take him to an appointment, saying
II have lost ten minutes forever. >
Lord Nelson appreciated the value o
time when he said: II owe everything
in the world to being always a quarter
of an hour beforehand A clock
maker in one of the old English town,
| appreciated the value of time when II,
put on the front of the town clock tn,
words: Now or when?'' Mitchell
the astronomer, appreciated the valu,
of time when he said: II have been il
the habit of calculating the value of Z
thousandth part of second" That
minister of the Gospel did no