The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1902-04-10

| The right or wrong things you can think
| in thirty minutes, the right or wrong
| things you can say in thirty minutes, the
| right o. wrong things you can do In thir-
| ty minutes are glorious or baletul, lnsplr'
| ing or desperate.
Look out for the fragments of time.
| They are pieces of eternity. 1t was the
| half hours between shoeing horses that
made Eiihu Burritt, the learned black
smith, the half hours between professional
calls as a physician that made Abercrom.
| bic the Christian philosopher, the half
hours between his duties as schoolmaster
that made Salmon p. Chase Chief Justice,
the half hours between shoe lasts THAI
made Henry Wilson Vice-President of the
| United States, the half hours between
canalboats that made James A. Garfield
President.
The half hour day for good books or
bad books the half hour 4 day tor prayer
or Incidence, the half hour day Ior help
ing others or blasting others, the half hoar
before you 60 TO business and the hat
hour after YOU return from buslness-that
makes the difference between the scholar
and the ignoramus, between the Christian
and the infidel, between the saint and the
demon, between triumph and catastrophe,
between heaven and hell.
The most tremendous things OF your
life and mine were certain halt hours. Inc
half hour when in the parsonage OF
country minister / resolved to become
Christian then and there, the half hour
when | decided to become a preacher OF
the gospel, the half hour when / first re-
alized that my son was dead, the half hour
when l stood on the top OF my house IN
Oxford street and saw our church burn,
the half hour in which l entered Jerusa-
lem, the half hour in which | stopped on
Mount Calvary, the half hour in which L
stood on Mars Hill and about ten or
fifteen other half hours are the chief times
OF my life.
You will find the inhabitants all at
home Enter the Kings palace and take
only a glimpse, for we have only thirty
Yes" Just under the hair along His
forehead is the mark of wound made by
a bunch OF twisted brambles, and His foot
on the throne has on the round of His
instep another mark Of wound made by
a spike, and scar on the palm of the
right hand and scar on the palm OF the
left hand. But what q countenance!
What smile! What grandeur What
q loveGness! What an overwhelming look
of kindness and grace! Why, He looks as
if He had redeemed world! But come
on, Tor our time is short. Do you see that
row of palaces? That is the, Apostolic
row. Do you sec that long reach OF archi-
tectural glories? That is Martyr row. Do
you see that immense structure? That Is
the biggest house in heaven; that Is 1.-The
house of many mansions" Do YOU see
that wall? Shade your eyes against its
burning splendor, for that is the wall OF
| heaven, jasper at the bottom and amethyst
| at the top. See this river rolling through
the heart OF the great metropolis! That Is
| the river concerning which those who once
L. L. IL. of ba IIuAcr,, or Tho
Alabama or the Rhine or the Shannon
say, 1--WE never saw the like of this for
clarity and sheen" That is the chief river
of heaven-so bright, so wide, so deep.
But you ask, 'Where arc the asylums for
the old?" l answer, "Thc inhabitants are
| all young" Where are the hospitals for
the lame:" "They ere all agile" Where
! are the infrmaries for. the blind and
deaf" "They all see and hear" ., Where
are are all ali In multimilionaires." nal SWhere are
the inebriate asylums?" "Why, there are
no saloons" Where are TIE graveyards"
why, they never die"
Pass down those boulevards of gold and
amber and sapphire and see those inter.
minabie streets built By the Architect OF
the universe into homes, over the threshold
of which sorrow never steps and out OF
whose windows faces, once pale with
earthly sickness, now look rubicund with
immortal health.
"Oh. let me 60 in and see them" you
say No, you cannot so in. There are
those who would never consent to let you
come out again. You say. Let me stay
here in this place where they never sin,
where they never suffer, where they never
part" No, no! Our time is short, our
thirty minutes are almost gone. Come on!
We must get back to earth before this
half hour OF heavenly silence breaks up,
ior in your mortal state, you cannot en-
when this half hour of silence Is ended.
The day will come when you can see heav.
en- in full blast, but not now. | am now
only showing you heaven at the dullest
half hour OF all eternities. Come on!
| There is something in the celestial ap-
pearance which makes me think that the
half hour OF silence will soon be over:
Yonder are the white horses being hltched
to chariots, and yonder are seraphs finger
| ing harps as if about to strike them into
| symphony, and yonder are conQuerors
| taking down from the blue halls of heav-
en- the trumpets of victory. Remember
| we are mortal yet and cannot 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 end
ed. Descend! Come back! Come down
till your work is done Shoulder little
| longer your burdens. Fight little longer
your battles Weep little longer your
| Trefs. And then take heaven not in its
| dullest half hour. but in its mightiest
pomp, and, instead OF taking it for thirty
minutes take it world without end.
But how will you spend the first half
hour of your heavenly citizenship after
you have gone in to stay? After your
prostratioa before the throne in worship
| 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