Milford chronicle., 1902-04-11

will do with the twentieth century, I
do not query what you will do with
this year. but what will you do with
the next half hour? 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 IA.
tai rejection of the full and free and
urgent and impassiOned offer of life
eternal. Oh, that the next half hour
might be the most glorious thirty min
utes Of your earthly existencei
Far back in history a great geogra-
pher stood with sailor looking at a
globe that represented our planet, and
he pointed to a place on the globe
where he thought there was an undis-
covered continent The undiscovered
continent was America. The geOgra-
pher who pointed where he thought
there was new world was Martin
Behaim and the sailor to whom he
showed it was Columbus. This last
was not satisfied till he had picked
that gem out of the sea and set It in
the crown of the worlds geography.
o ye who have been sailing up and
down the rough seas Of sorrow and sin,
let me point out to you another con-
tinent-yea, another world-that you
may yourself find. a rapturous world,
and that is the world a half hour Of
which we now study! Oh. set sail
for it, Here is the ship and here are
the cOmpasses In other words. make
this half hour the grandest half hour
OF your life and become a Christian
Pray for a regenerated spirit. Louis
XIV, while walking in the garden at
Versailles met Mansard. the great ar.
chitect. and the architect took off his
hat before the king. Put on your
hat" said the king. "fOr the evening is
damp and cold" And Mansard. the
architect, the rest of the evening kept
on his hat The dukes and marquises.
standing with bare heads before the
king. expressed their surprise at Man.
sard. but the king said. 81 can make a
duke or n marquis, but only God can
make Mansard." And say to you
my hearers. only God by his convict
ing and converting grace can make a
Christian. hut he is ready this very
half hour to accomplish it.
"FOrever and Ever"
Again, my text suggests u way Of
studying heaven so that we can better
understand it. The word eternity"
that we can handle so much is an i'm
measurable world. Knowing that we
could not understand that word. the
Bible uses it only once. We say for.
ever and ever" But how long is for.
ever and ever? ! am glad that my
text puts under our eye heaven for
thirty minutes As when you see a
great picture. you put a sheet Of paper
into scroll and look through it or join
your forehnger to your thumb and lock
through the circle between, and the
picture becomes more intense. so this
masterpiece Of heaven by st. John is
more impressive when we take only
thirty minutes of ii at a time. Now,
we have something that we can come
nearer to grasping. and 1t Is quiet
heaven. When we discourse about the
multitudes of heaven. it must be almost
a nervous shock to those who have all
their lives been crowded by many peO-
pie and who want n quiet heaven. For
/ the last thirty-tive 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 so down in some quiet
part Of the realm. with few friends,
and for little while try comparative
solitude. Then there are those whose
hearing is so delicate that they get no
satisfaction when you describe the
! crash of the eternal orchestra. and they
Geel like saying, as a good woman in
Hudson, N. Y, said after hearing me
speak Of the mighty chorus Of heaven,
THAT must be a great heaven, but
what will become of my poor head%
Yes this half hour Of my text is a still
experience. There was silence in
heaven for half an hour"
A Glimpse of the Kings Palace
You will find the inhabitants all at
home. Enter the Kings palace and
take only a glimpse, for we have only
thirty minutes for all heaven. els that
Jesus" Eyes" Just under the hair
along his forehead is the mark of a
wound made by a bunch of twisted
brambles, and his foot on the throne
has on the round of his instep another
mark of a 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 a cOuntenance! What
a smile! What a grandeur! What a
loneliness! What an overwhelming
look of kindness and grace! Why, he
looks as if he had redeemed a world!
But come on, for our time is short. Do
you see that row of palaces? That is
the Apostolic row. Do you see that
long reach of architectural glOries
That is Martyr row. Do you see that
Immense structure? That is the big.
gest house in heaven; that is "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 riv
er rolling through the heart of the
great metropolis? That is the river
concerning which those who once lived
on the banks of the Hudson or the Al
ALBANIA 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, SC
wide, so deep. But you ask, "WherC
are the asylums for the old? l an
swer, "Fhe inhabitants are all young.
Where are the hospitals for the
[ lame?" ''They are all agile" "Wher,
are the infrmaries for the blind ant
deafY' They all see and hear.
Where are the almshouses for tn,
poor" They are all multimillion
aires" "Where are the inebriate asy
lums" Why. there are no saloons.
Where are the gravPyards?" "Why
they never die" Pass down thost
!, boulevards Of gold and amber and san
phire and see those interminable street
built by the Architect of the univers
into homes, over the threshold O
e which sorrow never steps and out O
whose windows faces. once pale witt
I earthly sickness. now look rubicun,
! with immortal health.
"Oh, let me 80 in and see themP' yo
e say. No, you cannot go in. There ar
II those who would never consent to le
d you come out again. You say, LET %
Il stay here in this place where they ne,
II er sin, where they never suffer, wher