The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1902-04-16

NdS Llie CAUSE VI SiieHCC III uCtt SIl ISl
half ar hour. II Mr.. Lord WAS right,
and this silence Was during the Diocle-
tian prosecutions. by which $4,000
Christians suffered death from sword
and fire and banishment and exposure.
why did not heaven listen throughout
at least one CT those awful years: No.
Thirty minutes. The fact is that the
celestial programme is 50 crowded
with spectacle that it can afford only
one recess in all eternity, and that for
a short space. While there arc great
chOruscs in which all heaven can join,
each soul there las story Of divine
mercy peculiar to itself. and it must
be q solo. How can heaven get
through with all its recitatives. with
all it's cantatas. with all its grand
marches, with all its victories? Eter-
nifty is too short to utter all the praise.
My subject also impresseS me with
the Immortality Of a 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 is
measured off, none Of the years: none
Of the centuries OF the millions OF
ages past and the millions OF ages to
come not one is especially measured off
in the Bible. But the half hour Of
my text is made immortal. The only
part Of eternity that was ever meas
ured by earthly timepiece was meas
ured by the minute hand Of my text.
Oh, the half hours. They decide
everything. l am 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 and l will tell you the
story of your whole life on earth and
the story of your whole life in etcr-
nifty. 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 glori-
Gus or baleful, inspiring or desperate.
Again. my text suggests a 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 AMI 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 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 picture becomes more intense,
so this masterpiece of heaven by st.
John is more impressive when we take
only thirty minutes of it at a time.
Now, we have something that we can
come nearer to graSping, and it is a
quiet heaven. When we discourse
about the multitudeS of heaven. it
must be almost a nervous shock tC
those who have all their lives been
crowded by many people and who
want quiet heaven. For the last
thirty-fye years l have been much oi
the time in crowds and under public
scrutiny and amid eXcitements, and
have sometimes thought for a few
weeks after | reach heaven | wOulC
like to go down in some quiet part OF
the realm, with few friends, and fol
little while try comparative solitude
Then there are those whose hearing
is so delicate that they get no salts
faction when you describe the crash Of
the eternal orchestra, and they fee
like saying, as good woman in Hud
son, 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 head?'
Yes, this htlf hour of my text is
still experience. There was silence
in heaven for half an hour"
You will find the inhabitants all al
home. Enter the Kings palace anc
take only glimpse, for we have only
thirty minutes for ali heaven. rs
that Jesus?" Yes" 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 round Of his instep another
mark of wound made by a spike, anc
a scar on the palm Of the right hanc
and a scar on the palm OF the left
hand. But what countenance. What
a smile! What grandeur! What q
loneliness. What an overwhelming
look of kindness and grace. Why, he
looks as if he had redeemed world
But come on for our time is short. DC
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
it's 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 lived
on the banks of the Hudson or the AL
ALBANIA or the Rhine or the Shannon
say, I'VE 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
are the asylums for the old?" 1 an
swer. THE inhabitants are all
Young" "Where are the hospitals
for the lame?" They are all agile"
Where are the infrmaries for the
blind and deaf" ''They all see and
hear" where are the almhouses for
the poor?:" ''They are all multimillion-
aires" Where are the inebriate asy-
lums:" why, there are no saloons" "
..N,l,oro tho rrroCoyo r6cJ: "lEhV