Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1902-04-10

utes occurred. Its population has
quadrupled, sextupled, centupled.
Heaven has more on hand, MS5o Of
rapture, more of knowledge, more of
Accommodation, more Of wor-
ship. The most thrilling place we
have ever been in is stupid compared
with that, and, II we now have no
time to spare, We will then have 40
eternity to spare. Silence In heaven
only half an hour!
Ny 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. The
only part of eternity that was ever
measured by earthly timepiece was
measured by the minute hand of my
text. Oh, the half hours! They decide
everything. 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 will tell you the
story of your whole life on earth and
the story of your whole life In eter-
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 glo-
rious or baleful, inspiring or desper-
ate.
Look out for the fragments Of time.
They are pieces CT eternity. The half
hour a day for good books or bad
books, the half hour day for prayer
or Incidence, the half hour a day for
helping others or blasting others, the
half hour before you go to business
and the half hour after you return
from business-that makes the differ
ence between the scholar and the
ignoramus, between the Christian and
the infidel. between the saint and the
demon, between triumph and catastro-
phe, between heaven and hell. The
most tremendous things of your life
and mine were certain half hours.
The half hour when in the parsonage
OF country minister I resolved to be-
~NAS - Uni otAoh thCh anu thCiOp thc
half hour when decided to become
preacher Of the gospel. the half
hour when I first realized that my
son was dead. the half hour when I
stood on the top of my house in OK
ford street and saw our church burn,
the half hour in which l entered Je-
rusalem, the half hour in which |
stopped on Mount Calvary, the half
hour in which | stood on Mars hill
and about ten or fifteen other half
hours are the chief times OF my life
You may forget the name of the exact
years or most Of the important events
OF your existence, but those half
hours, like the half hour of my text
will be immortal. do not query what
you will do with the twentieth CEN
fury. l 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 fatal rejection Of the full
and free and urgent and imprisoned
offer of life eternal. Oh. that the
next half hour might be the most
glorious thirty minutes of your earth
ly existence!
Far back in history a great geogra-
pher stood with sailor looking at
globe that represented our planet.
and he pointed to place on the globe
where he thought there was an I'm
discovered continent. The undiscov-
cred continent was America. The
geographer who pointed where he
thought there was a new world was
Martin Behaim and the sailor to
whom he showed it was Columbus.
This last was not satisfied until he
had picked that gem out OF the sea
and set II in the crown of the worlds
geography. o we who have been sail
ing up and down the rough seas of
sorrow and sin, let me point out to
you another continent-yea, another
world-that you may yourself find.
rapturous world. and that is the
world half hour Of which we now
study! Oh. set sail for 1t! 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 re-
generated spirit. l say to you, my
hearers, only God by his convicting
and converting grace can make a
Christian, but he is ready this very
half hour to accomplish 1t.
Again. my text suggests way OF
studying heaven so tina. we can better
understand 1t. 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 1t 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 sheet of pa
per into scroll and look through 1t
or join your forefinser 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 1t at n
time. Now, we have something that
we can come nearer to grasping, and
it is a quiet heaven. When we dis
course about the multitude of heaven,
it must be also ncryous shock to
those who have all their lives been
crowded by many people and who
want quiet heaven. For the last
thirty-five years have been much Of
the time in crowds and under public
scrutiny and amid excitements. and
have sometimes thought for few
weeks after I reach heaven | would
like to go down in some quiet part