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Series Code: TIJ
Program Code: TIJ005119S
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00:25 In the quiet pre-dawn darkness as Australia's largest city
00:30 sleeps a shadowy figure silently walks the streets 00:34 of Sydney like a phantom in the night. 00:37 Unseen and unknown, he walks with purpose and intent 00:43 along the footpath stopping every 30 meters or so 00:47 to crouch down and write a mysterious message. 00:51 A one-word message to Sydney's residents. Just one word 00:56 written in a distinctive Copper Plate lettering style. 00:59 Now, fast forward 50 years. It's New Year's Eve 2000. 01:06 The New Millennium is fast approaching and the eyes 01:10 of the world are on Sydney. 01:12 About two million people around the world watched transfixed 01:17 as the city celebrated on its famous harbor with a 01:21 fireworks display of epic proportions. 01:24 At the stroke of midnight the new millennium began 01:28 with a bang as the fireworks erupted over Sydney harbor. 01:33 The world marveled at the sight of the southern skies 01:37 ablaze with color with spectacular fireballs of color 01:41 erupting in the sky engulfing Sydney Harbor Bridge, 01:46 New Year's colors rain down on the harbor city. 01:51 Then 30 minutes later it ended and as the smoke cleared 01:57 through the haze, one word appeared emblazoned on the 02:01 bridge, just one word. It was written in illuminated letters 02:05 18 meters high in a distinctive Copper Plate Lettering style. 02:11 It was a single word, Eternity. 02:15 The massive Sydney crowd immediately recognized its 02:20 significance and sent up cheers of delight, 02:23 they knew what it meant. A simple word but an enormous 02:27 concept, it was something that was truly iconic for many 02:31 Sydney siders, it had become a word engrained in Sydney 02:36 culture for over 50 years. 02:38 That night at the beginning of a new millennium Sydney 02:43 sent a message to the world. What was the message? 02:47 And who was the mysterious little man, who started it all? 02:51 Well, it's actually one of Sydney's greatest mysteries 02:55 and one of Sydney's greatest legends, it's actually 03:00 The Mystery of Eternity. 03:02 Join me as we investigate the story of Mr. Eternity 03:08 and his message to Sydney and the world. 03:24 Arthur Stace was born in a small derelict dwelling at 03:27 Redford, a suburb of the inner West of Sydney in 1885. 03:32 He was the 5th child in a family with alcoholic parents. 03:36 Arthur was brought up in neglect and poverty 03:39 in a Bellmain slum. He used to sleep on bags under the house 03:43 and survived childhood by stealing bottles of milk from 03:47 neighbor's doorsteps, shoplifting food and searching for scraps 03:52 of food in bins. He lived on the streets until he was seven 03:56 when his irresponsible father deserted the family. 03:59 Three weeks later the mother and children were evicted 04:03 from their home for non- payment of rent. 04:06 His mother couldn't cope and Arthur was given up to 04:10 Foster Care. Arthur was sent to Galvin about 190 Kilometers 04:16 southwest of Sydney where he spent the next seven years 04:19 living with an elderly widow. 04:21 He attended school there intermittently and got a limited 04:25 education, his reading and writing skills were so poor 04:29 that he was barely literate and so left school as 04:33 soon as he could. By the time he was 14, he was working 04:37 in the South Coast coal mine. With his first pay, 04:41 he went to the local pub where her purchased his first 04:44 alcoholic drink. By the time he was 15 he was being 04:48 carted off to jail drunk. 04:50 His drinking became a habit and Arthur quickly became a 04:55 hopeless alcoholic just like his parent before him. 04:59 In his early 20's, he returned to Sydney living with his 05:03 sister Minnie in a Sorry Hills brothel, his sisters were 05:07 prostitutes and he soon became a petty criminal as a lookout 05:11 for the brothels and illegal gambling vends as well as a 05:16 local break-and-enter gang. 05:18 Arthur Stace in his own words said, "I became a bad man." 05:23 When World War I broke out in 1914, Arthur saw an 05:33 opportunity to escape the life of crime and gambling 05:36 he was living and gained some self-respect. 05:39 So, he decided to join the Australian Infantry Forces 05:44 and fight for his country but at only 161 centimeters or 05:49 5 ft. 3 in. tall he was too short to make the height requirements 05:54 let alone the character test for enlistment. 05:57 However Arthurs opportunity came after the horrific 06:02 death toll at Gallipoli where the Australian and New Zealand. 06:05 Army Corp suffered heavy losses recruitment plummeted 06:10 and the army was forced to reduce its height requirements 06:14 and background checks on recruits became less rigorous. 06:18 The army just needed men so on the 18th of March 1916 06:24 Arthur enlisted in the 19th battalion, Arthur Stace 06:30 served on the battlefields in France as a stretcher-bearer, 06:33 he witnessed the most appalling scenes. 06:36 There was a scale of violence unknown in any previous war 06:41 there were terrible combat casualties, millions of them 06:46 and Arthur Stace often had to pick up the shattered bodies 06:50 of his mates. Stretcher-bearers in wartime typically earned 06:54 the highest place in the esteem of their comrades but in 06:59 April 1917, Arthur was wounded when a gas-filled shell 07:03 exploded beside him. 07:05 After he had recovered in England, he was discharged 07:09 and sent back to Australia, the official reasons for his 07:13 discharge were recurring bouts of bronchitis, pleurisy, 07:18 and the shell shock resulting from the horrors that he had 07:22 experienced. Back in Sydney Arthur soon slipped back 07:26 into his bad old ways and before long he was into a life 07:31 of alcohol, gambling, and crime again. 07:33 He wandered the streets eating out of rubbish bins 07:37 and drinking methylated spirits. In his own words, 07:41 Arthur became a petty criminal, a bum, and a Meth drinker. 07:45 By 1930 Sydney was in the grip of the Great Depression, 07:51 unemployed men wandered the streets desperately 07:55 looking for work and during these challenging times 07:58 a disheveled Metho drinker-like Arthur was the least likely 08:03 person to get a job. That year Arthur was convinced 08:08 that he would never escape the grip that alcohol had 08:11 on his life and so on one occasion he staggered into 08:16 Regent's Redfern's Police Station and begged the Sergeant 08:19 to lock him up. He said "Sergeant put me away, I am no good 08:26 and I haven't been sober for eight years. 08:29 Give me a chance and put me away." 08:32 But the Sergeant said to him "You stink of metho. Get out." 08:37 On the 6th of August, 1930 not long after Stace tried 08:43 to have himself locked up, he attended a meeting at 08:46 St Barnabas church on Broadway. Many Christian Churches 08:50 at that time would hold meetings for the down and out men 08:54 of Sydney where if they sat and listened to the sermon, 08:58 they'd get something to eat afterwards 09:00 and it was the promise of food that attracted Arthur 09:04 to the meeting. The preacher that day was Arch Deacon Bob 09:08 Hammond. There are about 300 grubby men in the audience 09:13 along with six clean looking and well-presented people 09:17 sitting on separate seats on the front. 09:19 Arthur was sitting next to his friend a well-known Sydney 09:23 criminal and he turned and asked him about those neat 09:27 and tidy people. "Who are they?" His companion replied 09:33 "I'd reckon they'd be Christians." 09:35 And Stace said to him, "Well, look at them and 09:40 look at us." " I'm having a go at what they have got. 09:43 That's what I want to be like." 09:46 Arthur knew that his life was in a mess, he knew that he 09:51 desperately needed help. That night Arthur heard the 09:56 good news that Jesus loves sinners, people like him 10:00 even though they've made a mess of their lives. 10:03 He found out that Christ died for him and then rose again 10:08 and has the power to save and change people like him. 10:12 It was the best news he'd ever heard. 10:16 When the meeting finished, Arthur came to Victoria Park 10:20 and under a giant Fig tree, he fell on his knees 10:24 and cried out to God, be merciful to me a sinner. 10:30 Later, speaking about the meeting that day Arthur 10:34 used to say "I went in to get a cup of tea and a rock cake 10:38 but I met the Rock of Ages." 10:41 Now finally Arthur was able to do what he has never been able 10:47 to do before, he gave up drinking and he found himself 10:52 a part-time job. He was a changed man. 10:55 Changed by getting to know Jesus Christ, he discovered 11:00 that Christ was stronger than alcohol, stronger than his 11:05 addictions. Arthur became totally committed to helping 11:10 other people like himself to find the good news of our Jesus 11:14 that completely transformed his life. 11:17 Now instead of spending his time hopelessly drunk 11:21 he would spend his spare hours preaching on street corners 11:25 to anyone who would listen. 11:27 For over 20 years he led open- air evangelistic meetings 11:32 on the corner of George and Bathurst Streets. 11:35 Arthur dedicated himself to helping at a self-help hotel 11:40 in a converted factory in Chippendale where he helped 11:43 unemployed men to be fed, shaved, and tided up 11:47 in order to improve their chances of finding work. 11:50 He loved doing all of these things and helping others 11:54 but still, he had not found his life's purpose. 11:59 Arthur became a janitor at the Burton Street Baptist Tabernacle 12:04 in Darlinghurst where he joined the congregation, 12:07 sadly neither that church nor the original St. Barnaba's church 12:12 on Broadway exist anymore today it's the Eternity Playhouse. 12:17 In November 1932 Arthur heard the popular evangelist 12:23 John Riddley delivered a sermon on Eternity. 12:26 Riddley's sermon was called "The Echoes of Eternity" 12:31 and it was based on Isaiah 57:15, let me read the text 12:37 to you. 12:52 The preacher's words struck Arthur powerfully, 12:56 the preacher said. 13:12 In an interview many years later, Arthur said. 13:26 Arthur Stace determined there and then to make his life 13:27 count for eternity, that day the 14th of November 1932 13:37 Arthur happened to have a piece of chalk in his pocket 13:40 and as he left the church he bent down and wrote the word 13:45 ETERNITY on the pavement for the very first time. 13:49 Stace stood up and looked at what he had written 13:53 and he couldn't believe it, he had always struggled with 13:57 reading and writing. Yet he said, the funny thing is 14:02 that before I wrote the word Eternity, I could hardly have 14:07 spelled my own name I had little schooling and I couldn't 14:11 have spelled Eternity for a hundred quid 14:14 but it came out smoothly in Copper Plate script 14:19 I couldn't understand it and I still can't. 14:22 In later years Stace tried writing other things like 14:27 "Obey God" and "God or Sin" but he couldn't write them 14:32 the same way, he later said... 14:42 Stace knew that God had given him a special gift and 14:47 that he found his calling in life and so Stace would regularly 14:52 wake up at 4:00 a.m., pray for an hour and then leave home 14:57 with his pieces of chalk and before dawn would write 15:01 the word Eternity every 30 meters or so on footpaths, 15:06 train station entrances, and wherever he believed that God 15:11 lead him to write and he did it for the next 35 years 15:16 from Kings Cross to Liverpool right across the city. 15:21 Meanwhile in January 1942 when Arthur was 57, he married 15:27 Pearl Dawson who was 42, the ceremony was conducted 15:32 at his church St. Barnabas on Broadway by Archdeacon 15:36 Abbias Hammond, the revered a public figure known for his 15:40 charitable and evangelistic work in Sydney 15:42 and the first preacher Arthur had heard at the church in 1930. 15:47 Arthur and Pearl lived all their married life 19 years 15:53 in a tiny rented cottage at 12 Bulwara Rd Pyrmont. 15:59 Stace wrote the word Eternity in chalk or crayon 16:04 on the pavements of Sydney more than half a million times 16:08 between 1932 and 1966 on hundreds of Sydney streets 16:14 almost every day during those years he would spend hours 16:19 handwriting Eternity around Sydney. 16:23 Stace took his mission very seriously as something between 16:27 he and God alone in a unique way that he could preach 16:32 using a special gift that God had given him. 16:35 Stace believed that he was doing the work of God 16:39 so when he'd go out in the mornings, he would be dressed 16:43 in his best outfit, usually a threadbare suit, 16:47 a battered felt hat, collar and tie. A tiny man who moved 16:52 quietly in the dark and early morning light of Sydney. 16:56 Later in the mornings the bustling workers would arrive 17:01 in the city and see the word freshly written, 17:04 a powerful one-word sermon but they would never see the 17:08 writer and so the man who writes Eternity became a 17:14 legend in Sydney. For most of the time his identity 17:19 would largely remain a mystery, he was unseen and unknown. 17:24 The mystery was finally solved when Reverend Lyle Thompson 17:30 who preached at the church where Stace was a cleaner 17:34 saw him take a piece of chalk from his pocket one day 17:37 and write the word on the footpath. Stace's identity 17:41 was finally publicly revealed when Thompson wrote a story 17:46 about Stace's life in the Sydney Sunday Telegraph on the 17:50 21st of June 1956 but still Stace remained elusive. 17:57 In 1963 photographer Trevor Dallen cornered Arthur 18:03 and asked to take a few pictures of him writing his famous word 18:07 Eternity. After four photos Trevor ran out of film and asked 18:13 Stace to wait while he got more film, when he returned 18:17 Stace was gone. Today this photo in the National Library 18:22 of Australia is the only photo still in existence 18:26 of Arthur Stace at work. Now the city council had 18:31 a rule about defacing the pavement and the police 18:35 very nearly arrested him 24 times but he would tell them 18:40 I have permission from a higher source. 18:43 By the mid-1960's Stace had become unwell, 18:49 he was cared for in a nursing home until his death from a 18:53 stroke on the 30th of July, in 1967 when he was 83. 18:58 Arthur Stace bequeathed his body to science as his final act 19:05 to help others. Two years after his death his earthly remains 19:11 were laid to rest with his late wife Pearl here at the 19:14 Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park. The statue is a short distance 19:19 from his grave and is a memorial to his life and legacy. 19:24 Much of the Sydney that Stace new is gone today 19:28 but the city has never forgotten him. 19:31 A small man of 161 centimeters or 5'3" who wrote the word 19:38 Eternity an estimated 500,000 times became a giant 19:44 among the legends of Sydney. 19:46 Sydney remembered him when it celebrated the 2000 Olympics 19:51 it remembered him at the turn of the millennium. 19:54 Emblazoned in light on its famous Sydney Harbor Bridge 19:58 and then the word Eternity is engraved on one of the 20:03 great bells that rang out over the city from the Sydney General 20:07 Post Office. And when the area between St Andrews Cathedral 20:11 and the City Town Hall was redeveloped, there in front 20:15 of a waterfall is an Alemannia replica of Stace's perfect 20:20 Copperplate handwriting of the one word Eternity. 20:25 What's behind this mysterious word Eternity? 20:29 Why does it capture people's imagination? 20:33 And why did Arthur Stace devote his life to sharing 20:38 just this one word? Well, eternity means "forever" 20:43 it's time without end. Eternity stretches forever into the past 20:49 and forever into the future. 20:52 Our lives here on Earth are limited by time, 20:56 there's never enough time, that's why we use clocks 21:00 and watches, to tell us what the time is because 21:04 it seems like Eternity doesn't exist, but it does... 21:09 Some people ask what was there before God? 21:14 Well, the answer is that there was never a time before 21:19 there was God. Long before you and I existed 21:23 or even before our planet even came into being 21:27 there was God. He was there in the beginning 21:31 there was nothing before Him. He was before all things 21:36 and everything that exists was made by Him and somewhere 21:41 in that eternal past, He lovingly planned for you 21:45 to have an Eternal destiny with Him. That's what Ephesians 1:4 21:52 mean when it says that... 21:58 and that's what humanity yearns in its heart, a yearning 22:03 for eternity. It's what Blaze Pascal, the famous mathematician 22:08 called a God-shaped hole. 22:11 It's a hole that only an eternal God can fill. 22:16 The Bible tells us that... 22:23 We are never truly complete until we find eternity 22:28 through Jesus Christ. 22:30 What is eternity? Well, its forever, it is time without end. 22:35 And consider this. Eternity is how much time God wants 22:43 to spend with you, that's why God sent His Son into the world 22:47 so that... 22:54 Arthur Stace found the most important thing in life 22:59 he discovered eternity. Stace had found that ultimately 23:05 only the eternal power of God could save him from himself. 23:10 It was only through the power of God that he was able to 23:15 overcome his alcoholism and addictions and find fulfillment. 23:19 Stace had grown up in misery and squalor always searching 23:25 for the meaning of life, for happiness, for inner peace, 23:29 and for acceptance from others, he only found it when he 23:34 accepted the gift of eternity that God offered him in 23:38 Jesus Christ. Arthur Stace spent the rest of this life 23:43 telling others about eternity. 23:46 Why? Because God's gift of eternal life is so huge 23:52 and so amazing that when you understand it and receive it 23:56 it fills you with happiness and brings you inner peace. 24:00 You just can't stop telling others, even if it's by writing 24:05 a single word Eternity on the pavement a half a million times, 24:11 that's the life of Arthur Stace, Mr. Eternity. 24:16 Perhaps like Arthur, you're feeling trapped in an 24:20 endless cycle of addictions, toxic relationships, 24:24 illness and disappointment, or perhaps it's an emptiness 24:29 you feel. Perhaps there is something in you that cries out 24:33 for more out of life. 24:36 That's because you were made for eternity too. 24:41 God has left His mark, His fingerprinting your heart, 24:46 you have a longing for eternity that only God can satisfy. 24:51 God wants you to spend eternity with Him. 24:56 Throughout history, from the ancient Egyptians to the modern 25:01 cosmetics industry, humanity has looked for eternity 25:05 in all the wrong places. And things that don't work 25:09 and don't satisfy. But the simple secret opens eternity 25:15 to you is found here in the Word of God. 25:18 And I'd like to share with you one of the greatest passages 25:22 of scripture that I know, It's found in 1 John chapter five 25:27 verses 11 to 13. 25:54 The secret of eternity is that it's simply a gift and 26:00 it's received when you accept Jesus Christ as your personal 26:04 savior. If you would like to know more about 26:08 how you can receive God's gift of eternity, 26:11 then I'd like to recommend the free gift we have for all our 26:15 Incredible Journey viewers today. 26:18 It's the booklet Learning To Be Led By God. 26:22 This easy-to-read booklet will take you on a journey 26:26 with some of the most famous people in the Bible 26:28 and you'll discover how their setbacks and circumstances 26:33 they committed themselves to God and were guided by Him 26:37 to a place where they found peace and happiness on earth 26:40 and more importantly, the secret of eternity... 26:44 So, make the most of this wonderful opportunity to 26:49 receive the gift we have for you today. 26:51 Phone or text 0436.333.555 in Australia, or 020.422.2042 27:01 in New Zealand, or visit our website at TiJ.tv 27:06 or simply scan the QR Code on your screen and we'll send you 27:10 today's free offer, totally free of charge and with no 27:14 obligation. Write to us at GPO Box 274 Sydney NSW 2001, 27:21 Australia. Or PO Box 76673 Manukau, Auckland 2241 27:28 New Zealand. Don't Delay, call or text us now. 27:32 Dear Heavenly Father, We are so grateful that 27:37 You have put eternity in our hearts, 27:40 please fill the emptiness in our lives with the joy, hope, 27:45 and assurance of an eternity with you. 27:48 We accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and through the work 27:53 of His spirit in our lives, please replace our weakness 27:57 with strength, our fear with courage, and our sadness 28:02 with joy, and make your face shine upon us and give us peace. 28:08 In Jesus' name, we pray, Amen. |
Revised 2023-10-17