The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1890-04-16

SelGllt Silcl ioI lAe l'ooi tiiL 60
But when this dead lion of morstrous
uselessness expires. there is nothing
but dlamatizei woe. for Better IS Il
living dog than Il dead lion.
Ny text also means that an oppor-
trnity OF the living present is better
than L great opportunity passed.
We spend much of our time in say
ing: If I only had. We can all
look back and see some occasion
where we might have done great
! deed. or might have effected an I'M
portant rescue. or we might have
| dealt stroke that would have q
comphshed vast result. Through
stupidity or lack OF appreciation OF
the crisis. through procrastinatlon.
we let the chance goby How much
time we have wasted III thinking OF
what we might have said Or might
have done, We spend hours and
days and years III walking around
f! that dead lion. We cannot rtsuscl
tate it. It will never open its eyes
| again. There will never be another
! spring in itspaw. Deadas any feline
terror Of South Africa, through
whose heart thirty Years ago Gordon
Cumming sent the slug. Don t let us
give any more time to the deplollng
OF the dead past. There arc other
opportunities remaining. TncE may
not be Us great, but they are worth
our attention. Small opportunities
all around. opportunities for the say
ing OF kind words and doing Of kind
deeds Helplessness to be helped.
Disheartened ones to be encouraged.
Lost ones to be found Though the
present may be insignificant as COM
pared with the past, Better IS ahvlns
dog than dead lion.
Themost useless and painful feeling
is the one of regret. Repent OF lost
opportunities we must. and get par-
don we may.but regrets weaken. dis
hearten, and cripple further work.
Il :, sea captain who once had charge
OF White Star steamer across the
Atlantic ocean. one foggy night runs
on a rock off Newfoundland, and pas
sengers and ship perish, shall he re-
fuse to take command Of small
boat up the North river and say. i
never viii go on the water again un-
less can run on the White Star
line." Shall the engineer OF a light
ming express, who ct a station mis-
read the telegram OF Train dispatch
er and went into collision. and for
that has been put down to the work
OF engineering a freight train. say, L
will never again mount an engine un-
less can run veStibule express?
Take what you have OF opportunity
left. Do your best with what re-
mains. Your shortest winter day IS
worth more to YOU than can be the
longest day of Il previous summer.
Your opportunity now, as compared
with previous opportunities. may be
small as rat-terlIer compared with
the lion which at llatabosa, fatally
wounded by the gun of David Living
ston, III its death agony leaped upon
the missionary explorer. and with its
laws crushed the bone of his arm to
splinters, and then rolled over and
expired, but. Better is a living dog
than dead lion.
Ny text also means that the con-
dition of the most wretched man
alive is better than that OF the most
fovored OF sinners departed. The
chance Of these last is gone Where
they are they cannot make any earth
" assets available After Charlie
magne was dead he was set in an
ornamented sepulchre on 4 golden
throne, and a crown was put on his
cold brow. and a Sceptre in his stiff
hand, but that gave him no dominion
IN the next world. One of the most
intensely interesting things [ saw
last winter in Egypt was Pharaoh Of
olden times, the very Pharaoh who
opposed the lsraelites. The inscrip-
tons on his sarcophagus, and the
writing on his mummy bandages,
prove beyond controversy that he
was the Pharaoh of Bible times. All
the Psychologists and the explora
tons agree that it's the old scoundrel
himself. Visible are the very teeth
with which he snashed against the
Israeltish !,lick-makers. There are
the sockets of the merciless eyes
with which he looked upon the over
burdened people of God. There is
the hair that tloated in the breeze of
the Red sea. There are the very
lips with which he commanded them
to make brick without straw. Thous-
ands of years afte!ward. when the
wrappings OF the mummy were
,1nrolled, old Pharaoh lifted up his
arms as if il imploration, but skinny
bones cannot again clutch his shat
tered sceptre. He is Il dead lion. and
IS not any lnan now living, IN the
fact that he has an opportunity of
repentance and salvation, better off
than any OF those departed ones who,
by authority OF possessions OF lntiu-
ence. We're positively leonine, and Yet
wicked?
What i thing to congratulate you
on is life. Why, it is worth more
than all the gems OF the universe
kindled into one precious stone [
am alive. What does that mean?
| Why. it means that l still have ;al
opportunity Of being saved myself,
and helping Others to be saved. To
be alive. Why. it means that l have
yet another chance to correct my
past mistakes. and make sure work
for ileaven Alive. are we? Come,
let rs celebrate it by new resolutions,
new self-cyaminations. new consecra-
ton, and new career. The smallest
an,l most insignificant to-day iswolth
to Us more than five hundred ycster-
days. Taking advantage Of the pres
cnt. let Us get pardon for all the past,
and security for all the future Where
are our forgiven sins? [ don't know.