Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1890-04-11


dIcta-e 10 an attorney last VIII AMI tesla
melt in which they spite SOEEe daughter
because she married against her fathers
VISA, and fling a few crus-s 70 Col and suf-
eer-ng humanity. mucl as 10 say: I
have kept tuS surplus property, through ali
these severe winters AMI throu~h ali these
long years, from needy and suffering world
and would keep il longer il could, but
must give il up. take II, and much good may
il do vou'' Now we begin to understand the
atext: Better is living dog taan a dead
u ion
Who would attempt TO write the obituary
of the dead lions of commerce, the dead
lions OF law. the dead lions of medicine the
dead lions of social influence? Vast capacity
hal they and mighty range, and other Lnen
III their presence were as pOwerleSs as the an
teiOpe or heifer or giraffe when from the
Jingle a Numidian lion springs upon its
prey. But they get through with life. They
Law down in their magnificent lair. They
have made their last sharp bargain. They
have spoken their last hard word. The
have committed their last mean act. When
a tawny inhabitant of the desert rolls Ove-
helpless. the lioDess and whelps fills the air
with shrieks and bowls, and lash themselves
into lamentation and it is genuine grief for
the poor things. But when this dead lion Of
mOnstrOus uselessnesS expires, there is moth
ing but dramatiZed woe, Tor Better is hv-
ing dog than dead lion"
Ny text also means that an opportunity Of
=
pCrtunity passed. We spend much of our
time in saying: eff l only had" We can
all look back and see some occasion where
We might have done great deed, or might
have effected an important rescue or we
might have dealt q stroke that would have
accomplished a vast result. Through STUPID.
ity or lack of appreciation of the crisis, or
through Procrastination, we let the chance
go by. How much time we have wasted in
thinking of what we might have said or
1irrlo+ 4 Ix,,,, l.
and years in walking around that
dead lion. We cannot resuscitate it. 1t
will never open its eyes again. There will
never be another spring in its paw Dead as
any feline terror OF South Africa through
whose heart thirty years ago Gordon Cum
ming sent the slug. Don't let us give any
more time to the deplOring Of the dead past
There are other great opportunities remain
ing. They may not be as great but they are
worthy our attention. Small opportunities
all around, opportunities for the 81 wing of
kind cords and doing of kind deeds Help
LESSEE to be helped. Disheartened ones to
be encouraged. Lost ones to be found
Though the present may be Insignificant as
compared with the past, Better is a living
dog than dead lion.
The most useless and painful feeling is the
one of regret. Repent of lost opportunities
we must, and get pardon we may, but re-
grets weaken, dishearten and cripple for fu-
ture work. If a sea Captain who once had
Atlantic Ocean, one fOggy night runs on a
rock off Newfoundland, and passengers and
ship perish shall he refuse to take command
of q small boat up the North River, and say:
Il never will go the water again unless |
can run one of the White Star linem Shall
the engineer of g lightning express, who at
the station misread the telegram of the train
dispatcher and went into collision, and for
that has been put down to the work of
engineering on a freight train, say: II
never will again mount an engine un-
less L can run a veStibule express" Take
what you have of opportunity left. Do your
best with what remains. Your shortest win
ter day is worth more to you than can be the
longest day OF previous summer. Your
opportunity now, as compared with previous
opportunities, may be small as a rat terrier
compared with the lion which at MatabOsa
fatally wounded by the gun of David Liv-
lngStone, in its death agony leaped upon the
missionary explorer and with its jaws crushed
the bone Of his arm to splinters and then
rolled over and expired, but, Better is 8
living dog than dead lion"
My text also means that the condition of
the most wretched man alive is better than
that OF the most favored sinners departed.
The chance of these last is gone. Where they
are they cannot make any earthly assets
available After Charlemagne was dead he
was set in all Ornamented sepulcher on
golden throne and crown was put on his
cold brow, and a scepter in his stiff hand,
but that gave him no dominion in the next
world. One of the most intensely interest
ing things [ saw last winter in Egypt was
Pharaoh of olden times, the very Pharaoh
who oppressed the Israelites The inscrip-
tions on his sarcophagus and the writing on
his mummy bandages prove beyond COntrO-
versy that he was the Pharaoh of Bible times.
All the Psychologists and the explorations
agree that it is the old scoundrel himself
Visible are the very teeth with which he
CRASHED against the Israelitish brick makers.
There are the sockets of the merciless eyes
with which he looked upon the Overburdened
people of God. There is the hair that fOated |
in the breeze off the Red Sea. There are the |
very lips with which he commanded them &c |
make bricks without straw. Thousands OF
years afterward, when the wrappings of the |
mummy were unrolled old PharOah lifted up |
his arm as if in importation, but his skinny |
bones cannot again clutch his shattered |
sceptre He is dead lion. And is not any |
man now living, in the fact that he has Op |
portunity of repentance and salvation, better |
off than any of those departed ones who, by |
authority or possessions of influence, were |
positively leonine and yet wicked?
What a thing to congratulate you on is
your life! Why, it is worth more than all !
the gems Of tie universe kindled into one |
precious stone. I am alive! What does that |
mean? Why, it means that l still have all |
opportunity of being saved myself and help |
ing others to be saved To be alive. Why, |
it means that | have yet another chance to |
correct my past mistakes and make sure |
work for heaven. Alive are we? Come let |
us celebrate it by new resolutions, new self |
examination, new conservation and a new |
career. The smallest and most insignificant |
to-day is worth to us more than five hundred |
yesterdays Taking advantage of the pres |
ent, let US get pardon for all the past and |
security for all the future Where are our
forgiven sins? don't know. God don't !
know either. He says: "Your sins and in |