The Opelousas courier., 1890-05-31

iessness to be helped. Disheartensd Ones &c
re encouraged. Lost ones to be found.
Though the present may be insignificant as
compared with the past, Better is a living
dog than a 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 n cripple for fu-
ture work. If a sea Captain who once had
charge of a White Star steamer across the
Atlantic Ocean, n foggy night RUNS on q
rock off Newfoundland, and passengers and
ship perish, shall he refuse to take command
of 4 small boat up the North River, and say:
81 never will go on the water again unless 1
can run one of the White Star liner Shall
the engineer Of q 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 tho work Of
engineering on a freight train, say: II
never will again mount all engine I'M
less | can ruin q vestibule express" Take
what you have of opportunity left. Do your
best with what remains. Your shortest wins
ter day is worth more to you than can be the
longest day of a previous summer. Your
opportunity now. as compared with previous
opportunities, may be small as q rat terrier
compared with the lion which at Matabosa,
fatally wounded by the gun Of David Liv-
ingstone, i'll 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
living dog than a 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
IRE they cannot make any earthly asset
available. After Charlemagne was dead b.
was set in an ornamented se%pulcher on .
golden throne, and a crown was put on his
cold brow, and a scepter in his stiff hand,
Tut that gave hin no dominion in the next
world. One of the most intensely interest
i.lg things I saw last winter in Egypt was
pharaoh of olden times, the very Pharaoh
Who oppressed the Israelites. The inscrip-
lions on his sarcophagus and the writing on
mis- mummy bandages prove beyond contro'
versy that he was the Pharaoh Of Bible times.
Al the Psychologists and the explnrationHp
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 be looked upon the overburdened
people of God. There is the hair that hoated
in the breeze off the Red Sea. There are the
very lips with which he commanded them to
make bricks without straw. Thousands OF
years afterward, when the wrappings Of the
mummy were unrolled, old Pharoah lifted III
his arm as if in imploration, but his skinny
sceptre. He is a dead lion. And Is not any
mar 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, Wert
positively ~leonine, and yet wicked?
What q thing to congratulate you on is
your lifel Why, 1t is worth more than all
the gems of the universe kindled into one
precious stone. I am alivel What does that
mean? Why, it means that 1 still have all
opportunity of being saved myself and help
ing others to be saved. To be alive! Why,
it means that l nave 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 q new
career. The smallest and most Insignificant
to-dayis worth to US more than five hundred
yesterdays. Taking advantage Of the pres
emit, let us get pardon for all the past an6
security for all the future. Where are our
forgiven sins? I don't know. God don't
know either. He says: "Your sins and in
Equities will I remember no more.''
What encouragement in the text for all
Christian workers! Despair of no ones sal.
When in England a young lady asked for a
class in q Sunday-school, the superintendent
said, "Better go out on the street and get
your own class" She brought in a raggei
and filthy boy. The superintendent gave
him good apparel. In a few Sundays hf
absented himself. Inquiry discovered tina;
in a street fight he had his decent apparel
time respectfully clad. After a few Sundays
he again disappeared, and it was found that
he was again ragged and wretched. "Then,"
said the teacher, I'VE can do nothing with
him." But the superintendent fitted him ur
again and started him again.
After awhile the gospel took hold of him
and his heart changed. He started for the
and on heather grounds lived and translated
the Scriptures, and preached, until among
the most illustrious names Of the church on
earth and In heaven is the name Of glorious
Robert Morrison. Go forth and save the lost.
and remember however depraved, however
ragged, and however filthy and undone q
child is, or q man is, or a woman'is, they are
worth an effort. I would rather have theiz
opportunity than any that viii ever be given
to those who lived in magnificent sin and
splendid unrighteousness and then wrap their
gorgeous tapestry around them and without a
prayer expired. "Better is a living dog than
q dead lion.
In the great day it will be found that the
last shall be first. There are in the grog
SkOpS huO LII tuo HduIpS VI AAANULby SS-o1J
those who will yet be models of holiness and
preach Christ to the people. In yonder group
Of young men who came here with no useful
purpose, there is one who will yet live for
Christ and perhaps die for him. In a pulpit
stood a stranger preaching, and he said:
''The last time l was in this church was ff-
teen years ago, and the circumstances were
peculiar. Three young men had come x
pecting to disturb the service, and they had
stones in their pockets which they expected
to hurl at the preacher. One Of cha Ec@@-
assault, and the others, in disgust at his cow
ardice, left the building. One of the three
was hanged for forgery. Another isin prison,
condemned to death for murder. / was the
third, but the grace of God saved me-"
Ny hearers, give no one up. The case may
seem desperate, but the grace of God likes to
undertake adeadlift. / proclaim it this day
to all the people-Free Grace! Living and
dying, be that my theme-Free Grace!
Sound it across the continent, soundit across
the seas-Free Gracei Spell out these words
in flowers, lift them in arches build them in
thrones, roll them in oratoriosAFree Grace
That viii yet Edenize the earth and people
heaven with nations redeemed. Free G race
Salvation Oh, the joyful sound,
'Tisp pleasant to our ears.
a sovereign balm for every wound,
A cordial for our fears.
Buried in sorrow ard In sin
At deaths dark door we lay,
But We arise by grace divine
To see q heavenly dav.