The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1895-03-21

front those two immortals in the last
Judgment, and they tell you of that
unfortunate talk of yours that flung
them over the precipice? Oh, man of
the world, why did you not say in that
noon spell of conversation: "Good!
am glad that man has got religion. I
wish had it myself. Let us all go to-
night. Come on; I will meet you at
the church door at eight o'clock" You
see, you would have taken them all to
Heaven, and you would have got there
yourself. Opportunity missed forever!
We all recognize that commercial
and literary and political successes de-
pend upon taking advantage of oppor-
tunity. The great surgeons of En-
gland feared to touch the tumor of
George Nv. Sir Ashley Cooper looked
at it and said to the king: II will cut
your majesty as though you were q
plowman." That was Sir Astley's OPP
portunity. Lord Give was his fathers
dismay, climbing church steeples and
doing reckless things. His father sent
him to Madras, India, as clerk in the
service of an English officer. Give
watched his time, and when the war
broke out came to the chief of the host
that saved India for England. That
was Lord Clive's opportunity. Pau
line Lucca, the almost matchless
singer, was but little recognized
until in the absence of the soloist
in the German choir she took her place
and began the enchantment of the
world. That was Lucca's opportunity.
John Scott, who afterward became
Lord Eldon, had stumbled his way
along in the practice of law until the
case of Ackroyd VS.. Smithson was to be
tried, and his speech that day opened
all avenues of success. That was Lord
Eldon's opportunity. William H. Sew
ard was given by his father thousand
dollars to get collegiate education.
That money soon gone his father said:
"Now you must fight your own way"
and he did, until gubernatorial chair
and United States senatorial chair
were his, with right to the
presidential chair, if the meanness of
American politics had not swindled
him out of it. The day when his fa-
ther told him to fight his own way was
William H. Stewards opportunity.
| stand this minute in the presence
of many heads of families. l wonder
if they all realize that the opportunity
of influencing the household for Christ
and heaven is brief, and will soon be
gone? For while the house is full of
the voices and footsteps of children.
You sometimes feel that you can
hardly stand the racket. You say:
"Do be quiet! It seems as if my head
would split with all this noise," And
things got broken and ruined, and it
is: Where's my hat?" "Who took
my books?" WHO has been b.ey
with my playthings?" And it is
a-rushing this way, and a-rushing that,
until father and mother are well-nigh
beside themselves. 1t is astonishing
how much noise five or six children
can make and not half try. But
the years glide swiftly away. After
awhile the voices are not so many,
and those which stay are more
sedate. First this room gets quiet, and
then that room. Death takes some,
and marriage takes others, until after
awhile the house is awfully still That
man yonder would give all he is worth
to have that boy who is gone away for
ever rush into the room once more with
the shout that was once thought too
boisterous. That mother who was once
tried because her little girl, now gone
xr,ffh
something really valuable, would like
to have the child come back, willing
to put in her hands the most valuable
wardrobe to cut as she pleases. Yes!
Yes! The house noisy now will soon be
still enough, / warrant you; and as
when you began housekeeping,
there were lust two again. Oh,
the alarming brevity OF infancy
and childhood! The opportunity
is glorious, but it soon passes.
Parents may say at the close of life:
what pity we did not do more for
the religious welfare of our children
while we had them with usr' But the
lamentation will be of no avail. The
opportunitya had wings and it van
ished. When your child gets out of
the cradle let it climb into the out
stretched arms of the beautiful Christ.
"Come thou and all thy house into the
ark
But there is one opportunity so much
brighter than any other; SO much more
inviting, and SO superior to all others
that there are innumerable fingers
pointing to it, and it is haloed with a
glory all its own. 1t is yours! 1t is
mine! It is the present hour! It is
the now. We shall never have it
again. While / speak and you
listen the opportunity is restless
as if to be gone. You can not
chain it down. You can not imprison
it. You can not make it stay. All
it's pulses are throbbing with haste
that can not be hindered or controlled.
It is the opportunity of invitation on
my part, and acceptance on your part
The door of the palace Of Gods mercy
is wide open. Go in. Sit down, and be
kings and queens unto God forever
"Well," you say, II am not ready YOU
are ready. "Are you q sinner" "Yes.
''Do you want to be saved now anG
forever" Yes. do you believe thai