The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1895-07-19

fallen in the street, comes in covered
with dust, and, as though the first dis
aster were not enough, she whips it.
After whii& the child is taken, or the
parent is taken, or the companion is
taken, and those who are left say: ''Oh,
if we could only get back those unkind
words, those unkind deeds; if we could
only recall theml'' But you cannot get
them back. You might bow down over
the grave of that loved one, and cry
and cry and cry-the white lips would
make no answer. The stars shall be
plucked out of their sockets, but
these influences shall not be torn away
/ The world shall die, but there are
some wrongs immortal. The moral of
which is, take care of your friends
while you have them; spare the scold-
| ing; be economical of the satire: shut
up in dark cave, from which they
shall never swarm forth, all the words
that have sting in them. You will
wish you had some day-very soon
| you will-perhaps tomorrow. Oh,
yes. While with firm hand you ad-
minister parental discipline, also ad-
minister it very gently, lest some day
there be little slab in the cemetery,
and on it is chiseled Our Willie," or
Our Charlie;" and though you bow
down prone in the grave, and seek a
place of repentance, and seek it care
fully with tears. you cannot find it
There is another sin that place in
the class of irrevocable mistakes, and
that is lost opportunities of getting
good. l never come to a Saturday
night but | can see during that week
that | have missed opportunities of
getting good. | never come to my
birthday but l can see that l have
wasted many chances of getting better.
| never 20 home on the Sabbath from
the discussion of a religious theme
without feeling that | might have done
it in a more successful way. How is il
with you? If you take certain num-
Der of bushels of wheat and scatter
them over certain number of acres of
land, you expect n harvest in proper
ton to the amount of seed scattered.
And | ask you now, have the sheaves
of moral and spiritual harvest corre-
sponded with the advantages given?
How has it been with you? You may
make resolutions for the future, but
past opportunities are gone.
In the long procession of future
years all those past moments
will march; but the archan gels
trumpet that wakes the dead will not
wake up for you one of those privileges.
Esau has sold his birthright, and there
is not wealth enough in the treasure
houses of Heaven to buy it back again.
What does that mean? 1t means that
if you are going to get any advantage
out of this Sabbath day, you will have
to get it before the hand wheels
around on the clock to u tonight 1t
means that every moment of our life
has two wings, and that it does not fly
like hawk, in circles, but in straight
line from eternity to eternity. 1t
means that though other chariots may
break down or drag heavily, this one
never stops the brake and never ceases
to run. 1t means that while at other
feasts the cup may be passed to us and
we may reject it. and yet after awhile !
take it, the cup bearers to this feast
never give us but one chance at the !
chalice, and, rejecting that, we shall !
find no place for repentance, though /
we seek it carefully with tears"
There is one more class of sins that l /
put in this category of irrevocable sins, /.
ness. Your business partner is proud |
man. In ordinary circumstances, say |
to him: Believe in Christ" and he |
will say: You mind your business, /
and I'll mind mine" But there has |
been affliction in the household. His .
heart is tender. He is looking around |
for sympathy and solace. Now is your
time Speak, speak. or forever hold
your peace. There is n time in farm
life when you plant the corn
and when you sow the seed.
Let that go by, and the farmer
will wiring his hands while other
husbandmen are gathering in the
sheaves- You are in a religious meet
ing, and there is an opportunity for
you to speak a word for Christ. You
say, Il must do it." Your cheek fushes
with embarrassment. You rise half
way, but you cover before men whose
breath is in their nostrils, and you sag
back and the opportunity is gone, and
all eternity will feel the effect of your
silence. Try to get back that oppor-
tunity! You cannot find it You might
as well try to find the fleece that Gid
con watched, or take in your hand the
dew that came down on the locks of
the Bethlehem shepherds, or to find
the plume of the first robin that went
across paradise. 1t is gone; it is gone
forever. When an opportunity for per-
,onal repentance or of doing good
,annot find it. You may fish for it; it
will not take the hook. You may dig
for it; you cannot bring it up. Remem-
Der that there are wrongs and sins
that can never be corrected; that our
privileges fly not in circles. but in q
straight line; that the lightnings have
not as swift feet as our privileges
when they are gone, and let an oppor-
unity of salvation go by US an inch,
the one hundredth part of an inch, the
part of an inch, the
nillionth part of an inch, and no man
IAN overtake it. Fire-winged seraphim
cannot come up with it. The eternal
Tod himself cannot catch it.
l stand before those who have a
glorious birthright. Esau's was not
30 rich as yours. Sell it at once, and
rou sell it forever. l remember the
story of the lad on the Arctic" some
years ago-the lad Stewart Holland.
A vessel crashed into the Arctic in
the time of a fog, and it was found
hat the ship must go down. Some of
h. Al !