Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1895-07-20

since While we have our friends with
us we say unguarded things that wound
the feelings Of those to whom we ought
to give nothing but kindness. Perhaps
the parent, without inquiring into the
matter, boxes the child's ears. The little
one, who has fallen in the street, comes
in covered with dust, and as though the
first disaster were not enough she whips
it. After awhile 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 themp' 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 pluckod
out of their sockets, but these influences
shall not be torn away. The world shall
die, but there are some wrongs immor-
tai. The moral Of which is, take care Of
your friends while you have them. Spare
the scolding. BE economical of the
satire. Shut up in a 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 adj
minister parental discipline also admin
| lister it very gently, lest some day there
be little slab in the cemetery and on
it chiseled, "Our Willie" or "Our
Charlie" and though you bow down
prone in the grave and seek place of
repentance and seek it carefully with
tears, you cannot find it.
There is another sin that I place in
the class of irrevocable mistakes, and
that is lost opportunities of getting
good. I never come to Saturday night
but I can see during that week that l
have missed opportunities Of getting
good. never come to my birthday but
I can see that have wasted many
chances of getting better. I never go
home on Sabbath from the discussion of
a religious theme without feeling That
/ might have done it i'll more success
full way. How is it with you? If you
take a certain number of bushels of
wheat and scatter them over certain
number of acres of land, you expect
harvest in proportion to the amount Of
seed scattered. And I ask you now,
Have the sheayes of moral and spiritual
harvest correspondent with the advan-
tages given2 How has it been with you?
You may make resolutions for the fu-
ture, but past opportunities are gone
In the long procession Of future years
all those past moments will march, but
the archangel's trumpet that wakes the
dead will not wake up for you one Of
those privileges Esau has sold his birth
right, 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 10 to-
night. 1t means that every moment Of,
our life has two wings, and that it does:
not fly like a hawk m circles, but III "a
straight line from eternity to eternity.
It means that, though other chariots may
break down or drag heavily, this one
never drops 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 cupbearers to this feast
never give US but one chance at the
chalice, and rejecting that we shall
''fnd no place for repentance, though
we seek it carefully with tears. "
Lost Opportunities.
There is one more class of sins that I
put in this category of irrevocable sins
and that is lost opportunities of useful
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 Attic
ton in the household. His heart is ten
der. He is looking around for sympathy
and solace. Now is your time. Speak,
speak, or forever hold your peace. There
is a 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 husband
men are gathering i'll the sheaves. You
are in a religious meeting, and there is
an opportunity for you to speak a word
for Christ. You say, II must do it. "
Your cheek Pushes 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 eff
feet of your silence Try to get back
that opportunity You cannot find it.
You might as well try to find the fleece
that Gideon 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
personal repentance or of doing good
passes away, you may hunt for it; you
cannot find it You may fish for 1t; 1t
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 privi-
leges fly not in circles, but in straight
line; that the lightnings have not as
swift feet as our privileges when they
are gone, and let an opportunity of sal
walton go by US an inch-the one hun
dredth part Of an inch, the thousandth
part of an inch, the millionth part of
an inch-and no man can overtake it.
Fire winged seraphim cannot come up
with it. The eternal God himself can
not catch it.
stand before those wno have glori-
Gus birthright. Esaus was not SO rich
as yours. Sell it once, and you sell 1t
forever. I remember the story of the lad
on the Arctic some years ago-the lad
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