The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1895-02-15
OPPORTUNITY"
Rev. DR.. Talmage Discourses Upon
Versatile Word.
The Scripturai Significance of the Word
"Opportunity"-A Staccato Passage
In the Great Gospel Harmony
and Its Mission.

Dewitt Talmage in the Academy OF
Music, New York city, being based or
the text:
AS we have therefore opportunity, let us de
good.-Galatians vi. TO-
At Denver, Col, years ago, an au.
dience had assembled for divine
worship. The pastor of the church,
for whom l was to preach that night,
interested in the seating of the people,
stood in the pulpit looking from side
to side, and when no more people could
be crowded within the walls he turned
to me and said, with startling emphasis:
what an opportunity" Immediately
that word began to enlarge, and while
a hymn was being sung, at every
stanza the word opportunity" swiftly
and nightly unfolded and while the
opening prayer was being made, the
word piled up into Alps and Himalayas
OF meaning, and spread out into other
latitudes and longitudes of significance
until it became hemisphere, and it
still grew in altitude and circumfer-
ence until it encircled other worlds,
and swept out, and on, and around I'M
til it was as big as eternity Never
since have l read or heard that word
without being thrilled with its magni-
tude and momentum. Opportunity!
Although in the text to some it may
seem mild and quiet note, in the
great Gospel harmony it is a staccato
passage. 1t is one of the loveliest and
awfulest words in our language of
more than one hundred thousand words
of English vocabulary.
-'As we have opportunity, let us do
good
What is an opportunity? The lexi-
,cographer would coolly tell you it is a
conjunction of favorable circumstances
for accomplishing a purpose; but
words can not tell what it is Take
thousand years to manufacture def |
milton, and you could not successfully |
describe it. Opportunity! The meas
uring rod with which the Angel of the |
Apocalypse measured Heaven could
not measure this pivotal word of my
text. Stand on. the edge of the preci-
pice of all time and let down the faith
oming line hand under hand, and
lower down and lower down, and for
q quintillion of years let it sink, and
the lead will not strike bottom. OPP
portunity! But while do notattempt
to measure or define the word, | will,
God helping me, take the RESPONSE
bility of telling you something about
opportunity.
First, it is very swift in its motions.
Sometimes within one minute it starts
from the throne of God, sweeps around
ID IL, h. |
from which it started. Within less
than sixty seconds it fulfilled it's mis-
sion. In the second place opportunity
never comes back. Perhaps an oppor- |
tunity very much like it may arrive, I
but that one never. Naturalists tell |
us of insects which are born, fulfill
their mission and expire in an hour, {
but many opportunities die so soon
after they are born that their brevity
of life is incalculable. What most I
amazes me is that opportunities do 1
such overshadowing, far-reaching and S
tremendous work in such short earth t
ly allowance. You are a business
man of large experience. The past '
eighteen months have been hard on
business men. A young merchant at S
his wits end came into your Office '
or your house, and you said: Times
are hard now, but better days will
come. / have seen things as bad, or a
worse, but we got out, and we will i
get out of this. The brightest days
that this country ever saw are yet to
come" The young man to whom you t
said that was ready for suicide, or Y
something worse, namely, fraudulent Il
turn to get out of his despairful posi- O
ton. Your hopefulness inspired him il
for all time, and thirty years after you t
are dead he will be reaping the ad- S
vantage of your optimism. Your OPP .
portunity to do that one thing for that a
young man was not half as long as the
time have taken to rehearse it. In b
yonder third gallery you sit, man of il
the world, but you wish everybody t
we'll. While the clerks are standing .
round in your store, or the men in g
your factory are taking their noon n
spell, some one says: "Have you heard t
that one of our men has been converted a
1T the revival meeting in the Metho- L
dist church," While it is being talked a
over you say: "Well, do not believe C
In REVEALS. Those things do not last. i
People get excited, and join the i
church, and are no better than they t
we're before. wish our men would keep
away from those meetings" Do you I
know, oh man, what you did in that
minute of depreciation? There were il
two young men in that group who that j
night would have gone to those meet
ings and been saved for this world and a
the next, but you decided them not to .
go. They are social natures. They I
already drink more than is good for c