Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1895-02-15
REV. DIR. TALMAGE,
SUNDAYS SERMON IN THE NEW
YORK ACADEMY OF MUSIC.
Subject: "Opportunity,"


night. interested in the seating Of the peo-
| PIE, stood in the pulpit looking from side to
| Slde, ana when no more people could be
crowded within the walls he turned to me
and said with startling emphasis, "What an
! OppOrtunityr' immediately tha tword began
! to enlarge, and while a hvmn was being sung
| at every stanza the word "opportunitv''
swiftly and nightly unfolded, and while the
! opehtng prayer was being made the word
| piled W into Alps and Himalayas of mean
| Ing and spread out into other latitudes and
| IongtudeS Of significance until it became
| hemispheric, and it still grew in altitude and
! circumference until it encrcled other words
! and swept out and on and around until it
! was as tlg as eternity. Never since have
! read or heard that word without being
| thrilled with its magnitude and momentum
| Opportunity! Although in the text to some
1t may seem mild and quiet note. in the
| great gospel harmony it is a staccato pas
! sage. It is one of the lovelieet and awfulest
| WORDS IN our language Of more than 100, 900
words Of English vocabulary. s'As we have
! opportunity, let us do good"
What is an opportunity? The lexicographer
| would coOlly tell you it is a conjunction of
favorable circumstances for accomplishing a
! purpose, but words cannot tell what it is
Take 1000 years to manufacture a definition
and you could not successfully describe it.
| Opportunity: The measuring rod with which
the angel OF the Apocalypse measured heaven
could not measure this pivotal word of nv
text Stand on the edge of the precipice Of
aii time and let down the fathoming line
mar under hand and lower down and lower
down and for a quintillion of years let 1t
SINK. and the lead will not strike bottom. Op-
pOrtunity! But while I do not attempt to
! measure or define the word will. God help
ing me, take the responsibility of telling you
something about opportunity.
First 1t Is very swift in its motions. Some
times within one minute 1t starts from the
throne of God, sweeps around the earth and
Ip9SPRn6S the throne yuhi c+o @a1
Within less than sixty seconds it fulfilled its
mission.
In the second place, opportunity never
comes back. Perhaps an opportunity very
much like it may arrive, 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 in
calculable. What most amazes mo is that op-
pOrtunities do such overshadowing far
reaching ana tremendous work in such short
earthly allowance. You are business man
OF large experience. The past eighteen
months have been hard on business men. A
young merchant at his wits end came into
your office or your house, and you said
"Times are hard now, but better DAYS will
come. l have seen things as bad or worse,
but we got out, and we will get out of this.
The brightest days that this country ever saw
are yet to come" The young man to whom
you said that was ready for suicide or some
get out of his despairful position. Your
| hOpefulness inspired him for all time, and
thirty years after you are dead he will be
reaping the advantage of your optimism.
! Your opportunity to do that one thing for
that young man was not half as long as the
time [ have taken to rehearse it.
in yOnder third gallery you sit, a man of
the world. but you wish everybody we'll.
While the clerks are standing round in your
store, or the men in your factory are taking
their smell Iay
heard that one of our men has been con-
verted at the revival meeting in the
Methodist church," While it is being talked
over you say: "Well, 1 do not believe in re-
vivals. Those things do not last. People
get excited and Join the church and are no
better than they were before. I wish our
men would keep away from those meetings"
Do you know, o man, what you did in that
minute of depreciation? There were two
young men in that group who that night
been saved for this world and the next but
you decided them not to go. They are
social natures. They already drink more
than is good for them and are disposed to be
wild. From the time they heard you say
that they accelerated their steps on the down
ward road. In ten years they will be through
with their destinations and pass into the
great beyond. That little talk of yours de-
cided their destiny for this world and the
next. 4Ou had an opportunity that you mis-
improved. and how will you feel when you
confront those two immortals in the last
Judgment and they tell you of that unfortu-
nate talk of yours that fuug them over the
precipice? o man of the world, why did you
not say in that noon spell of conversation:
"Good! I am glad that man has got re-
ligiOn. Iwish had it myself. Let us all go
tonight. Come on. I will meet you at the
church door at oclock?' You see, you
would have taken them all to heaven, and
you would have got there yourself. Oppor-
tunity lost!
The day I left our country home to look
after myself we rode across the country, and
my father was driving. OF course I said
nothing that implied how 1 felt. But there
are hundreds Of men here who from their
own experience know how I felt At such a
time young man must be hopeful and even
impatient to get into the battle of life for
himself. but to leave the homestead where
everything has been done for yOu,y your father
or older brothers taking your part when you
were imposed on by larger boys, and your
mother always around when you got the cold
with mustard applications for the chest or
herb tea to make you sweat off the fever and
sweet mixtures In the cup by the bed to stop
the cough. taking sometimes too mnch OF 1t
because it was pleasant to take. and then to
go out, with no one to stand between you
and the world. gives one choking sensation
at the throat and home sickness before you
have got three miles away from the old folks.
There was on the day spoke of silence for
long while and then my father began to
tell how good the Lord had been to him in
sickness and in health. and when times of
hardship came how Providence had always
provided the means of livelihood for the
large household, and he wound up by say
Ing, "De Witt, I have always found it safe to
trust the Lord" My father has been dead
thirty years, but in all the crises of my life
and there have been many OF them-1 have
felt the mighty boost of that lesson in the
farm wagon, ''De Witt have always found
1t safe to trust the Lord The fact was my
father saw that was his opportunity, and he
improved it,
This is one reason why I am an enthusias-
tic friend of all Young Mems Christian As
socations They get hold of so many Young
men just arriving in the city and while hey
are very impressiOnable and it is the best OPP
portunitv Why how big the houses looked
to us as we first entered the great city. and so
many people 1t seemed some meeting must
have lust closed to fill the streets in thatway,
and then the big placards announcing all
stvIes of amusementS and so many OF them on
the same night and every night, after cur poy-
hood had been spent in regions Wnere ohly
once or twice in a whole year there had been
an entertainment in schooi-house or church:
That is the opportunity. Start that innocent
Young man in the right direction. Six weeks
after will be too late. Tell me what slich
Young man does with his first six weeks IN the
great city, and I will tell you what he Will De
throughout his life on earth aId where ne
will spend the ages of eternity. oppor-
tunity!
We all recognize that commercial and liter
ary and political successes depend upon tax
ing advantage of opportunity. The great
surgeons of England feared to touch the
tnmor of King George ". Sir Ashley Cooper
looked at it and said to the king, II will cut
your majesty as though you were plow-
man" That was Sir Astley's opportunity.
Lord Give was his fathers dismay, cnmolng
church steeples and doing reckless things.
His father sent him to Madras, India, as a
clerk I in the service of an English officer.
Give watched his time, and when war broke
out came to be the chief OF the host that
saved India for England. Iha1 was LoIu