The Penn's Grove record., 1895-02-08
REV. DIR. TALMAGR.
rHE BEOoRLYN DTvINE's SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject. "opportunity.''

AEN ZA4F EE.HNNN
Subject. "opportunitys"
TEXT: "As we have therefore oIportun3
~, lot US do good.'-Galatians vi. 10.
At Denver years ago an audience had MS
yembled for.divine worship. The pastor o.
the church for whom / was to preAch thai
night. Interested in the seating Of the peo-
pie, stood in the pulpit looking from side TO
side, and when no more people could be |
crowded within thu walls he turned to me
and said, with startling emphasis, HWhat an
opportunityl'' Immediately tina tword begar
to enlarge, and while q hymn was being SUNG
at every stanza the word opportunity
swiftly and nightly unfolded, and whflethe
opening prayer was being made the word
piled up into Alps and Himalayas OF mean.
Ing and spread out into other Attitudes
longitudes of significance until " became
hemisphere, and 1t still grew in altitude and
circumference until 1t encircled other words
and swept out and on and around untlitt
was as big 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 a mild and quiet note, In the
sage. 1t Is one Of the l~oyellest and awfulest
words In our Language Of more than 100000
words Of English vocabulary. A we nave
opportunity, let us do good.
What Is an opportunity The PHOTOGRAPHER
would coolly tell you it Is a conjunction oi
favorable circumstance for accomplishing q
purpose. but words. cannot tell what r. l..
Take 1000 years to manufacture q definition,
and you could not successfully describe It.
Opportunity The measuring rod with wh1cn
1 the angel Of the Apocalypse measured heaven
pould rot measure this pivotal word OF my
| text. Stand on the edge Of the precipice OF
| all time and lei down the fethoming line
| hand under hand and lower down and lower
| down and for a quintillion Of years let II
| sink, and the lead will not strike bottom. OPP
1 portunityl But while LIDO not attempt 70
tmeasure or define the word I will, God help
/ ing me, take the responsibility OF telling yor
something about opportunity.
First, Il is very swift In its motions. Some
| times within one minute 1t starts from the
throne Of God, sweeps around the eartn ano
reascends the throne from which 1t started.
| Within less than sixty seconds it fulfilled III
mission.
IN the second place, opportunity never
| comes back. Perhaps an opportunity very
much like 1t may arrive, but that me never.
NatGralists tell us Of insects which are born
fulfA their mission and expire in an hour
but Aany opportunities die SO soon aftel
they Are born that their brevity OF life is In
cafculabIe. What most amazes me is that op
portunities do such o~yershadowing, Ia
reaching and tremendous work In such-shor
| Earthly allowance. You are o business mai
BIT large experience. The past eighteei
months have been hard on business men,. !
/ young merchant at his wits end came ny,
4 your office or your house, and you SAID
ATimes are hard now, but better days vii
eome. il have seen things as bad or worse
but we got out, and we will getout OF TINS
Eth Hdchtest DAYS that this country ever say
are vi to come The young man TO WHOM
Won said that was ready for suicide or some
hing w-orse--namelg, q fraudulent turn :
ont Of his despairful position. You
Il fopefniness inspired him for all time, an
Il thirfy years after you are dead he will b
reanine the advantage OF your optimism
tYoiir oppUrtunity to do that one thing 70
4 fhat young man was not half as long as To
a tine have taken to rehearseit
in yonder third gallery you g, g man !
/ Nhile ire clerks are standing round In you
store, or Inc men in your factory are takin
ff-sr noon spell, some ono says: HHave 20
10 Z that one Of our men has been col
VI, ! at the revival meeting In IN
Metbodist Church?'s While 1t Is being talke
: over YOU say: sswell, lido not believe in z
| vitals. Those things do not last. Peep
: ret eyeitedand Join the church and are I
Better than they were before. ] wish OF
men would Keep away from those meetings
10 yousknow. q man, what you did In tn
) Yninutk Of depreciation? There were tp
!, younk men In that group who that mig
I'd have gone to- those meetings al
d saved for this world andthe next, b
decided them not to go. They a
5al natures. They already drink mo
IN Is good for them and are disposed to
d. From the time they heard YOU 81
i thew accelerated their steps on thedow
n road. nten years they will be throuj
a their dissipations aud pass into =
Il beyond. That little talk OF yours q
d their destiny for this world n t
t You had an opportunity that you IN
royed. and how Will you feel when y
front those two immortals in the ID
yment and thev tell yoh OF that unfort
! fnlk Of YOURS that fluug them over t
fpice? Oman OF the world, why did y
say in that noon spell q ~eonyersatic
odl am glada that man has SGT g,
,eht. Come on. Win meet you at I
eeh door Al 4 o'clock?n You see, y
ia have taken them all to heaven, a
s'would have got there yourself. Opp,
ity lost
be day 7 left our country home to 10
rmyself. we rode across the country, a
rmy father was driving. OF sourss e
are hundreds III mon here who from thl
Town experience know how I felt. AT suel
time 4 yonng man must be hopeful and ey
n impatient to ret into the battle Of life
III himself. but to leave the homestead VIII,
u everythinp has been done for Y fail
Of older brothers taking your part when
were imposed on BY larger boys, and yo
Is mother alwavs around when Won got the Q,
j with mustard applications for the chest
herb tea 10 make you sweat on the fever a
-i~west mixtnres In the sup by the bed TO 81
& cough. taxing sometimes too mnch oil
cause Il was pleasant to take. and then
iout. with no one to stand hetween y
nd the world. gives one q choking selsati
the throat and q home sickness before J
ave cot three miles away from the old fol
,hcre was on the day / spoke of a~silence
long while. and then my father began
HI how good the Lord had been to him
,ekness and ID health, and when times
ov5dea lie means 81 livelihood for
afrs Aousehold. nndhe wound up by 8
nj ape witt. hays always feupd 1t SAFE
rust fhe Lord nv fafh6r has been d,
hlrfv years. but III All the crises OF my III
Indfhere rave been many Or them--f hi
1t the mighty bocet Of that lesson in
rm Wagon, lssDe Witt, T have always 70,
safe 70 trust the Lord The fact was
tber saw that was Ids opportunity, and
4E.4 ~ 1ITT 47t f2S sc 7ffH4f14