Milford chronicle., 1895-02-08

Ahe Shdnce lhat Never Comes the SeCul
Time-Elesnents of Commercial. I.itera
and Political success-The Greatest
All Opportunities.
NEW YORK, Feb s.-Rev DR.. Talma,
again found himself facing a vast aud
ence at the cademy Of Music this afte
noon, while thousands surged around Il
entrances unable to gain admission III
Academy was crowded shortly after
o'clock, and the preliminary service Of son
was participated in by the throngs I'll,
filed the corridors and by many Of tho.
at the doors on both Irving place and Fou
teenth street as we'll The distineuishe
divine took for his subject a." Opportunity.
the text selected being Galatians vi, Ii
As we have therefore opportunity, let a
do good :"
At Denver years ago an audience ha
assembled for divine worship.
The pastor of the church for whom
was to preach that night, interested in til
seating of the people, stood in the pulpi
looking from side to side, and when Il,
; more people could be crowded within tn
b walls he turned to me and said with star
tling emphasis, What an opportunityP
; Immediately that word began to enlarge
and while hymn was being sung at every
stanza the word opportunity" swiftly
and nightly unfolded and while the open
ing prayer was being made the word piled
up into Alps and Himalayas Of meaning
and spread out into other ATTITUDES and
longitudes of significance until it became
hemisphere, and it still grew in altitude
and circumference until it encircled other
worlds and swept out and on and around
until it was as big as eternity. Never
Gin hanr~ L.. 81
out being thrilled with its magnitude
and momentum. Opportunity Although
in the text to some it may seem a mild and
quiet note, in the great gospel harmony it Is
staccato passage. 1t is one of the loveliest
and awfulest words in our language Of
more than 100 600 words of English vocab.
ulary, " As we have opportunity, let US
do good -
What is an opportunity The lexicog-
rapher wonld coolly tell you it is a con
junction of favorable circumstances for ac-
complishing purpose, but words cannot
tell what it is Take a thousand years to
manufacture a definition, and you could
not successfully describe it, Opportunitvl
The measuring 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 precipiue of all
time and let down the fathoming line
hand under hand and lower down and
lower down and for a quintillion of years
let it sink, and the lead will not strike
bottom. Opportunity But while 1 do not
attempt to measure or define the word 1
will, God helping me, take the response
bility of telling you something about op-
portunity.
1t Never Comes Back.
First, it is very swift in its motions.
Sometimes within one minute it starts
from the throne of God, sweeps around .
the earth and reascends the throne from
which it started Within less than 60
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 inoalculable. What most amazes
me is that opportunities do such over
shadowing, tarreaching and tremendous
work in such short earthly allowance
You are a business man of large expert
ence. The past Is 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 1
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 9
are yet to come" The young man to I
whom you said that was ready for suicide
lr something Worse-namely a fraudulent ]
5urn to get out Of his despairful position. /
Your hopefulness inspired him for all /
lime, and 80 years after you are dead he @
will be reaping the advantage of your e
optimism. Your opportunity to do that G
me thing for that young man was not $
lalf as long as the time have taken to l
ehearse it. '
In yonder third gallery you sit, man t
# the world, but you wish everybody h
veil. While the clerks are standing round h
n your store or the men in your factory b
no taking their noon spell, some one says, n
Have you heard that one of our men has O.
een converted at the revival meeting in p
he Methodist church," While it is being a
alked over you say, well, lido not believe II
n revivals. Those things do not last tC
'eople get excited and join the church W
nd are no better than they were before. Il
'ish our men would keep away frean those al
ieetings. " Do you know, o man, what W
on did in that minute of deprecia- Of
Iong There were two young men in that "
roup who that night would have gone to ii
hose meetings and been saved for this ca
'orld and the next, but you decided them W
OF to 60. They are social natures. They IN
lready drink more than is good for them re
nd are disposed to be wild From the 81
me they heard you say that they accel- be
'ated their steps on the downward road.
! ten years they will be through with tn
4 ] Inf1
7yond. That little talk Of yours decided nc
ieir destiny for this world and the next nc
ou had an opportunity that you misim- is
,oved, and how will you feel when you liV
nfront those two immortals in the last WI
dgment and they tell you Of that unfor- go
mate talk Of yours that flung them over tn
10 precipiee! o man of the world, why WI
d you not say in that noon spell of con- tn
rsatiOn: Good 1 am glad that man tn
IS got religion. wish had it myself thl
st US all 60 tonight Come on; / will on
eet you at the church door at O'Clock. " wi
On see, you would have taken them all 20
heaven, and you would have got there I'll
urself Opportunity lostl
The Lesson In the Farm Wagon. ma
The day left our country home to look Co
ter myself we rode across the country mi
d my father was driving OF course l ua
id nothing that implied how I felt But Wh
ere are hundreds of men here who from we
cir own experience know how felt At fan
ch time young man may be hopeful yoI
d even inpatient to get into the battle to
j ife for himself, but to leave the home mil
ad where everything has been done for 1t
u, your father or older brothers taking sho
ur part when you were imposed on by ute
ger boys, and your mother always tun
lund, when you got the cold, with mus ON
d applications for the chest, or herb tea ing
make you sweat off the fever, and sweet ma
xtures in the cup by the he'd Ia SION the bes
iqh. taking sometimes TOD muob Of It aftt
a,,so :. 100 -r,oosa,+ =, ..,.. ...s -. to t
- ~ ,,,;tb ~, - 'ssl.. sl su sn chu
an5 +ha ,.,o-,5 -, " ss'.i' mir
sation at the throat and a homesick- -
S before you have got three miles away ~
m the old folks. There was on the day a. a.
1oke Of a silence for long while, and ~