Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1895-02-20
REV. DIR. TALMAGEs
rHE BROOKLYN DIvINE'S sun.
DAY SERMON. .- =.
Subject. "Opportunity."

q
| .embled for divine worship. The pastor Of
! the church for whom was to preach that
right. 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 the walls he turned ID me
| and said. with startling emphasis, "What an
opportunity!' Immediately tha tword began
| to enlarge, and while hymn was being suna
at every stanza the word Opportunity"
swiftly and nightly unfolded, and while ths
| opening prayer was being made the word
piled up into Alps and Himalayas OF mean.
Ing and spread out into other latitudes and
longitudes of significance until it became
hemispherc. and ii still grew in altitude and
circumference until it encircled other words
and swept out and on and around until II
was rs big rs eternity. Never since have
| read or heard that word without being
thrilled with its magnitude and momentum.
Opportunity! Although in the text to some
] II may6eem mild and quiet note. in the
great fEospeT'harmony it is a staceato pas
sage 1T is one OF the lovelicst and awfulest
wor6stn our language OF more than 100000
words Of English vocabulary. "As we have
opportunity, let us do gooa."'
What Is an opportunity? The lev'r c,raphel
| would coolIy tell you it isia "oniunction OF
| favorable circumstances for accomplishing
purpose. but words C.tGDot tell what it .is.
| Take 1000 years to manufacture definition,
and you could not successfully describe it.
Opportunityi The Measuring rod with which
| the angel of the Apocalypse measured heaven
| could not measure this pivotal word of my
I text. Stand on the edge Of the precipice OF
| all time and let down tho fathoming line
| hand under hand and lower down and lower
| downand for quintillion Of years let il
sink, and the lead win not strike bottom. Op-
| portHnity! But while 1 do not attempt tc
measure or define the word will, God help
| Ing me, take the responsibility of telling yor
somsihing about opportunity. .-
First, 1t is very swift in its motions. Some
1f cfo fl.l
throne of God. sweeps around the earth and
| reascendS the throne from which it started.
Within less than sixty seconds it fulfilled its
mission.-.,
In. the second place. opportunity never
| comes Lack. Perhaps an opportunity very
| much iike it may arrive, but that one never
] Natilraiists tell us of insects which arc born,
| fulfill their mission and expire in an hour,
/ but many opportunities die so soon after
they ara, born that their brevity Of life is in
| calcUlable. What most amazes ne is that op-
| portunitles do such oversha1owipg, fa,
! reaching and tremendous work in such short
| earthly allowance. Tou are q 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 have seen things as bad or worse,
hut 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
| thing worse-namely. fraudulent turn tc
| get cut OF his despairfui position. You
| hopefulness inspired him for all time. and
thirty years after you are dead he will be
reaping the advantage OF your optimism.
lsYour opportunity to do that one thing FOL
ttbat young man was not half as long tht
| time have taken to rehearse it.
| In yonder third gallery you sit, man o..
| the world, but you wish everybody well
| While the clerks are standing round In youI
| store, or the men in your factory are taking
their noon spell, some one says: "Have you
| heard that one of our men has been con.
yerted. at the revival meeting in the
| Methodist church," While 1t is being talked
| over sou say: 1Well, I do not believe in re-
viyals.-. Those things do not last: People
| get excited and join the church and are no
| bettef:thnn they were before. wish our
| men would keep away from those meetings. "
| Do you know, o man, what you did in that
i minute Of depreciation? There were two
I young men in that group who that night
! would have gone to those meetings and
| 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 dissipations and pass into the
| great beyond. That little talk of yours de-
cided their destiny for this world and the
next. You had an opportunity that You mis-
improved, and how will you feel when yot
confront those two immOrtals in the last
judgment and they tell you of that unfortu-
nate tals OF yours that flung them over the
precipice? q man of the world, why did you
not say in that noon spell Of conversation
"Goodi anNglad that man has got re-
ligioD. Iwish had it myself. Let us all &c
tonight. Come on. I will meet you at the
church door at o'clock?'' You see, you
would have taken them all to heaven, and
you would have got there yourself. Oppor
| turity lost!
i The day left our country home to look
i after myself we rode across the country, ane
my father was driving. OF course 1 said
! nothing that implied how felt But there
are hundreds of men here WHO from theli
own experience know how l felt. AT such
time a young man must be hopeful and ever
4 impatient to get into the battle OF life fol
himself, but to leave the homestead whers
| everything has been done for u,your fathel
or older brothers taking yoar part when you
were imposed on by larger boys, and youi
mother always AROUND when you got the cold
with mustard applications for the chest ol
herb tea to make You sweht off the fever and
| sweet mixtures in the cup by the bed to stol
the cough. taking sometimes too mnch of Il
becauSeit was pleasant to take. and then tc
go out, with no; one to stand between you
and tlle world, gives one a choking sensation
| Mt the throat and home sickness before you
have got three miles away from the old folks.
There was on the day 1 spoke of a silence for
a long while. and then my father began &c
| tell how good the Lord had been to him In
sickness and in health, and when times o
hardship came how Providence had always
provided the means of livelihood for th'
large household. and he wound up by say
ing. 'De Witt, have always found it safe t.
. trust the Lord" My father has been deat
| thirty years, but in all the crises OF my life
! and there have been many of them-1 hav'
felt the mighty boost Of that lesson in tn.
farm wagon, sDe Witt, I have always fount
It safe to trust the Lord.'' The fact was my
fathersawthat was his opportunity, and h'
i improved, it,. 49, 80:
tic friend Of all Young Mems Christian As
tsociatiors. They get hold of so many youns
men just arriving In the city and while the.
are eoeryimpressionable and it is the best op
portunitr. Why, how big the houses looked
| to us as we first entered the great city. and 81
many peoplei 1t seemed some meeting mus
have just closed to fill the streets in that way
and then the big placards announcing al
styles of amusements and so many OF them OF
the same night and every night, after our boy
hood had been spent in. regions where onl,
| once or twice in a whole year there had beeI
an entertainment in school-house or church
That is the opportunity. Start that innocen
young man in the right direction. Six week
after will be too late. Tell me what such I
| young man does with his first six weeks in thu
great city, and will tell you what he will b.
throughout his life on earth and where HI
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 grea
surgeons OF England feared to touch The
tumor of King George ~. Sir Ashley Coopel
bNoked at it and said to the king, ~ will Gu
! your majesty as though yoa were q plow
man.. That was Sir Astle;'s opportunity
Lord Give was his fathers dismay, cli,nbin!
church steeples- and doing reckless things
q His father sent him to Madras, India. as
1 clerk in the service Of an English olicer
.t.Ciive watched his time: and when war brok'
out came to be the chief of the. host tha
4 saved Isdla for England That was Lor'
Gives opportunity. Pepiine Lucca, Ga
! almost matchiess singer, was but little recoe'
knized until In the absence Of she 6oioist ii
the German choir sbs took her place and be
gan the enchantment the void -Thst dA'