The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1895-02-09
Il OPPORTUNITY.
Dr.. Talmage Disyourses on the
Time to Do Good.
The Necessity of Starting the Young In the
Right DircctIon-TaSc Advantage of
Present Hpportumit!es-rhe
Danger Df Delay

IN a late sermon at Brooklyn Rev. I.
Dewitt TalmaTc took for his subject
opportunity" the te&C being from
Galatians vi. 10: AS we have, there
fore, opportunity, let us do good
The noted divine said:
At Denver, Col, years ago an audi
ence 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, o in the
pulpit looking from side to side, and
when no more people could be crowd
ed 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" swift
ly and nightly urfolded, and
while the opening prayer was be-
ing made, the word piled up into
Alps and Himalayas of meaning, and
spread out into other ATTITUDES and
lonGitudes of significance until it be-
came hemisphere, and it still grew in
altitude and circumference until 1t en-
circled other worlds and swept out
and on and AROUND until IL was as big
as eternity. Never since have l read
or heard that word without being
thrilled with its magnitude and mo-
mentum. Opportunity! Although in
the text TO some it may seem a mild
and quiet note, in the great Gospel of
harmony it is a s~taccatato passage. 1t is
one of the lovcliest aud awfullest
words in our language Of more than
100, 900 words of English vocabulary.
"As We have opportunity let US do
good"
What Is an opportunity? The lexi-
c%ographer would coolly tell you it is a
conjunction of favorable circumstances
for accomplishing "a purpose; but words
cannot tell what it Is. Take q thou
sand years to manufacture a definition,
and you could not describe it. Oppor-
tunity! But while | do no not attempt
to measure or define the word, | will,
God helping me. take the responsible
ty of telling you something about OPP
portunity.
First, it is very swift IN its motions.
sometimes within one minute it starts
| from the throne of God, sweeps around
the earth, and re-asccnds the throne
| from which it started. Within less
than sixty seconds 1t fulfilled It's mis-
sion.
In the second place opportunity never
comes back. Perhaps an opportunity
very much like 1t may arrive, but that
one never. Naturalists tell us Of in
sects which are born, fulfill their mis-
sion, and expire in an hour; but many
opportunities die so soon after they are
born hat their brevity Of life is meal.
culable. What most amazes me- Is that
opportunities do such overshadowing,
~far.reachiug, and tremendous work
in such 4 short earthly allowance.
You are a business man of large ex-
perience. The past eighteen months
have been hard on business men. A
Young merchant at his wits end came
into your ofiloc or your house, and
You said: Times are har now, but
better days will come. / have seen
| things as bad or worse, but we got out,
and we will get ont of this. The
brightest days that this country evor
saw arc yet to come" The young man
to whom YOU said that was ready for
Su1cluc, OF SptnSSiiiis No1>c, hh.tCiys q
fraudulent turn to get III of his
| despa;rful position. Your hopsfulness
inspired him for all time, and thirty
years after you are dead he will be
reaping the advantage of your optim'
ism. Your opportunity 70 do that one
thing for hat young man was not half
as long as the time l have taken to re,
hearSe 1t.
In yondcr third gallery you sit. q
man of the world, but you wish every
body we'll. While the clerks are
standing round in your store, or the
men in your factory are taking their
noon spell, some m says: Have you
heard that one of our men has beer
converted at the revival meetings Ia
the Methodist church?' While 1t Is
being talked over you say: We'll, ]
do not believe in revivals. Those
thiSgs do not last. People get excited,
and join the church, and are nc better
than they were before. l wish GU,
men would keep away from those meet
ings." Do you know, oh, man, wha'
you did In that minute of depreciation
There were two young men IN thai
group who that night would have
gone to those meetings and been
saved Tor this world and the
next, but You decided them
mot 70 go. They are social natures
! They already drink more than is good
for them, and are dlsposei to be wild