The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-07-24

administer it very gently. lest some
day there be a little slab in the ceme-
terry, ;,ll on it chiseled Our Willie"
or Our Charlie" aud though you
bow down prone i'll the grave and seek
place of repentance and seek it care
fully with tears you cannot find it.
There is another sin that l place in
the class of irrevocable mistakes, and
that is lost opportunities of getting
good. | never come to a Saturday
night but can see during that week
that | have missed opportunities Of
getting good. l never come to my
birthday but l can see that I have
wasted many chances of getting bet
ter. never go home on Sabbath from
the discussion of a religious theme
without feeling that l might have
done it in more successful way.
How is it with you? If you take GER
tain number of bushels of wheat and
scatter them over certain number of
acres Of land, you expect harvest in
proportion to the amount of seed scat
tered And I ask you now, Have the
sheaves of moral and spiritual harvest
corresponded with the advantages
given: How is it with you? You
may make resolutions for the future,
but past opportunities are gone. In
the long procession OF future years all
those past moments will march, but
the archangels trumpet that wakes
the dead will not wake up for you one
Of those privileges.
Esau had sold his birthright, and
there is not wealth enough in the
treasure houses of heaven to buy it
back again. What does that mean:
1t means that if you are going to get
any advantage out of this Sabbath
day, you will have to get it before the
hand wheels around on the clock to
II tonight. 1t means that every mo.
ment of our life has two wings, and
that it does not fly like a hawk in cir.
cles, but in a straight line from eter.
nifty to eternity. It means that though
other chariots may break down, or
drag heavily, this one never drops the
brake and never ceases to run. 1t
means that while at other feasts the
cup may be passed to us and we may
reject it, and yet after awhile take it,
the cupbearers to this feast never give
us but one chance at the chalice, and,
rejecting that, we shall 'find no place
for repentance, though we seek il
carefully with tears. y
There is one more class of sins thai
l put in this category of irrevocable
sins and that is lost opportunities Of
usefulness. Your business partner is
a proud man. In ordinary circum
stances, say to him, Believe in
! Christ, and he will say, You mino
your business and III mind mine.
But there has been afliction in the
household. His heart is tender. HI
is looking around for sympathy anc
solace. Now is your time. Speak
speak, or forever hold your peace
There is a time in farm life when yor
plant the corn and when you sow the
seed. Let that 60 by, and the farmer
will wiring his hands while other hus
bandmen are gathering in the sheaves
You are in religious meeting, anc
there is an opportunity for you tc
speak work for Christ. You say, 81
must do it." Your cheek fushes with
embarrassment. You rise half way
but you cover before men whose
breath is in their nostrils, and you sag
back, and the opportunity is gone ane
all eternity will feel the effect of you
silence. Try to get back that oppor
tunity, You cannot find it. Yor
might as well try to find the fleece
that Gideon watched, or take in you,
hand the dew that came down on thu
locks of the Bethlehem shepherds, O.
to find the plume of the first robin
that went across paradise. 1t is gone
it is gone forever.
When an opportunity for persona
repentance or of doing good passe
away, you may hunt for it; you can
not find it. You may fish for it; i
will not take the hook. You may dig
for it; you cannot bring it up. Re
member that there are wrongs anc
sins that can never be corrected; tha
our privileges fly not in circles, but II
a straight line; that the lightning:
have not as swift feet as our privl
eges when they are gone, and let ar
opportunity Of salvation 60 by US ar
inch, the one hundredth part OF ar
inch, the thousandth part of an inch
the mi]lionth part Of anch, and no
man can oyertaEe it. Fire winged
seraphim cannot come up with it
The eternal God himself cannot catch
it.
stand before those who have glo
rious birthright. Esau's was not sc
rich as yours. Sell it once, and you
sell it forever. l remember the story
of the lad on the Arctic some years
ago-the lad Stewart Holland. A
vessel crashed in the Arctic in the
time of a fog, and it was found thai
the ship must 60 down. Some of the
passengers got off in the lifeboats
some got off on RATS, but 800 went tc
the bottom. Oh, my friends, tossed
on the rough seas of life, some have
taken the warning, have gone off IN
the lifeboat and they are safe, but
others are not making any attempt to
escape. So I stand at this signal gun
of the gospel, sounding the alarm,
Beware! beware! Now is the &C
cepted time; now is the day of saliva
tion." Hear it that your soul may
live.
A Novel Obituary.
The happiest thing in the obituary
line we have seen in long time is an
extended notice of one John Black
man, written by a friend of his and
| printed in the Marion Star. After an