South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1916-10-02
URGES MEN NOT
To GIVE UP HOPE
Rev. G. w. Allison Says More
Opportunities Than One
Present Themselves.

Present themselves.
THE first opportunity is best the
second opportunity is sood,-but
even the last opportunity is better
than none at all. if il is but real
lied. said George William Allison
IN his sermon yesterday morning at
Hope Presbyterian chapel The
theme was The Second OppOrtun-
ity" a brief Of the sermon follows:
In the public square in the city
OF Florence there stands one of the
masterpieces Of sculpture from the
hands OF Michael Angelo. IL is the
statue David. The interesting thing
in the story of this figure is that "
was created from block Of marble
a more careless hand had spoiled
and discarded. and lay for years in
its hacked and hlackened condition
until the eye OF the superior artist
saw in it the unreleased figure Of
the shepherd boy. It was the stones
second opportunity.
Opportunity knocks once at every
mans door, says the proverb. The
statement expresses our conviction
that all humanity has at least one
chance No man may say without
fear of contradiction that he has
never had a single chance. There is
a tide in the affairs Of men, which
taken at the flood leads on 20 for
tune. said our first dramatist. But
many men will confess that they
have had a splendid opportunity,
but failed TO realize it, lost it, Are
they doomed TO hopelessness? Is
there no second chance? No farther
achievement? The seed gets but
one chance 20 grow and reproduce;
once il has spent the force OF or
ganie life within. 1t secures no fur
Their probation. Is life so, our life &?
Other Opportunities.
The man who missed TIE first
opportunity, has missed much. but
he has not missed all. No single OPP
pOrtunity comes twice; but other
opportunities come. The man who
has sinned has lost innocency; but
he has not lost all, there is yet the
opportunity for penitence and for
giveness. Innocence is better than
penItence-but penitence is better
than perdition, The bird with the
broken pinion never scared so high
9 gain but il kept another from the
snare,
The man who has missed the op-
portunity for making manhood
when young can never create the
character he might have achieved;
but he is never beyond the oppor-
tunity for improvement. The OPP
portunity for grasping goodness in
the mercy of God lasts as long as
life-and though the past is irrevo-
Jable-One moment of present and
future is sufficient TO affirm an eter-
nal purpose that future days may
work out We have hacked at our
marble, limited its possibilities; but
il is still available for lesser works
than the masterpiece it might have
been,
IF there were no second chance.
how many housewives were maxi
ers of edible bread? If no second
chance. how would the chips OF glass
gathered by an apprenticed artist as
refuse be used to construct a win
dow more beautiful than all in the
If no second chance.
how a Mel Trotter who had already
wasted a life2 If no second chance,
how the Peter who preached at
Pentecost2 our opportunities last
as long as our lives in spite of our
proverbs and sayings
God Can Remodel
The first opportunity mounts the
highest; the second not nearly 80
high; but better the opportunity
seized hold OF at last than that we
should be sodden afield. and mi~ed
in sin, Jeremiah tells Of the potter
at work in the shed when the yes
sci was crushed in his hands. But
he made it again. God IS able 20
take the lives which we have mar
red in their making and make them
again as he has made those of John
b. Cough. Harry Monroe. Mel Trot-
ter. our own Billy Sunday and thou
sands OF others less widely renown-
ed. God can take your life and
make IL again If you give Him the
chance. This is your opportunity
perhaps not the first, but chance
Just the same, How long Will your
last? This one is al
! eady passing: others less worthy
Will come. Your opportunities arc
as long as the mercies Of Cod.
In closing the sermon Mr.. Allison
quoted Edward Rowland Sill's poem
Opportunity" which was effective-
ly appropriate. There were no ser
vices at Hope Chapel In the evening.
the congregation uniting with the
City Rescue Mission in the service at