“Oh, I hope that he put out his hand and took that!” cried the aged woman, resting hers on her Bible.
“Opportunity cried, ‘Oh, pass me not by! Search the Scriptures, that can make you wise unto salvation.’ She held forth her vase with imploring look, but the boy was intent on pursuing his way. ‘I care not for it!’ he cried; so pushed it aside and passed on.”
“Well, he might have the same opportunity of reading the Bible again and again,” said Harry.
“Not the same,” replied Willy Thorn; “the boy could not retrace one step of his way. No moment of time can ever be recalled. Every opportunity of doing good once past, whatever others may arise, that opportunity is past for ever!
“‘I shall meet with more maidens,’ said the boy. ‘I see an endless number before me; doubtless they carry vases as precious as those which I have rejected.’ But even as he spoke the words, he came suddenly on a black iron gate, and he could pass on no further. Shuddering, he read on the gate the solemn word, Death!
“Then would he gladly have turned round: then would he have earnestly asked for one more opportunity for prayer—one more opportunity of doing what is right; but the last had been passed—he had slighted the treasure of the last! Nor can we despise opportunities, and not suffer for doing so; if they offer the vase, they also carry the punishment meet for those who neglect its contents. As the boy stood trembling at the gate of Death, a dart came hissing through the air, and inflicted on him a burning wound: then came another and another; every opportunity despised sent its messenger of vengeance, and the wretched boy, writhing with the arrows of conscience in his soul, sank down at the gate, and perished!”
“Alas!” cried Harry, “where can I then find safety, for I have neglected more opportunities than I can number of doing good and receiving good?”
“Ask the Lord for pardon through the blood of the Saviour!” exclaimed Thorn. “‘Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation;’ neglect not this opportunity—it may be your last! O my young friend! no day leaves you as it found you; every day brings its opportunities of prayer, praise, reading the Bible, and obeying God’s laws; every day you have chosen either the vase or the dart.”