The text leads us to trace three ideas in the Apostle's mind : first, he thinks of opportunity as an article in the market ; second, he feels that there are circumstances which increase the value of the article ; and third, he sees the different types of traders, some neglecting opportunity, others eagerly buying it up. ' J. Moffatt, TJu Golden Book qf John Owen, 209.
EPHESIANS V. i6 253
I.
An Article in the Market.
1. What is this commodity which we are asked to purchase ? The text says it is " time." But the term used signifies more than the mere duration of anything or the measure of motion ; it may be taken for opportunity, or the favourable moment for doing anything, which, if lost, can never be recovered. This is well brought out in Ecclesiastes (viii. 5). "A wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment" — that is, he knows both what he ought to do and the fittest season in which to do it. So, then, we understand that time is redeemed when we diligently embrace and improve all the opportunities which God places in our way, not only for His honour and glory, but also for the good of our- selves and others, not allowing these golden opportunities to be forestalled or stolen from us and irretrievably lost by our own negligence. The exhortation of the Apostle implies that the Ephesians had lost and misimproved opportunities, and that being so they were not to be depressed, but were to double their diligence and do the more good in time to come.
We speak of life as bringing many duties. Life, says some one, is duty ; and this is a true way of looking at it. We are hedged all round by duty. We speak of life again as a probation. We are here on trial, to show what we are and what we can do. We are being tested, and the Master is watching us to see what we are good for, and what He can do with us when this life is over. We speak of life, again, as for education. God wants to train us here for another life, and for greater service than our present. All these views of life are true ; they set forth some real aspect of our life. But we may speak of our life in another way. It is a succession of opportunities. Life is always bringing opportunities to us, which we may seize and handle and turn to our profit, or which we may neglect to our loss.
^ Christina Eossetti tells us how in one of her country walks, being then entirely ignorant of its rarity, she lighted upon a four- leaved trefoil. She goes on to say : " Perhaps I plucked and so destroyed it : I certainly left it, for most certainly I have it not. Now I would give something to recover that wonder : then, when I
254 THE PURCHASE OF OPPORTUNITY
might have had it for the carrying, I left it. Once missed, one may peer about in vain all the rest of one's days for a second four- leaved trefoil. No one expects to find whole fields of such : even one, for once, is an extra allowance. Life has, so to say, its four- leaved trefoils for a favoured few : and how many of us overlook once and finally our rare chance ! " ^
If thou hadst known in those far-distant days, Which now lie buried with the long-dead past; If thou hadst known how wistful was the gaze Love turn'd on thee, oh ! wouldst thou then have cast One swift responsive glance, and thus have seen Life's possibility ? — It might have been !
If thou hadst known in those long-vanish'd hours
How one heart beat in sympathy with thine,
Wouldst thou have turn'd and cull'd the fragrant flowers
Love offered thee, a garland to entwine
For days to come ? Ah ! silence lay between
Thy heart and mine ; and yet, — It might have been !
If thou hadst known how, through the long, long years, One aching heart would yearn for thee in vain, Wouldst thou in that far time have dried the tears With tender answering touch, had all been plain ? Ah, who can tell ! Thy lonely grave is green ; Thy memory still lives on. It might have been!*
^ There is a story told of General Havelock, the father of Sir Henry Havelock- Allan, that when he was serving in India, there was on one occasion need for some military expedition which would be attended with great danger and difficulty, but which would bring distinction to the officer who could lead it successfully. It properly fell to General Havelock ; but there was an officer of lower rank who had made some grave mistake or failed in some previous expedition of which he had had charge, and on whose reputation a shadow was resting in consequence. Havelock gave way to the younger officer. He offered him a rare opportunity which he was not slow to embrace.*
2. Past opportunities are no longer in the market. St. Paul knew very well that time misspent can never be recalled. Every
* Mackenzie Bell, Ghristina Rossetti, 26. ' Una, In Life's Garden, 68.