To this, therefore, as to our only fure and impregnable fortrefs, let us fly with open arms in the day of distress. For this let us not cease to proftrate ourselves in prayer before the footstool of that God, whose all-seeing eye pervades the frame of nature, and whofe all-powerful arm can alone direct and fupport our trembling fteps. And may the allgracious Parent of the universe ever afford us fuch a measure of his holy fpirit, that we may be fafe under the fhadow of his wings here, and eternally happy in his kingdom hereafter!

SER

many truths of the greatest importance, which by frequent repetition feem to lose all their weight and influence upon the minds of men, Thus we hear men daily complaining of the shortness of life and certainty of death; and yet, as if no fuch truth existed, they are constantly forming long and distant schemes for enjoying the one, but making no preparations against the other, And the fame thing is no lefs true with regard to our time. We are all of us ready to acknowledge its great value and importance, to lament its swift lapfe and our own inability to recall it; and yet, as if we did not believe

the

the very truths we fpeak with our tongues, we all of us prodigally wafte it in indolence, in vices, or at least in trifles and follies unworthy of a reasonable being.

The fact is, thefe folemn truths, which are thus ever in our mouths, too often die upon our lips, and do not reach the heart. We echo back the common voice of past ages, without thought, and without examination. No one is difpofed to dispute the justice of observations which come so well recommended, and in fo unquestionable a fhape; and therefore we fuffer them to pafs on, without staying to confider the great and important leffons they teach. We number our days, but we do not apply our hearts to wisdom.

On this ground, I hope, I may be juftified in calling your attention to fo common and trite a fubject as the ufe and value of time. For though many of you may have frequently confidered it already with due attention and feriousness, yet fome there are, perhaps, the thoughtless and giddy wanderers in the flowery paths of the spring of life, to whom the fub

ject

ject is new and even those to whom it is not fo, will find no lofs, I truft, in the review of fo excellent a fubject. The language of my text calls upon us to redeem the time: that is, to put every part of it to a good use ; to employ the present time in laudable perfuits, to repair the neglects and failures of the past by a double diligence; and to prevent and anticipate the future by a wife forefight and circumfpection. These are the several parts of time, which we are called upon to redeem and improve,

The first and principal employment of our present time should be in the service of God, For furely it is an indifputable point of reason, that the God who made us what we are, should command the first fruits of our abilities. We fhould therefore make his word and will a principal part of our ftudy, we fhould labour to promote his honour, we fhould meditate frequently on heavenly things, we should diligently attend the stated times and seasons of public worship, we should strive to conform ourselves to his divine perfection by conquering our lufts, by refifting the temptations of the world, by working out our own falvation,

falvation, and by promoting that of others. And furely these are duties, which will leave no time unemployed, no intervals of leisure to hang heavy and opprefs us.

I must however remark, that though these great duties fhould be our first and principal concern, yet they ought not to be our only one. It is a very wrong and injurious notion of the duty 'we owe to God, to fuppofe, that it requires us to be always upon our knees, or fhut up in cells or caves.

hermit or a reclufe; the

of man has made many.

God never made a

pride or weakness

But surely, if any

truth be plain, it is fo, that the christian religion was never meant for the deftruction of fociety: Its natural tendency is to make men good fathers, good friends, and good fubjects. The man, therefore, who spends his time in the faithful discharge of the duties which belong to these feveral relations, spends it usefully, and agreeably to the will of God; nay, I will not feruple to fay, is better and more acceptably employed than the ftricteft devotee, who macerates his body with inceffant fafting, or wears his knees to the bone with continual praying.

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