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and the motive. The motive, "because the days are evil," refers to that age as peculiarly marked by persecution; therefore he calls them to "redeem the time," buy it off, as the word denotes, husband it from the sword of martyrdom. The origin of this use of the word is to be found in the history of Nebuchadnezzar, who charged the diviners, when they required him to relate his dream before they should interpret it, with only wanting to gain, or to buy off, the time; the same idea with that presented in the text. So our Lord advises his disciples, when persecuted in one city, to flee to another; they were to protract life to the utmost; this is implied in the words before the text, "walk circumspectly," cautiously; "not as fools, but as wise;" the apostle expects them to show the superiority of their new principles, in the wisdom of their walk. It was requisite to give such a caution; for in that age many coveted the palm of martyrdom; but, while they were not to flinch from the necessity of declaring the truth, nor to hide their talents, neither were they to abridge the opportunity of usefulness by any unnecessary exposure of themselves. Such was the original idea of "redeem, ing the time," or opportunity. By a very natural enlargement of that idea, we now commonly use the word for improving the time. The use of the expression in this sense, though different from its original use, seems to be entirely derived from the passage now before us.

II. I proceed to explain what is implied in such an improvement of time as the text suggests. This may be summed up in one proposition: it is the habitual and vigorous application of our faculties to our proper business. In this proposition are two things the proper choice of employment, and then the due application of the mind to that employment.

1. First, the end in view must be rightly chosen. Now, if we are destined for a future state of existence, all things should be made subservient to this grand end of life. Every thing unconnected with this must be considered impertinent to the just improvement of our time; nothing can be said to improve time when this is utterly forgotten; in all things we must aim to be serving and pleasing God. Let none, however, mistake the meaning of the advice; no idea of an unnatural and monastic seclusion is implied. Christianity does not materially alter the ordinary course of life, nor interfere with those social pursuits which the wise among mankind have proposed as the best calculated to benefit themselves and society. To find out, in short, what is our duty, we have only to listen to the silent monitor within; and we may, in most cases, hear a voice in the solitude of our bosoms saying, "This is the way, walk in it;" but if we once lose sight of the will of God, as it stands revealed in his word, we can never be said truly to redeem and improve our time. 2. Secondly, there is the habitual and vigorous application of our faculties to the duty of the moment.

Now there are many intrusions on time, which must be stu diously guarded against and zealously excluded; among these one of the foremost is an undisciplined imagination. Many de light in the indulgence of imagination at the expense of reason and conscience; they revel in visionary enjoyments, build castles in the air, and lose themselves in the luxury of speculative fruition. In opposition to this, you must cultivate a habit of exclusive attention to the object immediately before you, and shut out all advertency to other objects.

Next to an unbridled and vagrant imagination, there is the love of frivolous engagements; a trifling spirit, to which many are subject. Consider that life is given for a serious purpose; given that we should serve God. Recreations are perfectly allowable in their season and measure; but they should be regarded as subservient to higher pursuits, necessary to refresh and invigorate us for more important occupations; otherwise nothing manly, nothing Christian will be cultivated.

Next, there is the love of pleasure, the disposition to prefer the indulgence of inclination to the command of duty: this must be resisted and subdued, or it will gain a fatal power over us; every instance in which we yield to what allures and gratifies us, to the neglect of conscience and duty, weakens the moral character, and prepares the way for farther concessions. It is the very character of Satan's victims, that they follow pleasure in sin; and this alone explains the conduct of inveterate and abandoned profligates; they have yielded so often to the call of appetite, that at length they have lost all moral power of resist

ance.

Farther, avoid a disorderly manner of spending time; establish a method in your engagements; this will give simplicity and ease to the most complicated concerns. Order, in the affairs of life, is like light in the natural world; on the contrary, disorder and confusion drive a man to a state of apathy and despair respecting his duties; he is only anxious to escape from the painful reflection that must arise from the sense of perplexity in which his concerns lie. The celebrated statesman, De Witt, remarkable for transacting a world of business with seeming ease, being once asked how he got through so much, gave the simple answer, "By doing one thing at a time." Thus a man may despatch with comfort what would otherwise overwhelm him.

Lastly, guard against procrastination. All intend at some period to improve time; but they delay, and the moment never arrives. Guard against this habit being formed, lest it pass into a kind of fatal law, not to be shaken off, as the Ethiopian cannot change his skin; and the more difficult to be removed, as it is in alliance with the indolence of nature.

III. It remains that we enforce the lesson by some considerations on the value of the time to be improved; and here,

1. Consider that time is the most precious of all our posses

sions; by far the greatest deposite we have received, in regard to what depends on its use. There is nothing in eternity but what springs out of time; all the good which eternity has in store, and all the evil, all the promises, and all the threatenings of God in Scripture, all will be realized in consequence of, and in proportion to, the improvement or abuse of the present time of our probation. Time is the seed of eternity; at the judgment the question which will decide your destiny will be no other than this, how you have used your time. And the less there remains of this precious article, the more valuable it should appear; the narrower becomes the isthmus that separates us from eternity, the more time seems to enlarge itself in moral magnitude; in a word, to squander time is to squander all.

2. Time is irrecoverable; and this is another great reason why it should be improved. Most other things are recoverable, if lost; riches may be regained by a course of persevering industry; decayed health may be restored, the faded cheek may bloom again, and the shattered nerves be strung anew; even the wounds of character may be healed, and, by a steady perseverance in amendment, those who had lost their reputation may ultimately recover it, perhaps entirely; lost time is alone utterly irrecoverable; as utterly as if it were lost in the recesses of a past eternity! And besides this, it is probable that every waste of time affects the eternal state of the individual, and renders it less elevated in bliss than it might otherwise have been.

3. Another reason for the improvement of time is, that it is imperceptible in its lapse; it steals away in silence; we know its passage only by its loss, by the succession of thoughts in our own mind; we have no means of contact with time, and feel it least of all when we trifle it away. It is like a spiritual possession. Hence men easily waste it, as they do not see it wasting away, like other things that they waste; it vanishes like thin air.

Such are some of the reasons why we should improve our time. And they are always becoming stronger; for "now is our salvation nearer than when we believed;" now the great reckoning is nearer; "it is now high time to awake out of sleep; the night is far spent, the day is at hand." The value of this world is less and less, as we must sooner lose it; the interests of eternity are not greater, indeed, in themselves, but nearer to us, and calling us, as with louder and more piercing accents, to "awake to righteousness, to arise from the dead, that Christ may give us light."

Have any here hitherto neglected God and his salvation? Remember, the visions of time will soon fade; the realities of eternity soon open; soon you must hear the voice pronouncing you either blessed or accursed; every eye must see Him! And there is yet opportunity to repair this great miscarriage; Jesus Christ even now calls you by his word to bring time into a blessed alliance with eternity. Some of you may be reminded, by gray VOL. IV.-U U U

hairs and growing infirmities, of the urgent importance of your redeeming the time that may yet be left.

And we, who profess to be Christians, let us, also, be more awake to this duty! Let us lead more manly, by leading more Christian lives! Let us realize the end of our first, and the end of our second creation, by living to God; walk in the light of faith, not in the darkness of appetite; and copy the example of Him who crowded into three short years actions and labours of benevolence that would have adorned ages! Him who made it his meat and drink to do his Father's will, and finish his work. In a word, let us lay aside every weight, and be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; inasmuch as our labour will not be in vain in the Lord!

LXXXIV.

BROTHERLY REPROOF.*

GALATIANS, vi., 1: Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness: considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

[Preached at Broadmead, Bristol, March 22, 1829.]

THE Epistles of Paul were, for the most part, written to those Christian societies which he had been the instrument of founding in the world. Every true Christian was united to some church; for to profess to be a disciple of Christ, and to be connected with a church, was nearly one and the same thing. The practice of some Christians in the present day, of professing religion, and refusing to join themselves to a church, and to submit to the ordinances and discipline enjoined in the gospel, is one evidence of degeneracy in the Christian profession.

The union subsisting between Christians and the Church is not a mere figure, but expressive of a vital and vigorous affection, which Christians exercise towards each other. It was so in the apostolic age; and while the world was full of wars and tumults, the Church was the scene of concord, peace, and joy. But the Church was not even then perfect; and the passage before us proves it. It is solely addressed to the Church. It does not extend to all mankind, but respects members of the Church, and them alone. It exhorts them to cherish certain feelings, and to pursue a certain line of conduct, towards any one of their number who may have been suddenly surprised by some powerful temptation into the commission of sin. "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness."

I. Let us consider the case which the text describes.

* Reported in the Evangelist.

It supposes a Christian doing wrong, under the influence of a powerful and unexpected temptation. It therefore intimates that he would not have voluntarily yielded to sin, had he not been taken by surprise, when off his guard. "He will not walk in the counsel of the ungodly.” In reference to the faults which prevail among members of a Christian Church, it will generally be found that those who are guilty of them are overtaken. Their commission is not to be taken as a sample of the general state of the mind, or of the ordinary course of conduct; but as an occasional departure from the usual tenour of their lives.

There are many cases in which the best of men commit faults; but they are the exception to the rule of their life. For if a member of a church were to live in continual sin, he would be treated in a manner very different from that which is recommended in the case before us. They are to be cut off from the Church. But this extreme and final act of discipline is not to be extended to every deviation from the strict line of moral duty, especially under circumstances of a mitigated character; for this would destroy all confidence in the Church. It is to be applied to faults which involve great and decisive guilt; and not in any doubtful case, or in one where the commission of sin resulted in unforeseen and terrible temptation. Where this is the case, the feelings of the party will indicate who is the sufferer. To separate, for such a description of fault, one who deeply deplores it, and repents, as it were, in dust and ashes," would be an act of cruelty inconsistent with the gospel precepts; and, instead of doing any good to the offender, might break his heart. If you read with any attention the Epistles to the Church at Corinth, you will see this view of such a case sufficiently supported.

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II. Let us endeavour to ascertain the conduct to be pursued in such a case. "Ye which are spiritual, restore such a one, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted."

This applies not simply to such persons as are endowed with spiritual gifts, but to those Christians who are more than ordinarily devoted to religion. A spiritual man is one whom the Holy Ghost hath enlightened and changed. It does not belong to every one in the Church to assume this office. Those who are distinguished for eminent piety are to do it, for they may be employed with the greatest confidence of success. Such persons best know the importance and delicacy of the task. Nothing but a strong sense of duty would induce even them to take it up. Such persons in the Church ought not to shrink from the duty, however great may be the responsibility incurred; but are to endeavour to restore their brethren who may be overtaken in a fault.

To restore is a general term, admitting of a variety of applications. It often signifies to amend. In a moral sense, it means to restore the faulty person to the moral feeling which he has lost. He who thus restores becomes the healer of disease. How it is to be done is not mentioned; but the obvious end is to lead the person to confess his sin, and to express sincere sorrow for it. When this is accomplished, the office of Christian fidelity and friendship is discharged.

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