standings by that of father and child. The depth and intensity of the affections vary in different individuals, as much, perhaps, as the intellectual capacity; but every one is more or less sensible of their influence. An immense distance, which our thoughts cannot traverse, separates us from God; when we meditate upon him only as the Almighty, one only faculty is called into action-awe. Such was the extreme reach of pagan understanding, which inscribed upon the temple of Isis the words, "I am all that is, and that shall be; and no man hath ever lifted my veil." The height of their wisdom consisted in the confession, that there was indeed an unknown God: nor has the modern philosopher drawn nearer in spiritual knowledge and communion with his Creator, whilst he only acknowledges him as the great First Cause. "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious," revealed his name of old to his chosen people; and the revelation was perfected when Christ put into the mouth of his disciples the name of Father. Beautifully adapted, in every respect, to supply the wants and meet the understanding of man, the Gospel thus immediately enlightens the heart, into which its testimony is sincerely received, as to the nature of the feelings to be exercised towards its Creator.

It is only through faith in Christ that we are capable of entering into this new state of being, which will be seen in considering the nature and evidences of the spirit of adoption.

"Who

In the first place, it implies a sense of the love of God towards us. To say that a child never doubts the love of its parent, would be to impute a perfection to human affections which they do not possess; but still there exists a strong instinctive reliance in the heart of a child upon the love of its parent. Is this said to arise from habit or experience? No; if the child had been separated from its parent from its earliest years -if lands, and seas, and oceans intervened,-would not its heart, especially when dejected or forlorn, traverse them all, to rest in thought upon the human being who it would think, if near, would certainly befriend it? If no counteracting influence had been at work, surely we may safely conclude such would be the path of the natural affections. And such is the turning of the trusting heart towards God-it implies a conviction of his love. There are some sweet little verses written for young children, entitled, loves you best?" in which there is an endeavour to impress upon the infant disciple, that better than by father or mother, sister or brother, he is beloved by his God. But how hard it is for the human mind, whether in childhood or maturity, fully to embrace and rely upon this conviction! The difficulty is sin (Col. i. 21): we are alienated, and made enemies in our mind by wicked works-by the sense both of present and past sin, which withdraws our hearts from God, and teaches us to look upon him rather as an offended judge, than as a tender father. That we may have access to him as such, it is necessary that we should have a sense of pardon, of justification in his sight; which can only be ours through faith in the atonement of Christ. The clearer conviction we have of pardon, and consequently of the love of God towards us, the stronger will be our love towards him. "We love him," as it is written, "because he first loved us."

In the second place, the spirit of adoption implies submission to the will of God-a duty which calls daily upon faith for its fulfilment. We must have strong faith, both in the wisdom of God and in his love towards us, to be able to submit to him patiently in the painful and often mysterious course of this world's events. Submission is a prominent trait in the character of true filial love; what wise and judicious parent does not expect it from a child? There are so many ways in which a child cannot judge for itself; so many ways in which the years of childhood must be employed; so many restraints to which it must be subjected;

which the child, at the time, is totally unable to comprehend, that submission to wiser guidance becomes absolutely needful for its future welfare: many years must elapse before it can be aware either of the necessity of the means which were used, or even of the purpose which was to be gained. It is the same with every person in this world: there are many circumstances, many dispensations, many chains of events, for which we cannot see the use or object, and which we are therefore tempted to think would be much better altered. Never was, perhaps, missionary zeal more untiringly displayed than by the Danish ministers, who endeavoured to found a Christian colony on the frozen and desolate shores of Greenland, and win the barbarous and miserable inhabitants to partake of the blessings of Christianity, and consequent civilisation. For a long series of years every attempt proved abortive; and amongst other sources of vexation was the impracticability even of instructing the children. After the missionary had succeeded in getting a few youths together, and had begun the attempt of instructing them, things went on very well while they continued to receive a fish-hook, or some other present, for every letter; but as soon as these rewards were stopped, they grew tired, and plainly informed the missionary that they really saw no use in sitting all day long locking at a piece of paper, and crying a! b!c! In vain he reasoned with them, in vain he endeavoured to convince them of the benefits of knowledge, especially religious knowledge: no, it was of no present use to them, and they neither understood nor believed the future benefit. So it is with us in this world: trials, vexations, disappointments, seem often to us like a b!c! to the Greenlanders,-no present use, and only a great deal of unnecessary trouble. We know that knowledge is necessary to the savage, both as a means of communicating to him the doctrines of salvation, and also of advancing him to the blessings of civilisation in this world, -advantages which his mind, in its natural state, is totally inadequate to form any idea of: in a far greater degree is this the case with us; our life here is fitting us for a state of existence which we can yet form no idea of: let us, then, be contented to learn the a, b, c.

Conformity to the image of God is also an evidence of the spirit of adoption. "Be ye perfect, as your Father which is in heaven is perfect;" "be ye followers of God as dear children." There is no argument, perhaps, more frequently addressed by parents to their children than this-" If you love me, you will endeavour to please me." Obedience is urged upon the child as a proof of love-the only real proof which the parent is willing to accept. The same is required of the children of God. "If ye love me, keep my commandments," stands almost first among the parting precepts of our Saviour. "If I be a father," says Jehovah, in reproving the disobedient Israelites, "where is my honour?" Our Lord has censured the pretended obedience of words without deeds, in the parable of the two sons (Matt. xxi.). We should not rest the proof of our love to God only upon the emotions of our own hearts. It is true he seeth into the heart: the sincere Christian may therefore say, "Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee;" and we are told, "the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God" (Rom. viii. 16): but those who claim adoption into the household of God, must yet be renewed in his image; "he that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also so to walk even as he walked" (1 John, ii.). They must give proof of that renewal by the course of their life: the "light," which should glorify their Father which is in heaven, must shine in "good works."

As imperfection cannot express perfection, the love of God far exceeds any idea that we can form of it from the love of a parent; yet there are many other points in which it may be yet further brought within our comprehension, by the analogy of parental affection; and in which the duties required from us may be yet further illustrated by the comparison of filial love.

In the first place, a parent's love is unpurchased by any merit in the object of it: parents love their children independently of their gifts, their graces, or even their merits; it therefore calls for the strongest gratitude. "But God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. v. 8).

Secondly, It commences before the child is conscious of it, much less able to return it. "We love Him, because he first loved us" (1 John, iv. 19).

Thirdly, It is a pardoning love. How much perverseness and disobedience has not a parent's love to contend with, through infancy, childhood, and youth! yet it is ever ready to forget all, and to drop the veil of forgiveness over every failing: "And I," saith the Lord, "will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him" (Mal. iii. 17).

Fourthly, It is a protecting love. Such a strong confidence in this exists in the heart of the child, that it will rest contented and quiet in the midst of the greatest danger, if it is with its parent. It is written, "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them" (Ps. xxxiv. 7).

Fifthly, It has for its object the welfare of the child; and God hath ordered all things in the course of providence, so that they shall be productive of good to his children. "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God" (Rom. viii. 28).

If such is the love of God towards us, surely the knowledge of it should call forth the implicit trust, willing obedience, unbounded gratitude, and fervent love, which marks the strength and ardour of filial aflection, and call them forth in a far greater degree than they can be felt for earthly parents.

Poets and philosophers, all classes of writers, have lavished their praises upon the golden age of life; but the greater degree which we possess of the spirit of adoption, the nearer shall we be in the years of maturity to the enjoyment of that freedom from carefulness and anxiety which made the happiness of childhood.

The human mind in its strongest form needs something to lean upon- -some support upon which to rest the weight of daily cares; and happy is he who finds it, where power to relieve is united with sympathy to pity. "A father of the fatherless is God in his holy habitation." More forlorn, perhaps, than even the usual lot of humanity, is that of the orphan; and therefore probably it is, that to those who share it there are such a number of promises addressed but every human being is, in a certain sense, "fatherless," while without a feeling of dependence upon God; for, like a destitute child, he is ignorant, with none to instruct; helpless, with none to protect; sorrowful, with none to comfort him;-for even if he is

blest with the best of earthly friends, there is much which distinguishes the lot of mortality, where their instruction, help, and sympathy, can avail nothing.

To crown the blessedness of the spirit of adoption, it is unchangeable and eternal. Whilst earthly affections are changing every hour, dropping into the grave in the lengthened series of advancing years, as flower after flower disappears from the gardenground at the approach of winter,-this continues the same; and he who is a partaker of it has not only, amidst the changes of this world, one sure and unalterable blessing, but the very years which often bring darkness upon the domestic hearth, putting out one by one the lights of earthly love in the silence of

"See that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time."

BRETHREN, if those tombs which lie beneath our feet were at this moment to open, and disclose to view the numerous dead of former ages, as well as those of later times, whose remains they now contain; nay, if those only who have been cut down by the unerring hand of death during the year which has just closed upon us; if these, our fellow-citizens and neighbours, or relatives, whose loss we deplore;-if these, bursting the barriers which death has interposed between them and ourselves, were now to present themselves before us, and for a single moment were permitted once more to accost us in the language of affection and of friendship,-what, think you, would be the exhortation they would address to us the anxious wish to which they would give utterance-the urgent entreaty to which they would implore us to listen? Unquestionably it would be that which St. Paul addressed to the Christian Church at Ephesus, and which in effect he this day addresses to each of us, as the highest proof of wisdom: "See that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time." This advice of the apostle is, indeed, peculiarly appropriate to us, who have been spared to "worship and bow down before the Lord our Maker," on this the first Sunday in the new year; for the continual revolutions of seasons and of years, and the constant changes which time is producing within us and around us, all naturally admonish us, that if time is passing away, we also are passing away with it; and consequently that we ought, without further delay, to appropriate it to those purposes for which it is entrusted to us; and, with the utmost care, to economise every one of those precious moments, which will shortly be no longer at our disposal.

Let us, then, on this day of grace and mercy, consider, first, the import of the apostle's

This discourse was delivered on the first Sunday in the year 1839 but as the text forms part of the epistle for the twentieth Sunday after Trinity, Mr. Horne has contributed it for the present number of our Journal.

accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." If we do not obtain this salvation in time, the opportunity will be for ever past, and our ruin will be inevitable.

3. Not only, however, may time past be thus redeemed; it is possible also to redeem the time which is to come. It is possible (if we may use the expression) to encroach upon the whole remaining term of our life, and even upon time which belongs to posterity. Thus, every one who, in humble dependence upon the Divine blessing, proposes to himself a wise and holy plan of living-who forms good resolutions, and concerts measures proper for carrying them into execution ;such an one smoothes the difficulties of the future, and may be said to labour for time future. So, also, he who performs charitable or pious deeds, from a sense of gratitude to God for temporal and spiritual mercies; and who, by his liberality, evinces his regard to his country, his love for religion and for the poor members of Jesus Christ;-such a person redeems the time which belongs to posterity. II. These, then, are the various ways in which we may redeem time present, time past, and time to come. This improvement of our time is of the highest importance: we cannot neglect it without incurring guilt, as I am now, secondly, to shew, by representing to you the necessity of attending to the apostle's exhortation, "redeem the time."

The very importance of time proves that we ought to neglect no means of turning it to good account. Time is the most precious thing in the world; for "God, who giveth plenteously to all creatures, in the distribution of our time seems to be strait-handed; and gives it to us- not as nature gives us rivers, enough to drown us, but drop by drop, moment after moment; so that we never can have can have two moments together, but he takes away one when he gives us another."* The first has disappeared before its successor is within our grasp and whether it will please him to give or retain the next, is beyond our knowledge. Yet, how is the value of time increased in the judgment of every thinking person, when he views it in all its circumstances, and reflects, seriously and with attention, how short time is; how rapid in its course; and, at the same time, how uncertain it is; how irrevocable; how much our eternal happiness or misery depends upon the right use or misuse of time; and what an account we shall have to give of it! I say, when we reflect on these things seriously and with attention; for these truths, obvious and self-evident as they are, so that no one can be ignorant of them, yet seem scarcely ever felt, or to make any suitable impression • Bishop Taylor.

upon the greater part of mankind. They have them, indeed, perpetually upon their lips; but their hearts are not affected by them. In order, then, that we may form a right estimate of the value of time, let us endeavour to enter a little into each of these reasons for its redemption.

1. The shortness of time is the first reason why it should be redeemed.

The shortness of life, and the narrow limits within which it is confined, are the theme of universal complaint. Question the man of letters and of science on this subject, and he he will tell you that it is so difficult to attain to distinguished eminence in knowledge or in the sciences, that the life of man is too short to enable him fully to explore them. Ask the man of the world, and he will tell you that so much time is absolutely necessary in order to make even a moderate fortune, that very little remains for the enjoyment of it. And ask the aged man, bending beneath the weight of years, who has beheld successive generations pass away before him, and he will tell you, that that time, which to your imagination seems to be so long, has disappeared like a dream; and that the life of man, considered in its utmost length, is but an unsubstantial vapour, "which appeareth for a little while, and then vanisheth away." "We spend our years as a tale that is told." But, not to dwell upon the confessions of others, let us consider the measure of our days simply as it is in itself, and relatively to ourselves. And if from the longest life we deduct the years of helpless infancy; all those hours which human infirmity constrains us to pass in sleep, and which run away with the third part of our existence; the time spent in indecision and inaction; the time spent in preparation and design; the time spent in travelling; the time necessarily devoted to the care of our health;-after all these deductions, what does there remain of life properly so called? Alas! the longest life is but an hand-breadth; and three-score years' abode in this world is reduced to an actual and real existence of about twenty years. How important, then, is the apostle's counsel, "redeem the time!"

2. Yet, short as is the space of time allotted to us in this life, the rapidity with which that space flies seems to render it still shorter ; and the images of quicker than lightning, sound, and thought, which are alike used by sacred and profane writers in order to denote the swiftness of its course, are no longer me taphors, but literal and faithful expressions, when applied to time. Hours, days, months, and years, fly away with astonishing rapidity.

Youth, the spring-time of life, from the novelty, multitude, and variety of the objects

which engage attention, marks (so to speak) | the moments, and seems to slacken their course. It passes away, however, like a flower that fadeth before the blighting wind, "and the place thereof knoweth it no more." It lasts but for a day; and, notwithstanding the fruitless efforts, made to prolong its duration, youth soon gives place to mature age, when other enjoyments and pursuits, more equal and more regular, impart a more uniform course to our years, and confound them, as it were, together, until old age at length arrives, which being deprived of all those passions, interests, and impressions, that form an era in our lives, old age no longer distinguishes the fleeting moments, but sees them succeed and destroy one another with the rapidity of a resistless torrent.

3. Not only, however, does time fly with rapidity, but no one can be sure of enjoying it. Its uncertainty equals its rapidity; nor can any one, without being guilty of unpardonable temerity, promise himself any future time. We are surrounded by so many dangers, that life seems to subsist only by a perpetual miracle; our bodies are so fearfully and wonderfully made," that the least accident is capable of deranging and destroying them; so that we can promise ourselves nothing certain. Experience also convinces us of the uncertainty of time. We daily see falling around us the young and the old, the strong and the weak, the rich and the poor, the noble and the beggar. Nothing can ransom us from death: it is an enemy with whom we can make no covenant; "it cometh up into our windows, and entereth into our palaces;" and when we purpose to take our ease, and to enjoy the goods we have laid up in store, our souls are required of us. Who, then, can be too solicitous rightly to employ time present, when no dependence can be placed upon time future, either for its arrival, or for its being duly improved?

4. With the rapid flight and uncertainty of time connect another characteristic, which ought to make us attach the highest value to it; and it is this,-time, once past, is irrevocable: once gone, it is gone for ever. Earthly goods may be acquired by human efforts; wealth, ordinarily at least, is obtained by the blessing of God upon honest industry; knowledge, by long and patient study; reputation, sometimes by merit; and honours and office, either by talents, by integrity, by intrigue, or by favour. Time, and time alone, is beyond our grasp and the very moment in which I am addressing you, is as irrevocable, and as far distant from each of us, as that when the Almighty Creator spoke the universe into existence.

The ancients very significantly represented

time by the figure of a young man running at full speed, having a lock of hair on his forehead, in order to denote that it must be seized as it approaches (whence the proverbial expression, so common among us, of "taking time by the forelock"): but behind he was quite bald, to intimate that when time is once gone by, there is no possibility of seizing and detaining it. This beautiful and apposite emblem may suggest to all who are in the spring-time of life, an additional motive for the redemption of their precious time; particularly when, to the consideration of its shortness, of its rapid flight, of its uncertainty and irrevocability, we add,

5. Its momentous influence upon our eternal destiny. "The present state of man is probationary in its nature, and decisive in its influence upon our eternal condition. It is in time that the character is formed for eternity. Earth alone is the scene of operation for that mercy which is exercised through the amazing provisions of the gospel of Christ, and which is of the last importance as a preparation for participating in the felicities of the heavenly world." O, that we were wise, that we would consider our latter end; and, while God worketh in us by his word, his ordinances, and his grace, that we would work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, mindful of the influence of time upon our eternal state; and remembering that a single moment, wilfully lost or mis-spent, can never be recalled. Nor is this all: for, 6. Reflect

and this is the last consideration we shall urge to induce you to redeem the time-reflect upon the account which you must one day give of it. "Imagine not that you have done with time past; or that you will hear no more of the days which are gone." Hours have wings, and fly up to the Author of time, and carry news of our usage of them. All our prayers cannot entreat one of them either to return or to slacken its pace; "they are gone-gone to make a record in the court of heaven. Every moment, as it passed, bore its report along with it. Time mis-spent will be an accuser at the tribunal of God, and a gnawing worm in the regions of despair. It is only when 'wilfully impenitent' sinners shall see themselves upon the brink of eternity, when time thall be no more for them, that they will begin to be convinced of its inestimable value, and of the infinite importance of redeeming it." What would not lost souls give for one of their mis-spent hours! hours! How well would they employ it, if it could be permitted to them! But they would not come unto Christ, that they might have life; they would not work whilst time was; and now the dismal night of eternity has overtaken them, when no one can work; but