not you, brethren, by the first effort of prayer, and the next effort, to use the means of grace, be taking steps to "press toward the mark." But there are other means of grace, or methods of obtaining divine assistance, in addition to prayer. Prayer is indispensable, but not sufficient. If prayer were enough, why should other means be enjoined? You must make another effort then, and apply for more aid at the fountain-head itself we mean at the sacramental table at the altar,' where Christ is spiritually present, to strengthen you with "meat indeed," and to refresh you' with "drink indeed:" and if you add to this a third resolution, and keep it; if you read habitually the Word of God; if you constantly attend the sanctuary, and there pray as real petitioners, and listen to the preacher, not in the attitude of critics. sitting in judgment upon the human composition, or the human speaker, but with the devout wish of hearing the Great Teacher's instruction, though from the lips of the feeblest instrumentthus, dearly beloved, you will be making good some of the leading practical steps, by which alone can be secured any substantial progress in religion. If you do this, you may be assured that you are "pressing toward the mark;" and then, when your earthly course is terminating—the prize just within reach Christ standing at the goal ready to crown the conqueror-eternal things swallowing up the temporal-then may you joyfully realize the full import of the text, as you are throwing off the flesh, and literally "forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching "forth unto those (glorious) things which are "before." SERMON XIII. FOUR REASONS FOR EMBRACING 66 2 CORINTHIANS VI. 2. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." ONE of the most valuable talents which God has entrusted to the stewardship of man is that of TIME, and the peculiar mode of God's distribution of it is a point worthy of special consideration. This peculiarity has been well pointed out, both by moral philosophers and theologians*. With regard to many other blessings, the bounty of Providence has showered down an abundance upon man at once, so that he can both enjoy those which are present, and also lay by a store for the * See Bishop Horne's discourse upon the Redemption of Time. future. In the dealing out of time, however, the Divine Giver adopts just the opposite method: man is put in possession only of the present moment; he cannot recall (except in thought) an instant of the past, nor secure one fraction of tomorrow. "Boast not thyself of to-morrow," said the wisest human preacher in the Old Testament, "for thou knowest not what a day may bring "forth." Now the single fact of this peculiar economy in the distribution of time is an argument to draw our attention to the precious value of it. If the bounteous Giver withholds the next moment from our grasp, until the one in hand is gone, and, sweeping away the past irretrievably, leaves us in uncertainty whether we shall ever have another, is not this a perpetual admonition that we should make the best use of what we have? are we not forcibly reminded by it, that instead of treating that as abundant which is in reality rare and precious, we ought to seize the present opportunity-just as the prudent pilot does the breeze, or the husbandman the sunshine,-knowing that at the most there are but twelve hours in the day, and there may be but one, before" the night "cometh, when no man can work ?" But, without entering upon any mere moral essay on the value of time in general, or laying down specific rules as to the best mode of employing it throughout the innumerable departments of life (which could not be done, moreover, in a single discourse), we propose rather to consider Time as it is regarded in the text. The passage before us emphatically marks time as valuable with reference to the great end of life, viz. salvation; and, without calculating either backwards or forwards, it clearly lays down the present opportunity as the only safe and certain period of ensuring the treasure. It speaks to the unconverted sinner-now is the only time you can make certain of a beginning to repentance; and to those who have begun it pleads as earnestly-now is the only time to advance, and so to "make your calling and election sure." It will be our object, then, to urge certain reasons why the present is "the "accepted time," and may the Holy Spirit make them persuasive, that we may now embrace "the day of salvation." 66 66 We take for granted your acknowledgment of one event as certain (else our preaching on this text would be vain), that every man who has had the offer of salvation, and any period of time allotted him to work it out, whether short or long, will be brought up at the judgment-day to give an account of it: and we may, also, presume it conceded, since we are addressing a Christian congregation, that every one does regard his salvation as a final end and object, which he fully intends to pursue in earnest at some time or other: for we cannot believe there is any one amongst us who has made such shipwreck of his faith, that, however for the moment may be adopted the desperate course of running |