Newbury District Committee.... North America, account of the General ..... .... 39 ..... 200 ....... 527 ...... 42 Sabbath, on the observance of the Gospel 705 ........ 375 ........182, 501, 561, 628, 694 .... .... 35 636 D. PAGE Deistical Scheme, forlornness of the .. 428 Hough, Bp. his resistance to the arbi PAGE 487 .......... 490 305 respecting the ......................................454-459. Hulse, Rev. J. some account of. ...... 369. the universality of Durham, See of, by whom founded .... State of Schools in.... Theological Seminary in ..... 214 Nova Scotia, state of Schools in ...... 628 .... 39- on .... ...... ...... 409 410- 372 .... 434 623 ... Sabbath, on the observance of the 557 Gospel Parochial Charities, on the appropria- ......... ......... ...... ...... ...... 35 185 he come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. At no time do these thoughts come home with more seriousness to our souls, than at this season, when by the blessing of God, we are passing from one year to another. By years our short span of life is measured, by years our days are numbered. And surely we must see the wisdom and adore the mercy of God in thus directing our thoughts, at stated intervals, to that end to which we are all approaching. The passage from one year to another is a sort of stand in the pilgrimage of our lives-it is a projecting point from which a prospect may be taken, both of what is past and of what is future. It is well then that we should take due advantage of this wise and merciful dispensation; that we should mark the flight of our lives-and pause and look backwards and forwards, and consider how our account stands for the days that are gone, and how it may stand for those which are to come. A year is at all times a very considerable portion of our exist ence; but how soon is it gone! To the youngest of us it does not appear long, but as we proceed onward in life, it will appear shorter and shorter. For we compare each succeeding year not with itself alone, but with the whole space of our lives which is past. The larger then the portion of time which we have already gone through, the shorter will the next approaching interval appear. We all from experience know the truth of this; and we often with a sigh lament that every year appears to pass away quicker than the last. How much then does the value of every moment that remains, increase upon us, when we know with what fearful haste even the longest life is rolling onward to eternity. The year is past-how has it been spent-To what purpose has it been applied? What account can we give of the talent committed to our charge? Have we improved our minds as we ought, in useful knowledge, have we strengthened them as we ought, in the faith of the Gospel? What progress have we made in our duty to God or to man in the course of the departed year? In what are we better this day, than we were this day twelvemonth? Have we prayed with more earnestness, have we attended the holy Sacrament more often, have we thought more seriously of our latter end? Have we increased in our charities, have we become kinder neighbours and better friends? What bad habit have we subdued, what Christian virtue have we cultivated? In one word, are we better?—for if we are not better we are worse: our hearts are more hardened, our feelings more insensible. The year is past, and we are now entering into another, of which, who among us can be assured that he will be permitted to see the end? How many, even among ourselves, who were present with us at the beginning of the departed year, have been summoned, before its conclusion, from life to death, from time to eternity. Let these things teach us to know our end and the number of our days, how small it must be, how much smaller it may be. The days of our years are but three score years and ten, but how few, comparatively how very few, arrive at that period. How many are cut off from the land of the living in the vigour of manhood, in the flower of their youth, and in the pride of their strength. May we all, as we retire to our chambers and are still, consider how soon we also must pass away and be gone; and how our years are bringing to an end as it were a tale that is told. And when we thus retire, may the Father of mercies influence those moments and those thoughts, on which perhaps our lot in eternity itself may depend. May he, in whose hands are the issues |