fee nothing that has any reference, to worldly matters; but much that has reference to spirit.

ual. At least, the words feem capable of a much

higher, a more general, and a more instructive interpretation, than à prudential one. I mean,

therefore, to confider them in this enlarged fenfe; and to take occafion from them to prefs upon yoù, first, the neceffity of a religious improvement of your time; and, fecondly, to explain the reafon given for it because the days are

evil.

I. To redeem a thing, is to take it out of a state of bondage and restraint, and to place it again in its proper fituation; generally paying fome confideration as the price of redemption. Thus we redeem a man from prifon by paying his. debts; and thus our bleffed Saviour redeemed us by dying for our fins.

To redeem our time, therefore, is to restore it from fome abufe into its proper channel; paying, as the price of its redemption, our forrow for what is paft, Or, in other words, to redeem our time consists in correcting the abuses of it; and in fpending it, for the future, in a rational and religious manner.

That we may be enabled to spend the future in a proper manner, it behoves us to examine, in what way we have spent the past. Year after year paffes over us. Many of us have seen a great number of thefe portions of time fleet away, which muft, on the whole, either have been redeemed, or must now be a heavy burden upon us.

That we may the better ascertain the use we have made of our past time, once in our own. power, let us confider it in three points of light: as having been well employed-or ill employedor mispent, in a fort of trifling way, between both.

That part of our time which hath been well employed-which, amidst the business of this world, and an honeft attention to our calling, hath been dedicated to God by piety and devotion-by acts of kindness to man-by conquering our bad habits, and forming in ourselves good difpofitions-by inftructing our families, and breeding them up in the fear of God; ftands in little need, we hope, of being redeemed. We presume there is nothing here, but fuch infirmities as will be pardoned through the merits of Chrift.

I fhall

I fhall proceed, therefore, to that part of our time which hath been ill employed: I mean that part of it which hath been spent wickedly.

This is indeed the grand point, about which our question chiefly proceeds; and about which we ought therefore to be chiefly folicitous. That part of it which hath been well employed, will take care of itself. The lefs we think of it, the better. Our heavenly Father hath marked it in his book. We have done with it, till that day when our great accounts fhall be fettled.-But the time we have spent wickedly deferves our clofeft attention. Wickedness is the disease of nature: it is conftitutional, and therefore fhould be the more watched. Our bodies and fouls are equally fubject to difeafe; and if the caufes be not checked which produce thefe difeafes, they will infallibly end in death. We generally, however, do our utmost to ward off the death of the body; while the death of the foul, which is infinitely more dreadful, is little heeded. And yet remedies for the diseases of the foul are much more certain in their effect than those of the body. Gout, fever, and consumption, often elude the skill of the physician: but, under the phyfician of fouls, you never miscarry, if you take

L

his prescription. He who can recollect the fins of his past life, that he may redeem them-that he may buy off the guilt that attends them by repentance by an amendment of heart and life, and truft in the atonement of a blessed Redeemer, will blot them out of God's book: like a debt paid, they will appear no more against him. But if he will not take thefe fteps, we must leave him, till God Almighty, in his mercy, perhaps by fome awakening judgment,, may lead him to reflection.

I mean not, however, to affirm, that unless the finner remembers every particular bad action of his life, that bad action will appear against him, He may be fincerely defirous of repenting; and yet, if he have been a great finner, he may not be able to recollect many of his fins. In that cafe, if he redeem his wicked life in generalthat is, if he leave off his fins, and change his heart as well as his life, thofe fins, though he cannot remember them, it may be hoped will be blotted out. He hath, however, a much better chance of redeeming his ill-fpent time by calling himself frequently to account, and by examining the value of each day as it paffes on,

WE

WE Come now to that part of our time, which hath neither been well nor ill employed, but has been spent in a manner between both. Now it must neceffarily be, that while we live in this world-while we have thefe frail bodies to attend, a great part of our time must be spent in this fort of indifferent manner, We must have time for eating and fleeping, and proper amufe ment: and, so far as these are neceffary, fo far we are not accountable, But time, spent in amusement, steals away on the fofteft wings; if it be not narrowly watched, it will foon glide into idle and mifpent time. We are to give an account, we read, of our idle words-equally, at least, may we fuppofe, an account must be given of our idle time,

your

Now we all have, more or fewer, idle time to anfwer for. But fuch of you as labour for daily bread, if you be induftrious in your call, ings, cannot indeed have much idle time upon, your hands. The great guilt of spending idle time, belongs chiefly to thofe to whom God hath given the most time; among them, indeed, we often fee a fhocking waste of it,

Now, the circumftances of people differ fo much, that no precife rule can be given to direct

all.