A crown, a kingdom, are presented to us, to be won now, and to be possessed and enjoyed for ever. In this our day, we may secure salvation-we may form an excellent character-we may benefit our fellow men-we may conquer all our foes-and we may obtain a glorious crown. Lord, make us wise, courageous, and constant, that we may wisely improve our day!

It is OUR DAY. The day which God, in his mercy has given us. The only opporturnity that will be afforded us, to make our calling and election sure. The only period allotted us between two eternities. Eternity past, in which we have no particular interest, and eternity to come, which will be to us most glorious, or most terrible. The day in which our choice must be made, for we choose now, what must be our portion for ever. God sets before us life and death, blessing and cursing, and exhorts us to choose the former, and avoid the latter. Some choose death, in the error of their way; and some, like Mary, choose the good part, which shalt not be taken away from them. On the present period, our eternal state depends, this is our day of grace, in which we may secure pardon, peace, and everlasting life. This is the day which thousands neglect, and will for ever rue their folly. Who can tell the value of this day? No one, except he had entered into all the joys of heaven, and felt all the

horrors of hell, knew the honour of the saints, had witnessed the disgrace of the lost, and conld grasp the extent of eternity. As this is impossible, no one can even guess the value of this brief period of time, called our day.

Let us endeavour, as much as we may, to realise the value, brevity, and design, of this our day. Let us seek to improve it for our own benefit, the good of others, and the glory of God. Let us look to its close for rest, for our reward, and for endless enjoyment, if we now live unto the Lord-but if we trifle with it, waste it, and neglect the great salvation; let us not forget, that it will end in torment, and everlasting contempt. 0 the folly, the consummate folly, of those who waste time, and lose such an opportunity as the present! A day given to make our calling and election sure. A day given by an infinitely gracious God, that we may have time te seek reconciliation with him, the pardon of all sin, and a fitness to dwell with him, in the most glorious part of his vast universe. May that gracious God, who has given us the day, give us grace to take advantage of it, to improve it, and so use it, that we may bless and praise him for it, through all eternity. Gracious and Holy Spirit, open our eyes to see its value, inspire our hearts that we may secure all its blessings, and may we so spend it now, that we may look back upon it with pleasure, from a

death bed, and the judgment-seat of Christ; Jerusalem neglected her day, and the Romans laid her low, and she has remained a trophy of God's just wrath, for many generations: thousands since then have followed her example, and are tormented in the flames of hell. Multitudes now, are despising the day of their visitation, and it is to be feared will rue their folly too late. Reader, how is it with you? This is your day, and perhaps your day is far spent. Are you safe? Housed from the storm? Sheltered from the tempest P Safe in Christ? Is it so?

Life is the time to serve the Lord,
The time t' insure the great reward;
And while the lamp holds out to burn,
The vilest sinner may return.

The living know that they must die,
But all the dead forgotten lie,
Their memory and their sense is gone,
Alike unknowing and unknown.

Their hatred and their love is lost,
Their envy bury'd in the dust;
They have no share in all that's done
Beneath the circuit of the sun.

Then what my thoughts design to do.
My hands, with all your might pursue,
Since no device, nor work is found,
Nor faith, nor hope beneath the ground.

There are no acts of pardon past
In the cold grave to which we haste,
But darkness, death, and long despair
Reign in eterna! silence there.

PAST AND PRESENT.

THE Scriptures often direct us, to look back to the rock whence we were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence we were digged. This is to produce humility, awaken gratitude, inspire us with confidence, and call forth sympathy for others, who are still in the same condition. We were hewn out of the natural rock, by omnipotent grace; and we were dug out of the pit of corruption, by sovereign mercy. Nor can there well be a greater contrast, than between what we are naturally, and what we are made by distinguishing grace. Paul dwells upon this at considerable length, in his letter to the Ephesians, to one brief portion of which I desire to call attention. He says, "Ye, who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ." Ephes. ii. 13. Let us look at

OUR FORMER CONDITION. We were afar off. Like the prodigal, we had wandered into a far country, or like the emigrant, we were landed on a foreign shore. Here we found ourselves afar off from God, not as to his essence, but as to our knowledge and enjoyment of him as a Father. We knew not God. We loved not God.

We held no

We neither feared to

converse with God. offend him, or sought to please him. To us it was all one, as if there was no God. We were without any knowledge of the covenant of promise. We knew not that God had covenated to give eternal life to every believer, and had provided for his people all that was necessary to life and godliness. We were afar off from his church, having no love to it, acquaintance or communion with it; for though we attended religious ordinances, we did not discern the spiritual nature, or lofty privileges of the church of Christ, as it stands in union with Christ, and blessed with all spiritual blessings. We were far from holiness, which is the health of the soul, being sick, mortally sick, and yet we felt it not, found it not, nor sought a remedy for it. We were far from peace, nor did we know anything of that holy calm, that sweet tranquillity of soul, which springs from a sense of justification, and reconciliation to God. We were without hope. That is, we had no settled, solid, well-founded expectation, of eternal life as the gift of God, which is what Scripture calls a good hope. We were afar off from salvation. Our state was a lost one. Our condition was a fearful one. There was but a step between us and everlasting burnings. We were afar off from all that is good, and holy, and beautiful; and were depraved, polluted, and condemned. O fearful state! O alarming condition! Turn we now to