SERMON I. ON THE BEGINNING OF THE CENTURY. PSALM cii. 27. "Thou art the same: and thy years shall not fail." THE Commencement of a new year is an event which leads even the most thoughtless to some degree of reflection. There is something always solemn in the return of these stated memorials of time. They call upon us to some review of our conduct in the years that are past, and to some estimate of what we have gained or have lost in our commerce with the world. A They remind us of the progress of time, and of our own progress to eternity. But, far more than all, they remind us of our dependence upon him, who is "the An"cient of Days;" who, while we change, "is still the same," and "whose years ❝alone shall never fail." Life, while it thus is passing from us all, leaves us the sense of its importance. It was given us for the greatest and most magnificent purpose. It was given us by Him who alone is good, that we might advance in knowledge, in virtue, and in happiness; that we might rise in the system of being to some unknown ends of moral and intellectual perfection; and that, at the last, under the light of the Sun of Righteousness, we might join "that innumerable multitude of all na❝tions, and kindred, and tongues, who "stand before the Throne and the Lamb "for ever." On the return, then, of those seasons by which we number our days, it is wise in us to think how our years have hitherto been employed; what it is that we have been doing in the time we have enjoyed ; and whether we have indeed been fulfilling the great ends for which we were brought into being. Meditations of this kind become us all; and, while they remind us of the magnificent purposes for which we were born, they fit us to enter upon a new year with comfort and resolution. I pray God that it may be with these solemn, but elevated sentiments, that all of us may now enter upon the new season, which is given us by Him that liveth "for ever." At this time, however, my brethren, we have entered upon a greater period. The same hour which closed the year, closed also a Century of years, and, what is to us more important, it closed the eight eenth century of the religion of Him "who has brought Life and Immortality "to light by his Gospel." There are innumerable reflections which will arise in every thoughtful mind upon so solemn and so unusual an occasion. The course of time has led us, as it were, to a higher eminence in the prospect of human nature. The past and the future seem more distinctly to lie before us, and a solemn pause is afforded us, in which we can more truly estimate what life has brought, and what it is to bring.The moment itself is profuse in instruction; and I shall limit myself to suggest to you some of those simple and obvious reflections, which seem most naturally to arise from the circumstances in which we now assemble. 1. The first and the most powerful of these reflections is, that of our dependence upon "Him who inhabiteth eternity." |