July 3 — On the good Employment of lime

Consider, first, how great a treasure time is, when well employed. Every hour of it is of far greater value than all the kingdoms of the earth; because, in every hour of it, if well employed, we may purchase an eternal kingdom in heaven; but all the kingdoms of the earth put together are not able to purchase for the dying sinner one hour of time, in his greatest want of it. Ah! it is then that sinners will begin to be convinced 6f the value of time, and of the infinite importance of employing it well, w'hen they shall see themselves upon the brink of eternity, and when there shall be no more time for them. But O, what would not the damned in hell give for oiie of these hours! and how well would they employ it, if it could be allowed them! But, alas! they would not work whilst the time was, whilst they had the daylight before; and now the dismal and eternal night has overtaken them, in which there is no time to work, and in which they shall, with a hitter, but fruitless repentance, eternally condemn their past (folly and madness in misemploying 4fld squandering away, during life, so much precious time O, Christians, let us learn to be wise at their expense.

Consider, secondly, the strict obligation incumbent Upon us all, of employing our whole time to the best advantage Our time is not our own; it belongs to our Maker; it is lent us by our Lord and Master. The servant is strictly bound to employ bis time in the service of his master; he is both an idle and h wicked servant, if, being hired 4o work, he spends his time ik play. What, then, must we think of ourselves, if, being made, and sent into this world, by our great Master, for nothing else but to spend the short time of our mortal life in serving him, and doing his will. We squander it all away in empty amusements worldly diversions and vanities, or in doing our own will rather than his! Ah Christians, deceive not yourselves: such a crying injustice as this calls to heaven for vengeance; the wasting and destroying so much of your Master’s precious time (more pre cious, by far, than all the goods of the world) will never pass unpunished. If you are to be accountable for every idle word, hoW much more for every idle hour! O, reflect how much it cost your dear Redeemer to purchase for you this time. By sin you had forfeited your life, and consequently your time, and incurred the guilt of a double death; and whatsoever time God has allowed you, since your sin, has been purchased for you by the blood of Christ, in order to your repentance and a new life. It has cost him an infinite price; it belongs to him: tho alienating it from him is a robbery; it is a sacrilege; it is perverting to your greater damnation what he purchased for yemr salvation.

Consider, thirdly, the imn(ense treasures of grace, and the everlasting glory, that may continually stored up % a good employment of time. There is not one moment, df all the time of this mortal life, in which, if well employed, we may not purchase a new degree of eternal bliss: now, every new degree of eternal bliss is something infinitely more precious and more desirable than all the riches and all the kingdoms of the earth What a loss it is, then, to lose any of these happy moments! it is losing so many immense and eternal treasures;< — a loss so great, that, if the happy stote of the blessed in heaven could admit of any such thing as grief, they would certainly regret to all eternity all those moments of the time of theit mortal pUgrimage, Which they had not employed to the best advantage; when they shall clearly see, in the light of God, what an immense increase of eternal glory and happiness they might have acquired by the due employment of all those prer.ious moments.

Conclude to have ever before thy eyes the infinite advantages that are to be found in employing well thy time, and the strict obligation thou nast of spending it all in the service of thy Ma« ker; and this according to his ordinance, and agreeably to the end for which he sent thee hither, and for which he gives thee all thy time. And ever remember that, in his account, all tha time will be considered as idly spent, and quite squandered away that has not been dedicated to the doing his will.