Twenty-seventh Day. Of spending our time well

I. ' Let us do good while we have time.'' Gal. vi. 10. " The night conieth in which no man ean work.'' John ix. 4. Time is ' precious, but we know not its true value; nor will we learn if till it is too late. Our friends ask it of us, and we bestow it as if it were nothing worth: nay, sometimes we consider it as a burden we want to get rid of; yet the day will come when we shall think one quarter of an hour more valuable than all the treasures of the earth. Grod, most liberal and bounteous of all others things, teaches us by the frugal dispensation of his providence, how careful we ought to be to make a good use of time, because lie never gives us two moments together, nor grants us a second till he has withdrawn ihQ first, still keeping the third in his own hand, so that we are in a perfect uncertainty whether we shall have it. Time is given us to prepare for eternity, and eternity will not be too long to regret our lost time if we have made a bad use of it. II. Our Vvhole life as well as our iieart, is due to God: they are neither of them too much for him. He gave them only that we might love aud serve him. Let us, iherefore, rob him of nothing. It is not every moment in our pow er to do much for him, but we may always do >vhat is proper for our station. To be silent, to suffer and to pray, when there is no room for outward action, is an acceptable offering to God. A disappointment, a contradiction, an injury received and endured for God's salie, is of as much value as a long prayer; and the time is not lost, w hich is spent in the practice of meekness and patience. But we must be cautious that such sufferings are not occ5?ioned by our own fault. Thus we should regulate our life, and ' redeem the tirae,' as

Tiventy - St. Paul saith, flyiig from the world, its vain amusements, useless correspondencies/ and unprofitable conversations, which serve only to dissipate our minds, and indul2;e our self-love. Bv these means we shall find time for the service of God: all that Is spent otherwise is lost.