Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

by day, and by a pillar of fire by night. He conducted them safely to the borders of the land of Canaan, and by many promises engaged to bring them in. Notwithstanding all this, they refused to drive out the Canaanites and possess the land. Partly from their own impiety, and partly from the discouragements awakened in their minds by the faithless spies, they murmured against Moses and against God, and in their hearts went back to Egypt. Because of this, God was displeased with them, and, in his wrath, swore that from twenty years old, and upwards, there should not one of them pass over Jordan, that their carcases should fall in the wilderness, and that their children after them should possess the inheritance. Numbers xiv.

Then it was that Mósess wrote this Psalm. It was under these circumstances he prayed that God would so teach them to number the days of their journeying in the wilderness, that their hearts might be applied unto wisdom. In calling your attention to these words, we will notice the impressive lesson of which the inspired writer speaks,— the leading features in the conduct of that man by whom it is practised,—and the benefits he derives from this mode of proceeding.

I. THE IMPRESSIVE LESSON OF WHICH THE INSPIRED WRITER SPEAKS.

[ocr errors]

You perceive that this is properly to number our days. This lesson possesses uncommon importance; by numbers, however, it is much neglected, and many are not only negligent, but ignorant concerning it. That none of you, who now hear me, may be of that number, I will endeavour to notice some of its particulars,and argue the necessity of attention being paid to it FIRST. The particulars of this lesson. Though the phraseology of the text, associates with it

the idea of

arithmetic, yet none of you need be alarmed at the sound. The lesson is plain, and you may all comprehend and practice it if you will.

1. It comprises suitable ideas of the small number of our days. And who among you does not perceive this. Do you not perceive that the days of the years of your lives are few and evil. "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble." Are you not aware that you spend your years as a tale that is told,—that you are carried away as with a flood,—that your bodies are perishable as the grass, and fading as a flower,—that your lives are fleeting as a shadow, and may vanish like a vapour? Many things within the range of your acquaintance are calculated to fix this truth in your minds. You may have heard of trees that have continued more than eight hundred years. Many of you live in houses which were planned and built by persons who have long been dead. There are many buildings in our world that have continued during an almost incredibly long period and that have stood the rush of numerous years. You are in the possession of books, the authors of which are now gone, and the hands that wrote them have crumbled into dust. This earth, upon which we are moving, has contin ed about six thousand years; it has been the theatre of action to millions as well as us; and when each of these has performed his part, she has received his mortal remains into her soil. Witness that sun too that encircles you with his light and invigorates you with his warmth. He has continued new nearly three score centuries, and has enlightened and warmed the human family as they have passed through life, and has seen them down to the regions of death. Still he retains immense vigour and glory, and is like a strong man that rejoiceth to run a race. Compare your days with the many - that lived before the flood. What is the result ? Well, you find that many of these occupied a period upon earth, about

ten times the length, of what is now by the authority of revelation, settled to be the standard of human life. "The days of our years are three score years and ten, and if by reason of strength they be four score years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow, for it is soon cut off and we fly away." And what a trifle are the days of our mortality when compared with the duration of angels, or the immortality of our souls. Just a moment:-Thus the Apostle : For these light afflictions, which are but for a moment, are working out for us a far more exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory." Besides this you have heard of the eternity of God. In this Psalm you are informed, that " Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the world was formed, even from everlasting to everlasting he is God." Compare your days with this and they sink into nothing: Do this and you agree with the Psalmist to say: "A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, My age is nothing before thee." This lesson,

1

66

2. Includes a consciousness of the uncertainty of one day more being added to the number already gone. Nothing can be more plain than this, and yet by thousands nothing is less regarded. Hence, instead of numbering only the days that are gone, and living the present, as if it were their last, most men are calculating of much time before them, and conducting themselves as though they had many years to live. James mentions some who say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city and we will continue there a year, and will buy, and sell, and get gain." But he admonishes them of their folly by reminding them, that so far from continuing there a year they know not what might be on the morrow. As if he had said, Do not be so confident in your calculation; one day more and your souls may be in eternity. For I would ask you what is your life? I will tell you what it is. It is even a vapour that appeareth for a litttle time and then vanisheth away." James

[ocr errors]

iv. 13. 14. Our Lord mentions a striking case in Luke xii. 16—21, which remarkably accords with the ideas just suggested. He informs us that there was a certain rich man, that his ground brought forth plentifully,-that in his abundance he lost sight of God,—that his mind was torn with anxiety about disposing of his goods and his fruits: And what was the conclusion to which he came? Was it to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, live for the present moment, and be ready for death? No, quite otherwise. He said "this will I do: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." In this foolish manner he numbered his days,he looked to future years of life, and talked of ease, mirth and plenty. But were these views correct, and did the consequences agree with his calculations? Hear the conclusion. "But God said unto him, Thou fool this night thy soul shall be required of thee." Let this fearful example warn you. Reckon not upon future periods in life.

"Be wise to-day, 'tis madness to defer,
Next day the fatal precedent will plead;
Thus on, till wisdom is push'd out of life,
Procrastination is the thief of time;
Year after year, it steals, till all are fled,
And, to the mercies of a moment, leaves
The vast concerns of an eternal scene.

If not so frequent, would not this be strange?
That 'tis so frequent, this is stranger still."

[merged small][ocr errors]

3. Includes a deep conviction of the necessity of a constant readiness to render our final account to God.. Daily should you feel the weight of that saying, "Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live."

Carry this impression along with you into all the common concerns of time, and particularly into all that more immediately affects eternity. In your interchange of business among men, the popular sentiment is, "short reckonings make long friends." Apply this sentiment to all that concerns your souls, and you will not miss your way. Examine yourselves daily; and when, upon sober investigation, you find that one day has past in which you have done no good to others, and got no good yourselves, according to the evidence which you possess for judging, with proportionable confidence conclude that you have lost a day. By good here, I mean that which will be deemed good when time is no more,-which will stand the fire of the day of God,-and which will be approved and rewarded when earthly crowns and thrones are but dust upon the balance; when yonder heavens are folded up, and this world, with all its furniture, is consumed. Be careful then so to number your days, and so to estimate the magnitude and importance of the work to be performed in them, that no day may escape from you without leaving you in possession of an increasing measure of spiritual profit. In particular, every night before you retire to rest, be sure that you maintain that faith in the atonement by which you can count yourselves dead indeed untosin, and alive unto righteousness through Jesus Christ. I will proceed,

SECONDLY, To argue the necessity of your attending to this lesson. As numbering our days evidently refers to a proper impression resting on the mind of the nature and improvement of Time, I will urge its claims from its peculiar properties-its distinguished worth-and the manner in which we are expected to employ it.

1.The peculiar properties of Time. The inquiring mind asks, What is time? And to this inquiry it is difficult

« PreviousContinue »