to some expected enjoyment, how long the time seemed ? When the hours hung heavily, and the days moved slowly along? You were so eager, and so ardent, that you would fain anticipate all intervening time, and enter at once upon the prospective enjoyment. You remember this. And then you also know, that as you came onward in life's journey, - as its day advanced, the hours seemed shorter. You had become a subject of anxiety and care. New ways were opening before you; and while you were busily looking here and there, time had gone on, never to be overtaken; and you were wondering how it could be so! This is the experience of all who live, and think, and act their part on the great theatre of human life.

Nothing then can be of deeper importance to us, than the wise improvement of our time. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest." Such is the language of divine wisdom. It tells us, that our present state of existence is designed to be one of exertion; that whatsoever of profit and advantage we can find to do while we continue here, should be done; for that, when we have once departed from the earth, there will be no returning to improve our neglected opportunities, to form new resolutions, or to weep over lost seasons of pleasure. It implies, that we strive to be useful in our day and generation, so that the world shall be the better for our having appeared in it, and that our example may live for the benefit of others, when we are sleeping in the silence of the grave.

Of all men, the professing Christian should be the last to hold the least parley with indolence or the waste of time. He cannot justly do this with his Bible before him. "Work while the day lasts," is the language of that book; and he is solemnly bound to obey its dictates. It is his duty to do as much as he can while he lives, for the true happiness of himself and his fellow-men, and to the honor and glory of his Father in heaven. This understood, he will be awake and alive to the duties of life, and seek to perform them in love, and with a willing mind.

In the Old Testament we are presented with numerous proofs, that those who sought to give God acceptable service, were improvers of time. They preached and practised against idleness and sloth. In the New Testament we have the "brightest and best" of patterns before us,

the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to do the will of his Father, and to finish his work; to go about as a minister of mercy and love, "doing good." Even in early life, before the appointed time for his holy mission to commence had arrived, we find him sitting in the temple with the learned of the nation, "hearing them, and asking them questions." On being questioned by his parents as to the meaning of this, his reply is truly appropriate, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" His life was given to the service of God, and to the welfare and happiness of man. Wherever he moved he was the true, active, ready philanthropist. He gave instruction to the ignorant, reason to the maniac, sight to the blind, speech to the dumb, hearing to the deaf, feet to the lame, health to the sick, joy to the mourner, redemption to the captive sinner, and life to the dead. When the hour in which he was to be taken had arrived, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, he was watching and in prayer, while his disciples slept; and before his ascension to the Father, he appeared to these disciples, and instructed them in his wisdom, "opening their hearts, that they might understand the Scriptures."

And he is set before us as "the author and finisher of our faith"; he has "left us an example, that we should follow his steps." Safely are we instructed to look to Jesus. O, that indolence, of every description, might feel the force of his example, and hide itself in everlasting obscurity!

The apostles of our Lord were close imitators of their Master in this respect. They were actively engaged in the work of the Gospel. They labored and suffered reproach. The apostle Paul, especially, is careful to enjoin the duty of diligence and constant engagedness upon those to whom he writes. He compares the Christian life to a race; exhorts his brethren to lay aside every weight, and their easily besetting sins, and to run, with patience, the race set before them. He exhorts them to be "not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." His Christian life agreed with these injunctions; and when ready to be offered, and the time of his departure was at hand, he was consoled with the reflection, that he had "fought the good fight, finished his course, and kept the faith," and that, "henceforth, there was laid up for him a crown of righteousness."

Instances need not be multiplied where Jesus and his apostles set the example and enforce the precept of industry or the improvement of time. The Christian religion itself stands forever opposed to the spirit of indolence. They are as light and darkness. An indolent Christian is a living contradiction. "Pure and undefiled religion, is to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep one's self unspotted from the world." Visiting and administering to the necessities of our fellow-men, imply action; and as to keeping unspotted from the world, indolence will not do this; for it is always stained with disgrace, and has not force enough to wipe the stain away. Indolence and vice are often represented as in near relationship, and this relationship will exist till they are destroyed together.

How shall time be most advantageously employed? This should be the honest inquiry of every Christian believer; and answers to it should be sought by the lights of reason and revelation. We must come home to our own " business and bosoms," - consult our circumstances, callings, gifts, and advantages; and as no system of regulations will apply alike in all cases, we must seek to adapt certain general rules to our individual circumstances. In this way we may be made wise by consulting reason, experience, and observation.

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To decide for others, in a particular manner, how time should be employed, is beyond the province of the writer of these pages. Yet a few suggestions, as matter of opinion, may not be improper. He who looks around in the great world, will not dispute the evident fact, that too much of time is wasted with us all. Who will dare plead "not guilty," in the case? In the secular world, farmer will, in many an instance, bear witness to the fact, that had his time been properly employed, instead of loitering away an hour, after sunrise, in useless conversation with a neighbour, he would have mended a portion of his broken wall, through which the beasts have made their way just in time to ruin a portion of his crop; that he should have made due preparation for winter before it came upon him in its sternness, and that spring should not have found him destitute of the necessary implements of husbandry, with which to commence his labor. All these necessary things would have been accomplished, had not time been wasted. For this reason the mechanic has failed, because, instead of executing, he has been continually laying plans and drawing models. For this, the merchant has missed an excellent bargain; the lawyer has lost an important case, and the physician a patient.

"Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves," is the motto of the lover of money. Take care of minutes, and hours and days will take care of themselves, may be said and practised with equal propriety.

In order that time be rightly improved, two things are absolutely necessary; namely, early rising, and a proper arrangement of time.

1. Early rising. In a majority of instances, too much of time is slept away. This fact is of such a serious nature, that it should claim the attention of all who have the free use of their physical powers. Ministers should preach about it, and the people should consider it and be wise. Let not the topic be deemed out of place here, or in the pulpit. Early rising is a Scripture doctrine. Hear the Psalmist, in his address to Jehovah, "My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord. In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up." The practice is scriptural. "Abraham got up early in the morning, - Moses rose early in the morning, - Joshua rose early, Samuel rose early, - Job rose early,-king Darius rose very early in the morning. - Jesus came early in the morning into the temple, - and all the peo