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DISC. I:7

l

THE

END

0-F

TIME.

3íJ

period,

will

furnish

us

with

perpetual

new

occasions

of

holy

meditation."

Do

I

observe

the declining

day,

and

the

setting

sun,

.

sinking into darkness?

-So

declines the

day of

life,

the

hours

of

labour,

and

the season

of

grace

:

O

may

I

.finish my

appointed

work

with

honour

ere the

light

is

fled

!

May

I

improve

the

shining,hours of

grace ere

the

shadows

of

the

evening

overtake

me,

and

my

time

of

working

is

no

more

!

Do

I

see

the moon gliding

along

through

midnights

and

fulfilling

her

stages

in

the

dusky

sky

?

This

planet

also

is

measuring

out

my life,

and

bringing the

number

of

my

months

to

their

end.

May

I

be

prepared

to

take

leave

of

the

sun

and

moon,

and

bid

adieu

to

these visible

heavens, and

all

the twinkling glories

of

them

!

These

are

all

but the

measurers of

my

time,

and hasten

me

on

towards eternity.

Am

I

walking in

a garden, and stand

still to

observe

the

slow

motion

of

the

shadow

upon a

dial

there?

It

passes over the

hour

lines

with

an imperceptible

pro-

gress,

yet it

will

touch the last

line

of

day-light

shortly

So

my hours and

my

moments

mové

onward

with

a silent

pace

;

but

they

will

arrive

with

certainty

at

the

last

limit;

how heedless soever

I

am

of their

motion, and how

thoughtless soever

I

may

be

of

the improvement

of

time,

or

of

the end

of

it.

Does

a new

year

commence,

and

the first morning

of

it

dawn

upon

me

?

Let

rue

remember,

that

the last

year

was finished,

and gone over

my

head,

in

orden

to

make

way for

the

entrance

of

the present:'

I

have one

year the

less to

travel through

this world,

and

to fulfil

the

various

services

of-a'travelling

state:

May

my

diligence

in

duty

be

doubled,

since

the-

number

of

my

appointed

years

is

diminished

!

Duo

I

find

a

new

birth

-day,

in

my

survey

of

the.calen-

dar, the day

wherein

I

entered upon the

stage

of

mor-

tality, and

was

born

into

this

world

of

sins,

frailties,

and

sorrows,

in

order

for my

probation

for

a

better state

?

Blessed

Lord,

how

much have

I

spent already of this

mortal

life,

this season

of

my

probation, and

how

little

am

I

prepared

for

that

happier

world

?

How

unready

for

my

dying

moment

?

I

am

hastening hourly

to

the end

of

the

life

of

man, which began

at

my

nativity

:

Am

I

yet

z2