seem a treasure inexhaustible. But, my young brethren, ask the old
man, trembling on the verge of the grave, what he thinks of Time and
Life. He will tell you that the three-score years and ten, or even
the hundred-and-twenty years of Jacob, are but "few and evil." And,
therefore, if you are tempted to unbelief in respect to this question,
we appeal to experience--experience alone can judge of its truth.

Once more, time is short with reference to its _opportunities_. For
this is the emphatic meaning in the original--literally, "the
opportunity is compressed, or shut in." Brethren, time may be long,
and yet the opportunity may be very short. The sun in autumn may be
bright and clear, but the seed which has not been sown until then will
not vegetate. A man may have vigour and energy in manhood and
maturity, but the work which ought to have been done in childhood and
youth cannot be done in old age. A chance once gone in this world can
never be recovered.

Brother men--have you learned the meaning of yesterday? Do you rightly
estimate the importance of to-day? That there are duties to be done
to-day which cannot be done to-morrow? This it is that throws so
solemn a significance into your work. The time for working is short,
therefore begin to-day; "for the night is coming when no man can
work." Time is short in reference to _eternity_. It was especially
with this reference that the text was written. In those days, and even
by the apostles themselves, the day of the Lord's appearance and
second advent seemed much nearer than it was. They believed that it
would occur during their own lives. And with this belief came the
feeling which comes sometimes to all. "Oh, in comparison with that
vast Hereafter, this little life shrivels into nothing! What is to-day
worth, or its duties or its cares?" All deep minds have thought that.
The thought of Time is solemn and awful to all minds in proportion to
their depth--and in proportion as the mind is superficial, the thought
has appeared little, and has been treated with levity. Brethren, let
but a man possess himself of that thought--the deep thought of the
brevity of time; this thought--that time is short, and that eternity
is long--and he has learned the first great secret of unworldliness.

2. The second motive which the apostle gives us is the changing
character of the external world. "The fashion of this world passeth
away"--literally "the _