ure to fall more
dead asleep than he was before. And if you hear, however dim, distantly,
and through my poor words, Christ's voice saying to you, 'Awake! thou
that sleepest,' do not neglect it. The only safe course is to spring up
at once. If thou dost, 'Christ shall give thee light,' never fear. The
light is all about you. You only need to open your eyes, and it will
pour in. If you do not, you surround yourself with darkness that may be
felt here, and ensures for yourself a horror of great darkness in the
death hereafter.

REDEEMING THE TIME

'See, then, that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
redeeming the time, because the days are evil.'--Eph. v. 15, 16.

Some of us have, in all probability, very little more 'time' to
'redeem.' Some of us have, in all probability, the prospect of many
years yet to live. For both classes my text presents the best motto for
another year. The most frivolous among us, I suppose, have some thoughts
when we step across the conventional boundary that seems to separate the
unbroken sequence of moments into periods; and as you in your business
take stock and see how your accounts stand, so I would fain, for you and
myself, make this a moment in which we may see where we are going, what
we are doing, and how we are using this great gift of life.

My text gives us the true Christian view of time. It tells us what to do
with it, and urges by implication certain motives for the conduct.

I. We have, first, what we ought to think about 'the time.'

There are two words in the New Testament, both of which are translated
_time_, but they mean very different things. One of them, the more
common, simply implies the succession of moments or periods; the other,
which is employed here, means rather a definite portion of time to which
some definite work or occurrence belongs. It is translated sometimes
_season_, sometimes _opportunity_. Both these renderings occur in
immediate proximity in the Epistle to the Galatians, where the Apostle
says: 'As we have therefore opportunity let us do good to all men, for
in due season we shall reap, if we faint not....' And, again, it is
employed side by side with the other word to which I have referred, in
the Acts of the Apostles, where we read, 'It is not for you to know the
times or the seasons'--the former word simply indicating the succession
of moments, the latter word indicating epochs or crises to which special
work or