political, financial, or commercial interest. Man has, however, higher interests-those which are moral and epiri tual. It is desirable that we should take a retrospect of "tlie time past." with a view of tracing God's providential dealings with us, with a view of estimating our own spiiitnal progress, and of learniog lessons of wisdom and of he! pful ness. I. WHAT DOES REFLE0TION SUGGF.ST TO US CONGERNI~G TD1E PAST IN ITSELF? 1. Its passage has been rapid, yet it has been filled with events of great importance. 2. It is perfectly irrecoverable; we cannot live the expiring year over again. 3. It ha.~ left ineffaceable traces upon our character. We are all changed by its influences, its occupations, its lessons-some for the better, some for the worse. 4. It is not for- gotten by the Lord and Judge of all. In this sense he" requireth that which is past." JI. JN WHAT SPIRIT SHOULD THE CHRISTIAN CONSIDER THE TIME PAST? 1. His first and most prominent thought should be of the mercy and loviug-kindoess of God revealed to him as the days and weeks have pa.ssed by. 2. Especially should he remember the long-suffering and forbearance which has been dispLi.yed towards him by his heavenly Father upon repeated occasions, when such consideration bas beeu called for by failures in duty and by forgetfulness of Divine love. 3. He should remember with regret and repentance the opportunities of obedience and usefulness which he has neglected. 4. Nor should he lose sight of the discipline which he may have been called upon to endure, and which he should remember, not with a rebellious, but with a submissive spirit. III. IN WHAT SPIIUT SHOULD THE IRRELIGIOUS AND UNDECIDED REVIEW THE TIME PAST? 1. He should remember with humiliation and shame that he has broken the Law of God, and rejected the gospel of Christ. 2. He should reflect upon the evil influence which his example of religion ha.s exerci~ed over his fellow-men, especially over those within his family and social circle. 3. He should consider that he is the worse at the end of the year than at its beginning, becau:;e of his delay to repent and to commence by God's grace a new and better life. IV. How SilOULD THE MEMORY OF TlIE TIME PAST AFFECT THE TllIE TO COME? 1. We may be helped to realize the brevity of life, and the uncertainty and probable brevity especially of what of life yet remains. 2. We may be induced to turn away from the evil which has been indulgell iu during bygone years, and to enter upon the holier life and more consecrated service which our conscience approves and enjoins. The sands are fast falling; the tide is fast ebbing; the light is fast fading. Let the future see our vows fulfilled, our hopes realized, our aims achieved !-J. R. T.
Ver. 7.- Waiting/or tlie end. Like his brother apostle, St. Paul, St. Peter lived in constant anticipation of "the end." This attitude of mind was no doubt encouraged by the discourses of our Lord Jesus, to which Simon Peter had undoubtedly listened. And it must have been confirmed by the state or society both in the Jewish and the Christian world; changes were imminent, and none could say what form these changes might take. In some respects such statements and admonitions as those of the text are even more pressingly appropriate in our times than when they were first penned. J. THE VIEW WHICH CHRISTIANS ARE TAUGHT TO TAKE OF THEIR EARTHLY CONDITION. The New Testament impresses upon us the tr~nsitory and temporary nature of all things earthly. Sound understanding will seek to verify this, not by prophetical and historical dates, but by moral and unquestionably significant facts. 1. 'l'here may well have been in the apostle's mind o. foresight of the approaching destruction of Jerusalem, the dispersion of the Jewish race, and the abrogation of the Hebrew religion. 2. Yet o. larger reference is probable; "the end or all things" can scarcely be limited to the catastrophe which befell the Israelitish people. 'l'here is no permanence on earth. The Christian, like the Jewish dispensation, must pass away. ,vhen this world has served its purpose-the purpose centring in the moral history of mankind- it will be dissolved. The visible and tangible are not the real, are not tho lasting. Moral results will outlast the material framework of their developmeut. 3. Every individual who reflects must feel that his own brief life-history gives point and pathos to the end of all things. II. TnE CONSEQUENT SPIRIT AXD DUTY OF ORRISTIANS cmmISWNG SUCH CONVICTIONS THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF PETER. [err. Iv. 1-1&.
A~D EXPECTATIONS. A superficial observer might suppose that the rcsalt of such beliefs must needs be excitement and distress, or, if not distress, solicitude. But this is not ~he ~ffect designed by our Lord and his apostles. Quite the contmry; for St. Peter, m view of the approaching end, a<lmonislies to (1) soundness of mind; (2) sobriety; and (3) prayers. Such great and solemn realities as reli"ion unfolds before f the mind a.re fitted to strengthen, steady, and mature the character and at the same time to inspire with pious desires and petitions. A spirit such e.s that here enjoined may justly be said both to qualify for this present probation and to prepare for future fruition. For "the end of all things" does not involve the end of God's government, or the end of man's life and spiritual progress.-J. R. T.