change, when we shall find it in fact impossible. to carry anything away; and when we shall feel that to "wood, hay, stubble,"-fit only to be burned up, the handywork of a large part of our lives may most fitly be compared.

And is not the close of another year a fit rehearsal of the End of all things? A definite portion of our existence has now come to an end. We are all alike (so to speak) a full year older. We shall talk henceforth of "last year,"-meaning this year. We shall no longer write the same date on our letters. Persons in trade tell us that they make up their books, and balance their accounts at this time, in order to make a fresh start. Is it not very much as if "a certain rich Man, which had a Steward," had called him, and said,—“Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer Steward ?” Would not some one, who knew nothing of the day, infer from what he might see so many of us doing in our private dwellings, that there is an account literally to be rendered at this time; and that not a few of us were, in the strictest sense, preparing to give "an account?"

That requirement of an account of our stewardship, Brethren,- that awful requirement, from which there will be no escape,-He will make of

everyone of us, when we shall see Him at the last Day. Shall we not call ourselves to strict account now, in these the days of our security and peace? Behold, we have been spared to see the close of another year. What is our confidence that when the next year shall have run its course, we shall be assembled here again? What if, long ere the twelvemonth has elapsed, we shall be gathered into the unseen world; the account of our stewardship given in,-the message sent us that we "may be no longer Steward ?"

"Judge yourselves, brethren, that ye be not judged of the LORD!".... Turn over a new leaf, everyone, not only in your books of business or of pleasure, but also in that book of account which everyone keeps with himself. If there has been neglect of Prayer, in any quarter; -if there has been contempt of the LORD's Day, (and a contempt it is to make that a day of secular employment and secular pleasure, instead of frequent attendance in the LORD's House ;)—if there has been any trifling with temptation, any tampering with Sin,-any venturing to the very edge of the precipice :-if there has been sloth, (a great sin in Stewards!)-or carelessness with respect to the persons, (the children for example,) or the property, which God has entrusted to our

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keeping if there have been breaches of the law of Love,--habits which though not thought disgraceful, are in reality most hateful in GoD's sight, the censorious, uncharitable spirit: or again, the cold, unpitying, selfish habit which shrinks from scenes of misery, and tales of sorrow, -all cases of distress, all occasions for giving: as if this World were to be man's abiding place for ever, and he could carry with him hence his savings, and his hoardings, and his gains :-if any one, I say, recognizes his or her picture in anything that has now been spoken,-let them in GoD's Name, and in GoD's strength, seek to date from this hour the beginning of a better life! On Sunday next will be celebrated the Sacrament of the Supper of our LORD. Shall we not make an effort to present ourselves at His Table, and on the knees of our hearts implore Him to give us strength to be other than we have been in Time past? . . . So at the last, may it be ours to behold His face with joy! So, when the days of the years of our life are ended, may we without confusion behold the Judge of all flesh when He shall demand an Account at the hands of everyone of us!

The Circumcision of Christ.

OUR LORD'S EXAMPLE.

S. LUKE ii. 21.

When eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the Child, His name was called JESUS.

THE first Lesson for this day describes how the rite of Circumcision began in the person of Abraham: the Gospel, how it came to an end in the person of CHRIST. For nineteen hundred years Circumcision had been in force; and it continued to be in force until He had come whose Day Abraham "saw, and was glad." But with our LORD's submission to that mysterious rite, the rite itself ceased, and Christian Baptism took its place. Something better was in reserve for men; which better thing CHRIST made known. Until the making known however of that better thing, the old carnal ordinance remained in full power. Nay, the solemnity of this, the first day of the New Year, exhibits to

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us our SAVIOUR CHRIST submitting to that ancient ordinance like the humblest of Abraham's descendants. This strange and solemn spectacle, I say,-the submission of our SAVIOUR to the rite of Circumcision, is the first thing which meets us on the threshold of the New Year: and it is a sight which is surely well calculated to make us thoughtful as well as attentive.

I need hardly remark that it is the dignity of the Agent in this transaction which is so powerful to arrest attention; so suggestive of solemu thought. All Jewish rites and ordinances,—all the types and shadows of the Law,-found their fulfilment in CHRIST: yet it is CHRIST Himself who here for a moment as it were upholds the rite, and invests it with a blaze of glory, before it sinks into the shade and disappears for ever. Circumcision did not die out, slowly and imperceptibly but our SAVIOUR, by submitting to Circumcision, and causing it to come to an end. in His own person, marked its close as emphatically as His command to Abraham had marked its commencement. It is strange, I repeat, to see the Sun of Righteousness thus veiling Himself, as it were, behind one of the very shadows of the Law which He came to