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of Zion first sees a danger-a foe approaching-before he cries, "the thief or the wolf is coming;" but a Watchman of the Prairies first cries a wolf or an enemy is coming, before he knows whether it be a sheep or a wolf, a friend or an enemy!

Without note or comment, I give the above extract from the "Watchman of the Prairies" to my readers, to whom I need not say, that it is a gross libel on our views: false in its facts, wanton in its imputations, reckless of the reputation of its author for truth and candor outside of his own wigwam, and a sin against the age, not easily to be atoned for. I could refer him to many of the most orthodox clergy in the east and in the west, who have given a very different history of our views, and who admit that, in what they call "the essentials," we are just as orthodox as themselves.

I will send him this Harbinger, and, of course, if he responds, he will send me his "Watchman of the Prairies." I opine he will not treat his readers as I do mine, by allowing them to hear both sides. We will, however, see how far his theory of religion influences his practice, and how much better is his assumed orthodoxy than my alledged heterodoxy, as respects the Golden Rule, of doing to others as he would wish them to do to him. I will only add, that we repudiate the obnoxious dogmata, which he imputes to us, as much as he can do; and yet condemn his theory, as a whole, as much as he affects to do ours. A. C.

FINISHED EDUCATION.

GIBBON truly says that the best and most important part of man's education, is that which he gives himself.

Many of our youth, of both sexes, feel that their education is finished when their school days are over. No idea can be so destructive to the progress of true improvement. Our education is never finished till we are in our graves. The discipline acquired in college or school, is given to us only that we may be better able afterwards to educate ourselves. We have only then crossed the threshhold of a course of improvement that must last us our lifetime. Such discipline is important; indeed, is absolutely essential to start us in the life-toil before us; but to suppose that it completes all that must be done for our intellectual or moral welfare, is absurd. The best part of man's education is, then, to come, and upon the manner in which each one uses for himself the arrangements made for him in his early life, will depend the character of his future. Much, too,

is said about man's mind having reached maturity, and that he needs no further discipline or education. A false idea, productive of much mischief to real mental improvement. There is no period in the history of the mind, in which it is incapable of any further progress, as long as the body retains its health. No man who has lived to the age of sixty, in the constant employment of his mental faculties, but sees that he is every day acquiring greater control over what he does know, and an accumulation of new ideas.

OUR NEW YEAR'S GIFT.

THE following discourse on the "Proper use of Time," is presented to our readers under circumstances which require some explanation. It was entirely extemporaneous, and unpremeditated by its author. The occasion, however, being so interesting, I concluded that, for my own gratification and improvement, I would take notes of what might be said. This was done without the consent or knowledge of the speaker. Though no Stenographer, much use of the pen has given me a rapid hand, and, long familiarity with the style of Mr. Campbell, some power to recall his exact phraseology. Thus I have been enabled, in the first place, to preserve a pretty correct sketch, or outline of the discourse, and afterwards to fill it out and clothe it in such a manner as to make it, at least, appear like the original. That some words may not have been recalled, or have not been replaced by others, I cannot pretend to deny; but I feel assured that no idea, essential to the development and enforcement of this subject, has been lost. Having thus secured it for myself, I thought it would not be an unacceptable New Year's Gift to oar readers. It seems rather late to print it now, but it will be remembered that the January number of our paper was printed before the discourse was delivered, and we could not, therefore, offer it sooner. Such as it is, then, we present it, by permission of its real author, as Our New Year's Gift to the readers of the Harbinger. If it shall afford you, beloved friends, the pleasure it has given to me, and lead your hearts, as I trust it shall mine, to a wise use of time, I shall be more than repaid for the little labor I have been at in reproducing it. W. K. P.

THE PROPER USE OF TIME:

A SERMON BY A. CAMPBELL-DELIVERED ON 1ST JANUARY, 1851. Lord, teach us so to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.-Psalm xc. 12.

We did not announce, on last Lord's day, our intention to address you to-day. It did not then occur to us, that we should improve

SERIES IV.-VOL. I.

8

the occasion of this important epoch, by a public address, appropriate to the occasion and suited to our circumstances. Since that time, however, we have been reminded of our custom, of devoting a part, at least, of the first day of each recurring year, to the solemn duty of considering our position with respect to time and eternity; of renewing our vows to God, and, by a wise retrospect of the past, to fortify our minds for the duties of the future. Still, we do not expect, nor feel prepared, to give you a formal discourse on the occasion, nor, by any premeditated order, to present to you a systematic arrangement of arguments or motives, bearing upon the solemn relations which the beginning of a new year might recal to our consideration; but, simply, to impress upon your minds, and my own, this deeply suggestive admonition and prayer contained in our text, and delivered by Moses or David to the God-fearing portion of Israel, solemnly calling upon them to dedicate all that they had and were, to Him to whom all belongs; for the heavens, and all their hosts, are his, and all the blessings which we enjoy, or hope for, are of his infinite mercy. We can ask nothing, claim nothing from him, as matter of right. This, even the angels cannot do, for, though their obedience is perfect, and their service always loyal and true, yet the very powers by which they are enabled to obey and serve, are the free and gracious endowment of God, and bring a fruition of joy, of bliss ineffable, in their very exercise, which makes that exercise itself a reason for gratitude towards God. So that He is debtor to none, but all to Him, who is the inexhaustible fountain of life and blessedness to the entire universe-to angels and to men. Therefore, we can never make him our debtor: "Who," says Paul, "hath first given to God, and it shall be recompensed to him again; for of him, and through him, and to him, are all things; to whom be glory forever.”

God has given us time; but what is time? I believe it is Dr. Franklin, who very sententitiously says, "Time is the stuff of which life is made." We should, therefore, take note of it. Its influences are, indeed, deeply and intimately blended with our very nature; we are conceived and fashioned in it; cast and moulded under its influences; and measure, and regulate, and order by it, all our actions. The past and the present are embosomed in it; wrapped up in its cycles and its years, and the very future is almost bounded by the narrow conception we have of time. Yet, after all, what is it? We are taught to measure it by other means than observations on itself by calling into our aid the motions which take place in it, among the heavenly bodies above and around us;

but no one ever saw time move. It comes and goes, in its silent, restless, and rapid flight, unobserved, voiceless, ceaseless-stealing upon us, and by us, like youth and old age, giving us no warning, that with every breath we draw, and every pulse that vibrates, it is itself hastening into eternity, and carrying us, and all our busy concerns, along with it.

None of us ever ask, What is time? We do not lay it on the table and dissect it, to discover what are its elements, its parts; and hence, to most minds, the question is yet to be answered, What is time? In one point of view, it is mere motion. Suppose God were to lay his hand on the mainspring of the universe, where would time be? If all these revolving spheres-this harmonious and unjarring motion by which we measure and record it-were stopped, what would there be left that we could call time? Eternity, and he that inhabits it, are beyond; but we can form no just conception of Him who inhabits eternity. Time has no relation to Him; for with Him, there is no succession. He inhabits eternity, and eternity has been defined to be “an always now." Time, then, succession, can have no relation to Him whose habitation may be declared to be an eternal now. Our conceptions on these subjects are most limited; time, both in its lapse and in its essence, eludes our powers, when we would grasp it, and we fall back upon our own weakness, competent to feel, yet impotent to escape from our ignorance. Still, whether we have right conceptions of time or not, of one thing we are assured: We are constantly under its influence, and our very thoughts are reduced to its motion. Some ancient philosophers contend that, if we had no other means of arriving at the notion of time, we could come at it by consciousness-the consciousness we have of succession in our ideas. But succession is, itself, a term cast in the conception of time. So far as the reality is concerned, it is simply motion-motion onward, to some great destiny or goal.

As is time, so is life-motion, progress onward, towards something in the future. When a child is born, we notice that its whole career is one series of developments--a progress from one stage to another-each for the one which succeeds it, but no one for itself. Trial after trial, experiment after experiment, is made, each to obtain something and something else; so that we are still laboring, never for the present, but always for the future-the acquisition of one period being employed to gain something else, yet ahead. This is the uniform, the invariable law of nature-of our nature—and we are, therefore, compelled to note the fact, that time is given to man, not for the present, but for the future-for a higher, and a higher

purpose still-rising and growing in its magnitude, to the noblest possible conception of exaltation and glory.

What, then, is this purpose-for what has time been given to man? Not for its own sake, demonstrably. It is carrying us onward, ever and always onward; but whither, as a vessel on, perhaps, a shoreless ocean, or, it may be, but a narrow sea, we must still inquire, What is the goal? Some think time was given us to spend. The phrase is common, "We are spending our time very pleasantly-the hours are quickly and delightfully disposed of-and the foot of time falls lightly and noiselessly upon our pathway;" indeed, the consummation of practical philosophy, with some, is to be able to spend time pleasantly. But the Divine Philosopher teaches differently. Paul says, time should be redeemed, not spent. This is an invaluable lesson-an oracle fraught with the true philosophy of happiness, and in consonance with the high and noble destiny of man. It is drawn from a thorough insight into our entire relations, both to time and to eternity, and, therefore, claims a respect and attention commensurate with the interests involved in them both. Redeem time, says Paul; but how? This is the question which every one should ask himself, and ponder well the answer.

A certain portion of time, it must be admitted; has to be given to the development and preservation of the body, for it is the case of instruments by which the mind acts--a bundle of tools, arranged with the most ingenious skill, and working with the most consummate art, yet only as instruments. As such, however, they must be kept in order, strengthened and sharpened. This is the great business of education. The education of the body, therefore, whether it have respect to morality, religion, or the intellect simply, is nothing more than the preparation of these instruments for the use of the mind. But what was time given for? Not to riot in; not to laugh and trifle away; not to spend in feeding and pampering these mortal tenements; not that we might spend our days as a tale that is told, as the Psalmist says. No! "Catch time by the foretop, he is bald behind," as one of our poets says. It will not linger for the idler nor the slothful; it is constantly rushing on, like a noiseless but mighty river, to the great ocean of eternity. Thither, it is bearing upon its broad bosom, all the generations of earth, and, as it disembogues in this vast and boundless ocean, so it points us to it for the answer to the question, Why was it given? Yes, it is here that it brings man to that glorious and vast destiny for which God has designed him and what is that? The moment we have shuffled off these mortal coils, divested ourselves, or been divested of these

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