December 28

Ask now of the days that are past. - Deuteronomy 4:32.

THERE is something very solemn in the thought of “days that are past,”-past never to return, while their moral results remain forever as subjects of future responsibility. And who has not to reckon upon days that are past? for time, like tide, stays for no man; and wherever we have been, and however engaged, this has been passing on. And can we think of it and not say, with Job, “When a few more years are come, I shall go the way whence I shall not return,” or without praying, with the Psalmist, “Make me to know mine end and the measure of my days, what it is, that I may know how frail I am”? Here, indeed, is a great variety.

What past days have some experienced! What fine days! How full of means and opportunities, and the excitements of conscience, and the strivings of the Spirit of God! How many of these past days have we had! And if with some the days of their years be threescore and ten, with the possibility (for it is hardly a probability) that they should reach fourscore years, what invasions have now been made upon their ranks, and how well does it become us all to say, “There is but a step between us and death”! Others are in the middle of their days, and there are many who are not advanced so far; yet all have had their days that are past: yes, the young die as well as the old; and “in the midst of life we are in death.” What says the poet?-

“’Tis greatly wise to talk with our past hours,

And ask them what report they bore to heaven,

And how they might have home more welcome news.”

Let us then summon in our past days, and ask them what they have to say. First, Let us ask them what they have to say concerning the world. Mrs. Savage has strikingly remarked, “I never knew any of the people of the world praise it at parting.” Nor need we wonder at this: we should wonder if they did. They have been too much in it, and seen too much of it,- they have been too much deceived by it,-to recommend it to others, when dying, from their own history or experience.

Hear what Solomon has said, who had tried it in every favourable form: -“Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity and vexation of spirit;” “vanity” if they succeed, and “vexation of spirit” if they are disappointed; and to one of these all are liable. Oh, what a cheat, what a miserable painted cheat, is the world! Surely this is enough to induce us to forsake it, and to comply with the admonition of the Wise Man:-“Forsake the foolish and live; and go in the way of understanding.”

Secondly, Let us “ask the days that are past” what they have to say concerning ourselves. Have they not shown us many things with which we were formerly unacquainted, and filled us with surprise and regret? Ah! how many convictions have been violated, how many resolutions broken! In moments of solitude, when the imagination has given place to the remonstrances of truth, many have reflected, prayed, and vowed; but in company they have again yielded to temptation, and their iniquities, like the wind, have carried them away. Has not life been very unlike the picture our early imagination drew? We said, I shall be very happy when I have attained such an end; when I have formed such a connection; when I have gained such an appointment; or when I have filled such an office.

Have not our dependencies often proved broken reeds,-not only unable to sustain our hopes, but which have “pierced us through with many sorrows”? And yet, further, will not these “days that are past” also tell us something else? Will not they tell us that life has been at least a checkered scene? Let us review them again, especially under a sense of our unworthiness of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which our heavenly Father has shown us.

If we have been in the wilderness, have we not found grace in the sanctuary? Have we not had there the fiery, cloudy pillar to guide us, the manna to sustain us, and the waters from the rock to refresh us? Can we refuse to say, “Goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life”?