Time _past_—is gone, thou canst not it recall. Time _is_—thou hast, improve the portion small. Time_ future_—is not, and may never be. Time _present_—is the only time for thee! Therefore, I. _Hear to-day_. (Ps. xcv. 7.) ‘See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh.’ _Exhort to-day_ your children. (Heb. iii. 13.) _Work to-day_ (John, ix. 4) for your children’s souls. Never postpone. Jam. iv. 13. 2 Cor. vi. 2. _Now_ it is high time to wake out of sleep. Rom. xiii. 11. II. Because the _night_ cometh when no man can work. John, ix. 4. The night of _your_ death—your _husband’s_ death—your _children’s_ death. Perhaps this sentence has gone forth against you, or yours, ‘This year thou shalt die.’ Jer. xxviii. 16. Luke, xii. 20; xiii. 7. * * * * * Mothers, _awake_! to your own, and your children’s danger. _Awake_ to the importance of safety in Christ. Mothers, _work_! for yourselves, for your families. ‘Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life.’ John, vi. 27. XXIX. FIRST MEETING IN THE YEAR. I. Look backwards on the past year. 1. On your _sins_. They are many—great—mighty. You need forgiveness, and Christ is _ready_ to forgive. Neh. ix. 17. Make this your prayer for the past year, ‘Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for _it is great_.’ Ps. xxv. 11. On your sins towards your _husbands_. Provocation—temper—carelessness of their comfort—an unyielding spirit. Again must you say, ‘Pardon mine iniquity, for it is _great_.’ On your sins towards your _children_. Neglect—bad example—prayerlessness—cross tempers—hasty slaps. Again you must say, ‘Pardon mine iniquity, for it is _great_.’ 2. On your _sorrows_. Poverty—sickness—death. Yet your sorrows not so many as your sins. How have you been helped through them! Have you _profited_? Heb. xii. 10. God has been teaching you, have you learnt the lesson? 3. On your mercies. You can count your sorrows. Try and count your mercies, they are more than can be numbered. Ps. xl. 5. How undeserved they were! You have counted your days of sickness—have you those of health? Your hours of mourning—have you those of joy? Your children taken—have you counted your children spared? &c., &c. Were you thankful? Gen. xxxii. 10. II. Look forward on the opening year. On what? Can you tell? How uncertain, you know not what will be even on the morrow. Jam. iv. 4. Prov. xxvii. 1. Who will be taken? Whose husband? Whose child? You know not. Therefore, ‘be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye _think not_ the Son of Man cometh.’ Matt. xxiv. 44. Can _you_ say, ‘Even so come, Lord Jesus, _come quickly_?’ XXX. LAST MEETING IN THE YEAR. THE CRADLE AND THE GRAVE.