But, the grand secret of redeeming time is, the systematic arrangement of all of our affairs.  The wise man says,—­“To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.”  Now, if we so divide our time as to assign a particular season for every employment, we shall be at no loss, when one thing is finished, what to do next, and one duty will not crowd upon another.  For want of this system, many people suffer much needless perplexity.  They find a multitude of duties crowding upon them at the same time, and they know not where to begin to discharge them.  They spend perhaps half of their time in considering what they shall do.  They are always in a hurry and bustle, yet, when the day is gone, they have not half finished its duties.  All this would have been avoided, had they parcelled out the day, and assigned particular duties to particular seasons.  They might have gone quietly to their work; pursued their employments with calmness and serenity; and at the close of the day laid themselves down to rest, with the satisfaction of having discharged every duty.  Form, then, a systematic plan to regulate your daily employments.  Give to each particular duty its appropriate place; and when you have finished one, pass rapidly to another, without losing any precious intervals between.  Bear continually in mind that every moment you waste will be deducted from the period of your earthly existence; but do not try to crowd too much into the compass of a single day.  This will defeat your object.  You will always be liable to numerous and unavoidable interruptions.  You have friends who claim a portion of your time.  It is better to interrupt your own affairs than to treat them rudely.  You have also many accidental duties, which you cannot bring into the regular routine of your employments.  Give, then, sufficient latitude to your system to anticipate these, so that your affairs may not be thrown into confusion by their unexpected occurrence.

The duty of being systematic in all our arrangements is enforced by several considerations. 1. By the example of our Creator. By a careful perusal of the first chapter of Genesis, you will see that God assigned a particular portion of the creation to each day of the week, and that he rested on the seventh day.  Now the Lord has some design in everything he does.  He never did anything in vain.  But he could as easily have made all things at once, by a single word of his power, as to have been occupied six days in the creation.  As for resting the seventh day, the Almighty could not be weary, and therefore needed no rest.  What, then, could have been his design in this, but to set before us an example for the regulation of our conduct?

2. This duty is also enforced by the analogy of the visible creation. The most complete and perfect system, order, and harmony, may be read in every page of the book of nature.  From the minutest insect, up through all the animal creation, to the structure of our own bodies, there is a systematic arrangement of every particle of matter.  So, from the little pebble that is washed upon the sea-shore, up to the loftiest worlds, and the whole planetary system, the same truth is manifest.