BY the time this Magazine is in the hand of most of our readers the present year will have almost run its course, and we will be almost on the threshold of another, with all the joys and sorrows it may have in store for us. The passing years are preaching to the old, telling them that their tenure of life is nearing an end, and no serious-minded person can pass a milestone on the way which tells him he is nearer the end of the journey of life without solemn thoughts of the future. The young in the hey-day of youth, bright with hopes, many of which are never to be realised, thoughtlessly pass the milestones that awaken such serious thoughts in the minds of their seniors, but they, too, are hastening rapidly on to the end of the first stage on the great journey.
What the future may have in store for each of us is known to Him alone who has appointed our lot and set a bound to our habitations which we cannot pass. But as far as present worldly conditions are concerned the prospect is not very bright. The nations are still reeling under the staggering blow launched against them in 1914, and notwithstanding all the efforts of statesmen, they are still drinking the bitter cup God gave them for their disobedience to and disrespect of His Son whom He appointed King in Zion. With wistful eyes the nations are turning their eyes towards the dawn of another year in the hope that the sorrows of the past are ended. While the material outlook is anything but bright, neither are we encouraged when we turn to the prospects of God’s cause in the world. The professing Church has long been asleep, and the Enemy came in and sowed his tares. These have now grown up, and are choking the wheat. Material prosperity, love of pleasure, a worldly religion, have wrought havoc in the professing Churches of Christ in the land. In such circumstances as these, while the hearts of God’s people are like to faint, it is well that they should listen to the message sent to Daniel, a man greatly beloved:—”Go thy way till the end be; for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days” (Dan. xii. 13). Whatever darkness may yet come, whatever difficulties may yet beset them, they are called upon to face the future with the hope that they shall rest and stand in their lot at the end of the days. This is a message full of encouragement for the Lord’s chosen. There is to be no idle lingering by the way, no hanging back because they cannot see clearly before them. They are exhorted to go their way right on to the end of the days, and in doing so they will find His promise has not failed them. The thought of this ought to stir up all who are still ignorant of the Lord Jesus, to pray to Him for grace. For no pen of man can depict the cheerless prospect of those who reach the end of this journey friendless and hopeless and homeless, as on the other hand it has not entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for them that love Him. Our heartfelt prayer for all our readers, young and old, is that when they must pass hence they will not be without that Friend who sticketh closer than a brother, and that good hope through grace which will not put them to shame, and that they shall not reach the eternal world without any prospect of that “building of God, an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens.” And for the coming year we address to our readers the words of Dr Duncan when dismissing his students for their New-Year vacation:—”Many will be wishing you a happy New-Year; I wish you a happy Eternity.”