BAPTIST MAGAZINE FOR 1857. THE PROFITS ARISING FROM THE SALE OF THIS WORK ARE GIVEN TO THE WIDOWS OF VOLUME XLIX. (SERIES V.-VOL. I.) "Speaking the truth in love."-EPHESIANS iv. 15. LONDON: PEWTRESS & CO., 4, AVE MARIA LANE; PATERNOSTER ROW. DCCCLVII. 16 THENEW YORK ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS. 1897. LONDON: J. HEATON AND SON, PRINTERS, 21, WARWICK LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW. THE BAPTIST MAGAZINE. JANUARY, 1857. A. DOMESTIC HOMILY ON THE PAST YEAR. BY THE REV. W. LANDELS. The close of the year, like the striking of our clock, reminds us of the flight of time, but much more impressively as coming much more seldom; and summons us to those reflections which are appropriate to the occasion. Various subjects may then occupy our thoughts. Our own ever-shortening lives, and our rapidly approaching dissolution,-the great events to which time is bearing us onward, in which it shall issue, and after which it shall be no more,—the combustion of the earth, the passing away of the celestial canopy, the resurrection of the dead, the appearance of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven, the gathering of the nations around the great white throne, and the transactions and issues of the judgment day :—these, as events which are ever drawing nearer, year by year, may very properly become the subjects of meditation. Or we may find food for reflection in ourselves,-our spiritual condition in view of those events towards which we are hastening, the degree of our preparedness for those mighty changes, how much in our present character we have reason to be thankful for, and how much we have reason to deplore, how the wrong is to be remedied and the good strengthened, how the future may be distinguished by brighter experience and holier deeds, by the cultivation of Christian graces, the acquisition of useful knowledge, and the performance of Christlike work. Or we may call to remembrance God's dealings with us—the tokens of his displeasure which are fitted to humble us, and the expressions of his goodness which appeal to our gratitude, finding in them all something which will give a deeper tone to our devotions, render more joyous our songs of thanksgiving, and add to the truthfulness and devotedness of our Of all these themes of meditation, the most pleasing which presents itself to us is the goodness by which the past year has been distinguished. “Thou crownest the year with thy goodness,” says the Psalmist; and the language is applicable to every year of our lives. Absolutely, indeed, one VOL. 1.- NEW SERIES. lives. |