The last day of the Old Year has been much like other days. It has its morning, its noon, its night. The sun arose, pursued his accustomed course in the heavens, and set. The busy, bustling world ceased not its din. Mankind laughed and cried, cursed and prayed as erst before. And yet it has been a day in which thoughtful persons have paused and looked back with many and varied feelings and emotions, of pain and pleasure, of sorrow and joy, of regret and gladness.
The close of the year marks an era in the course of time, a milestone in the journeys of life; if not in nature, in custom. Another twelve-month companion—1905—is passing away, soon to be among the dead and gone. His retreating footsteps linger a moment on the threshold as we write. His sad farewell falls with mournful cadence upon the ear. His life like that of his predecessors was brief, but eventful. Not a smooth, happy, harmonious life has it been, but anomalous and inconsistent to a degree: smiling, affable, generous, kind, to some; frowning, rude, niggardly, cruel, to others. All kinds and degrees of disposition and temperament were found in the complex nature of the Old Year.
What a regretful year to some! Disappointed ambitions, broken resolutions, reverses of fortune, defeats by the enemy, mark every step of the way. Proud and tyrannical Russia has been humbled to the dust and is groaning and writhing in agony over internal dissension and rebellion. Japan is exultant in victory, but O, at what a fearful cost of money and men. Poor Korea has been ground between the upper and nether millstones, and has lost her autonomy.
What a sad, sad year it has been to many hearts among our readers. Loved ones are gone from the home. The sweet circle is broken. The chair at the table is vacant. The room is empty, or occupied with another. The warm greeting, the hearty handshake, the sweet smile, the fervent God-speed, which have so often cheered, are gone forever. Blasted hopes lie buried with our loved ones in the graves which the Old Year has digged. Pillars in the church, esteemed, revered, loved by all who knew them, have fallen at their post.
Heavy waves of grief have engulfed many hearts. Some mourn, not without hope; for the Life-giver is coming to redeem His trusting ones from the power of death and the grave. Others, and they are many, have no hope. All their expectations are buried in the earth, lost in fruitless efforts or fanciful speculations. Their hearts have never been given to the Source of all good, their faith has not laid hold of the One "mighty to save."
What a cruel year it has been! Hundreds and thousands and tens of thousands have been swept away by pestilence, by earthquake, by famine, by disease, by suicide and murder, by war. Little mercy has been shown to helpless age or innocent youth. The good and the evil have alike fallen. Thus Nature, whom some have exalted as God, serves those who have fallen under her perverted laws.
What a happy year to some! They have left the living death of sin and vice and crime and shame for a life of righteousness and virtue and honor and everlasting glory. They have left the service of Satan and its hollow promises, and have been born anew into the kingdom of God. From children of the night they have become the children of the day. From the bondage of self they have stepped into the glorious freedom of God. There are new hopes in their hearts, new light in their eyes, new joy in living, new life in their being, new love for newer, lasting, holy things, new peace that floweth like a river in their souls, new zeal for helping others, new heart, new hope, new love. All these changes have cost the human trial, conflict, crucifixion, but have been more than repaid by the richer blessings from above.
Such are some of the changes which the Old Year has wrought. Before us lies the unfolding New Year, with all its opportunities for good. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto Jehovah, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." "Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth not His anger forever, because He delighteth in loving-kindness. He will again have compassion upon us; He will tread our iniquities underfoot; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." In the light of such promises as these, let no sin separate you from the Master in the year to come.4
But more than this. In all earth's trouble and turmoil, her sins and crimes, her temptations and trials, her storms and tempests, we need more than mere forgiveness, more than to be lifted from the miry clay; we must have our feet upon the rock; we must have Him "establish" our "goings." Faith must take hold of the immutable Word. The heart must be open to receive the Spirit. He who forgives the past is anxious to fit us to meet the future. He is more willing to give His Spirit of might and strength and wisdom and counsel and knowledge than earthly parents are to give good gifts to their children. Then ask, and receive. Seek, and find. Believe, and receive. Then by the Holy Spirit shall "the love of God" be "shed abroad" "in the heart." And then the assurance: "Great peace have they that love Thy law, and they have no occasion of stumbling." If our readers will by faith grasp these blessings of God, they will find verified this scripture: "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for Mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the grain, and blossom as the vine; the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon." May the New Year bring this experience to all our readers.
