IS there anything whereof it may be said, “See, this is new? It hath been already of old time, which was before us.”
The custom of calling the first day of the year New Year’s day, dates probably from the Christian era, and substituted the period ordained by God on the eve of Israel coming out of Egypt, where we read: “This month shall be the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.” And on the tenth day of that month the paschal lamb was eaten in the night when the Lord passed through the land of Egypt to cut off the firstborn in every house where the blood of the lamb was not sprinkled on the posts of the house. Moses wrote, “this is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.”
We suppose the Scotch, who do not observe religiously Christmas day, take their example of setting apart the first day of the year from the foregoing Jewish observance, although the periods are not identical. There is nothing new in time on the early morn of the first of January. It is simply an anniversary day of God’s appointment of “the lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night,” to be “for signs and for seasons, and for days and for years;” for the light of every day of the year is of the sun.
The division of time, ordained by God in infinite wisdom for the service of man, is nothing new, for it dates from the creation of the world. A thousand years in God’s sight “are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.” But the commencement of another year is usually a time for new thoughts and new prayers. The scriptural poet, Joseph Hart, has some profitable admonitions in his excellent hymn. for the period, which reads:
“Once more the constant sun,
Revolving round his sphere,
His steady course has run,
And brings another year;
He rises, sets, but goes not back,
Nor ever quits his destined track.
“Hence let believers learn
To keep a forward pace;
Pe this our main concern,
To finish well our race:
Backsliding shun; with patience press
Towards the sun of righteousness.
“What now shall be our task?
Or rather, what our prayer?
What good thing shall we ask,
To prosper this new year?
With one accord our hearts we’ll lift,
And ask our Lord some new year’s gift.
“No trifling gift, or small,
Should friends of Christ desire;
Rich Lord bestow on all
Pure gold well tried by fire;
Faith that stands fast when devils roar,
And love that lasts for evermore.”
To add to the words of the immortal hymn writer would be like striking a match to give light on a sunny day; and to alter or take from it would not be honest. But a brief comment on the points of his hymn may not be unseasonable.
(1st.) It is more or less the desire of every earnest soul “to keep a forward pace,” emulated by the Apostle Paul, who, although favored with an assurance of his interest in Christ, says, “Brethren I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” So doing is “to keep a forward pace,” thus running the race set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith.
(2nd.) “Backsliding shun,” for the backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways. He that goes back loses ground, and opens his heart to the god of this world. As one who turns his back on the sun has a shadow before him, so he that turns his back on Christ is following a shadow. He sows, too, what he will afterward reap to his sorrow.
(3rd.) “Rather what our prayer.” Our cry, our petition, the main desire in our prayer; which in Bible language may be expressed, “Give ear to my prayer, O God.” “Hear the voice of my supplication.” “Hear say voice, O God, in my prayer.” What, then, should be our prayer? The hymn says, ask for
(4th.) “Faith that stands fast;” by which grace “the elders obtained a good report;” and without it, it is impossible to please God. “For he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Faith is compared to a shield, and in this skeptical age it is greatly needed. The word of God is today held up as a butt for men to shoot their poisonous arrows at. We cannot mare when avowed infidels do so, but when a dean of the protestant church of England says: “Our whole conception of the inspiration of the Bible has been altered. A great deal which our forefathers took literally, we cannot take literally today; we may well tremble for our nation.” He went on to say (referring to some of the historical facts of the Bible of a miraculous character), “these and many other stories of the talking serpent and the talking ass we do not take now, or, at Any rate most of us I do not as literal statements of historical facts, but as imagery which clothes certain, spiritual lessons.”
Practically, such poisonous teaching is giving a lie to the word of God, and denouncing the godly forefathers as fools. Faith alone can shield us from such pernicious carnal reasoners. Luther says, “When faith comes it knocks out the brains of carnal reason.” Man in his ignorance of God does not know that it is “through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” Faith accepts the miraculous power of God, and believes that He spoke and the works were done, He commanded and they stood fast.
Carnal reason looks upon the things which are seen, the material earth, and tries to explain through their medium how they were evolved, as it is called by men who advocate the doctrine of evolution professed by Darwin. Such researches commonly carry men into infidelity. Faith takes a far nobler course. She believes. God the Creator of all, and that by “the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth;” thereby extolling His infinite power and Godhead, His omnipotence and eternal glory. Faith believes that God is, that His ways are past finding out, and beholds Him through the person of His beloved Son. “Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come: and even now already is it in the world.” The spirit that attacks the word of God is antichrist. When some asked our blessed Lord what they might do to work the works of God, the Lord replied, “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom he hath sent.” Mr. Hart puts this into verse thus:
“Let us resolutely strive
To work God’s work with full intent;
And what is it? To believe
On Him whom He hath sent.”
By believing on Christ Jesus we obey the gospel. Every living cry and waiting on Him is an act of faith. The more we believe on Him, the more we see His suitability to answer our every need; and by the various. dealings of God’s grace and providence towards us faith is strengthened thereby in the exercise.
May the reader have grace, may the writer have grace, to adopt the admonition of the hymn before quoted,
“Be this our main concern,
To finish well our race.”
S. B.