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A FULL GOSPEL MAGAZINE FOR ALL BELIEVERS
V>5._
Tito© Unknown To-Morrow.
»e_-R_i.
A NEW YEAR ADDRESS.
ALEXANDER MACLAREN
"It is not for you to know the times or the seasons,
which the Father hath put in His own power"
(Acts i: 7).
THE New Testament gives little encouragement
to a sentimental view of life. Its writers had
too much to do, and too much besides to think
about, for undue occupation with pensive remembrances or imaginative forecastings. They bid us
look forward, but not along the low levels of earth
and its changes. Mist and cloud conceal the path
in front of the portion which we are actually
traversing, but when it
climbs, it comes out clear
from the fog that hang
about the flats. We can
track it winding up to the
throne of Christ. Nothing
is certain, but the Coining
of the Lord and "our
gathering together to
Him."
The words of this text in
their original meaning point
only to the ignorance of
the time of the end which
Christ had been foretelling.
But they may allow of a
much wider application, L~~~..-~~-.~~.~~.~-.,
and their lessons are in entire consonance with the whole tone of Scripture in
regard to the future. They teach us the limits of
our care for the future, as they give us the limits
of our knowledge of it. They teach us the best
remedies for all anxiety, the great thoughts that
tranquilize us in our ignorance, viz. : that all is in
God's merciful hands, and that whatever -may
come, we have a Divine power which will fit us for
it; and they bid us anticipate our work and do it,
as the best counterpoise for all vain curiosity about
what may be coming on the earth.
1
For the 3\[ew Year
11E will never fail us.
He will not forsake;
His eternal covenant
He will never break.
Resting on His promise.
What have we to fear ?
God is all-stifficient
For the coming year.
I. THE NARROW LIMITS OF OUR KNOWLEDGB
OF THE FUTURE.
We are sure that a mingled web of joy and
sorrow, light shot with dark, will be unrolled
before us--but of anything more we are really
ignorant. We know that the great majority of us
will be alive at the close of this year; but who will
be the exceptions? A great many of us will go on
substantially as we have been going on for years
past, with our ordinary duties, joys, sorrows, cares;
but to some of us, in all
probability, this year holds
some great change which
may darken all our days or
brighten them. In all our
forward-looking there ever
remains an element of uncertainty. The future
fronts us like some statue
beneath its canvas covering. Rolling mists hide it
all, except here and there a
peak.
I need not remind you
how merciful and good it is
that it is so. Therefore
coming sorrows do not
diffuse anticipatory bitterness as of tainted water percolating through gravel,
and coming joys are not discounted, and the
present has a reality of its own, and is not coloured
by what is to come.
One future we may contemplate. Our fault is
not that we look forward, but that we do not look
far enough forward. Why trouble with the world
when we have Heaven? Why look along the low
level among the mists of earth and forests and
swamps, when we can see the road climbing to the
heights? Why be anxious about what three hun-
Object Description
Description
| Title (English/roman) | pcra-dgc-RedTid_v23~001 |
| Full text | A FULL GOSPEL MAGAZINE FOR ALL BELIEVERS V>5._ Tito© Unknown To-Morrow. »e_-R_i. A NEW YEAR ADDRESS. ALEXANDER MACLAREN "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power" (Acts i: 7). THE New Testament gives little encouragement to a sentimental view of life. Its writers had too much to do, and too much besides to think about, for undue occupation with pensive remembrances or imaginative forecastings. They bid us look forward, but not along the low levels of earth and its changes. Mist and cloud conceal the path in front of the portion which we are actually traversing, but when it climbs, it comes out clear from the fog that hang about the flats. We can track it winding up to the throne of Christ. Nothing is certain, but the Coining of the Lord and "our gathering together to Him." The words of this text in their original meaning point only to the ignorance of the time of the end which Christ had been foretelling. But they may allow of a much wider application, L~~~..-~~-.~~.~~.~-., and their lessons are in entire consonance with the whole tone of Scripture in regard to the future. They teach us the limits of our care for the future, as they give us the limits of our knowledge of it. They teach us the best remedies for all anxiety, the great thoughts that tranquilize us in our ignorance, viz. : that all is in God's merciful hands, and that whatever -may come, we have a Divine power which will fit us for it; and they bid us anticipate our work and do it, as the best counterpoise for all vain curiosity about what may be coming on the earth. 1 For the 3\[ew Year 11E will never fail us. He will not forsake; His eternal covenant He will never break. Resting on His promise. What have we to fear ? God is all-stifficient For the coming year. I. THE NARROW LIMITS OF OUR KNOWLEDGB OF THE FUTURE. We are sure that a mingled web of joy and sorrow, light shot with dark, will be unrolled before us--but of anything more we are really ignorant. We know that the great majority of us will be alive at the close of this year; but who will be the exceptions? A great many of us will go on substantially as we have been going on for years past, with our ordinary duties, joys, sorrows, cares; but to some of us, in all probability, this year holds some great change which may darken all our days or brighten them. In all our forward-looking there ever remains an element of uncertainty. The future fronts us like some statue beneath its canvas covering. Rolling mists hide it all, except here and there a peak. I need not remind you how merciful and good it is that it is so. Therefore coming sorrows do not diffuse anticipatory bitterness as of tainted water percolating through gravel, and coming joys are not discounted, and the present has a reality of its own, and is not coloured by what is to come. One future we may contemplate. Our fault is not that we look forward, but that we do not look far enough forward. Why trouble with the world when we have Heaven? Why look along the low level among the mists of earth and forests and swamps, when we can see the road climbing to the heights? Why be anxious about what three hun- |
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