To the Editor of the Baptist Magazine.

Another year is gone! How solemn the reflection! How replete with instruction! Times and seasons are passing away in rapid succession; and amid the cares and avocations of the present, we seem in a great measure insensible of our near approach to an eternal world. But we are assured that “The day of the Lord will come.” The purpose for which the world was created, and made the theatre of such mysterious and benevolent transactions, will be accomplished; the reign of grace, in the salvation of men, will terminate; the influences of the Holy Spirit in their regeneration will be no longer necessary; the preaching of the gospel, as the ordained means of conversion, shall for ever cease. Then all mankind, that have lived from the beginning of the world, will enter on a state of endless and unchangeable existence: some, in the presence of God, will enjoy the most exquisite pleasures, and obtain “an eternal weight of glory;” while others will have their abode among unbelievers, and “suffer the vengeance of eternal fire.” “Seeing, then, that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness!”

Reader! the close of another year has brought you so much nearer the end of your probation on earth. In the space of a few months how many have perished under the stroke of death! Young and old, rich and poor, small and great, have gone down to the grave, where “they rest together, and the servant is free from his master.” Before the close of 1835, what multitudes, now in the prime of life, in the pursuit of pleasure, in the possession of riches, in the road to preferment, or having secured the object of worldly ambition, will have passed into the unseen state, and rendered their account to God. The flight of time calls upon the careless and undecided to consider their ways, and turn unto the Lord.

The Christian, too, should testify his gratitude to God for his continued goodness, and “lift up his head, for his redemption draweth nigh.” With what seriousness and devotion should we attend to the duties of religion, so that “whether we live, we may live to the Lord; or whether we die, we may die to the Lord; that whether we live, or die, we may be the Lord’s!” Let not this day come upon us unawares, and find us in a state of carnal security; but may our loins be girded, our lamps burning, and ourselves like servants waiting for their Lord’s return,—“looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ.” “Wherefore, beloved, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.”

T. P.