THE COTTAGE MAGAZINE;" OR, Plain Christian's Library. ' THOUGHTS FOR THE FUTURE. THE first day of the year will always be a solemn season to the Christian, and it will be his endeavour to improve to the utmost the considerations brought forcibly home to his mind by the changes of time. It will be to him as the beginning of days in many senses; it will be a solemn feast unto the Lord," in which he will rejoice before the Lord his God," and sing a new song of thanksgiving and praise. It is not a superstitious use of ordinances which the man, enlightened from above, approves in his own practise, or recommends to others. Not an "observance of days and months and times and years" such as that condemned by the blessed Apostle as part of the "weak and beggarly elements" of the bondage of the law (Gal. iv. 9-11); but such an observance as is consistent with the "reasonable holy and lively sacrifice" required of, and willingly offered by, the humble follower of Jesus. The language used by the Apostle Paul to the Galatians in the above passage may profitably be compared with that used to the Colossians, and gives us a very important authority for the rejection of ordinances when inconsistent with the spirit of the Christian religion; JANUARY, 1846. VOL. I. A |