OUR ANNUAL ADDRESS. DEAR FRIENDS,-The tide of time rolls rapidly on, and with it we are all wending our way to that solemn goal-the end of our days. Eternity day by day comes nearer to us all, and with it we hope, to many of us, our final salvation. As 1880 recedes from us, and 1881 dawns upon us, while we greet our readers with the well-known salutation, "A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU," we pray that we may be enabled profitably to glance at the past, and hopefully to welcome this new period of our time. Since we penned our last New Year's Address, many changes have taken place around us, both in the Church and in the world; and doubtless most of us have been affected by some of these things, either in a way of comfort or of disquietude. Death has been doing its work among our friends, and many no doubt who read these lines have had to mourn the loss of some dear to them, whose memory they cherish with the fondest affection. They are no more with us, and while we sing, "Change and decay in all around I see," what a mercy, reader, if we can look up to the God of salvation and say, "My times are in Thy hand;" for, to all who love Him, and who are "the called according to His purpose,' "all things work together for good." This oftentimes is hard to be understood, even by those whose judgment is established in the truth of it; for, if we take a general view of things, how perplexing they often appear to us! Only of late, what convulsions we have heard of among surrounding nations, what troubles connected with our foreign possessions, what sad tumults in poor Papal-cheated Ireland; and, while those vile emissaries of Rome, the Jesuits, are being expelled from France, what inroads Popery is making in our own beloved land, where, by specious conduct and flattering promises on the part of Rome's devotees, many of our young are being enticed into her schools, to learn and imbibe her fatal errors. We are glad, however, to find a widespread feeling among real lovers of truth as to the growing importance and necessity of every possible effort being made to instruct our youth in the Word and doctrines of the Gospel, both in the Sunday-school, and by periodicals and other books of a sound Scriptural character being liberally disseminated among them. These are the means which are within our reach, and which it becomes us, as those who believe the Word of God to be the only seed worth scattering abroad, to use with all diligence and prayer, knowing that He who has made the truth so effectual in former days can do so now; and He has thus instructed us in this No. 25, NEW SERIES, JANUARY, 1881. B matter: "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good" (Eccles. xi. 6). But one thing He has declared concerning His Word which may well encourage all who are engaged in this noble work of spreading His truth, whether as preachers, Sunday-school teachers, writers, or circulators of good books, namely, "It shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it" (Isaiah lv. 11); therefore, let all who desire the prosperity of the cause of truth and the kingdom of Christ still go forward in the midst of "evil report and good report," waiting upon the Lord, and hoping for the promised success. There is much in the professing Church of Christ which is very painful for us to behold, and we feel sure it is grieving the Holy Spirit of God, such as worldliness of spirit, covetousness, selfseeking, pride, fleshly indulgence, spiritual sloth, carelessness in walk and conversation, and a hard Antinomian indifference respecting the use of Scriptural means. But, notwithstanding all that is to be thus deplored, we believe there are among us many, yea, a goodly army, of carnest, praying, working souls, who seek the things "which are Jesus Christ's," and who do not consider it a hardship to deny themselves for His sake, nor grumble because attention to the interests of His cause affects their own personal convenience. Dear friends, we earnestly pray that the Lord may grant unto all of us who have been called to the fellowship of His Son, more of the blessed experience couched in those words, "We love Him because He first loved us;" then, under the influence of this sweet constraining grace, we shall esteem it a pleasure and honour to do and to suffer in the cause of Him "who gave Himself for us." And now, if we look closely into personal matters of experience, what account can we give of the result of the various exercises we have been the subjects of during the passing over us of the days, weeks, and months of 1880 ? Have those exercises yielded any of "the peaceable fruits of righteousness"? or have they been, as it were, lost upon us? If our troubles rightly exercise us, they will give us constant errands to the throne of mercy, keep us lively in prayer, and make us eager for the public means of grace. The soul needs these exercises to keep up therein a healthy hungering after Jesus Christ and His Word, for it is the needy ones who will be earnest in their search for Him, and who will highly prize what they receive from Him, as also any smiles, visits, or communion He may favour them with. Reader, can you testify of any times of sweet visitation, re |