THE WESLEYAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL MAGAZINE, AND JOURNAL OF EDUCATION. PRACTICAL PAPERS. NEW-YEAR'S GIFTS AND WISHES. THE 'HE custom of making presents and expressing good wishes at the beginning of the year, has come down to us from very ancient times. It was practised by the Romans to a considerable extent, and was associated by them with many superstitious observances. Their usual presents were figs and dates, covered with leaf-gold, and sent by clients to their patrons, together with pieces of money which were spent in purchasing statues of deities. Fosbrooke describes an amphora, or ancient Roman jar, on which was an inscription denoting it to be a New-Year's gift from the potters to their patroness. Another piece of Roman pottery had the words of our familiar wish upon it, in Latin,—"A happy New Year to you!" Upon another was found an inscription in which a person wishes the same for himself and his son. Caylus, who mentions the foregoing, also describes three medallions bearing the laurel-leaf, fig, and date, and an inscription wishing a happy New Year to the Emperor. In their celebration of the New Year, however, the heathen Romans engaged in many idolatrous, impure, and riotous practices; and in consequence of this, the early Christians observed its first day as a solemn fast, being forbidden, under penalty of anathema and excommunication, to keep it as a feastday and send abroad gifts upon it. The motive which prompted this prohibition was, undoubtedly, wise and good; it shows a commendable anxiety to "be separate" from the idolaters, and to "touch not" their "unclean things." But when the old Paganism ceased to prevail, and Christianity had spread over Europe, the custom of gifts" and "wishes" was revived, if without all the corrupt accessories of earlier times, yet still, with too much of revelry. In Brand's "Antiquities" is given the following translation by VOL. III. NEW SERIES.-January, 1868. 66 B Barnabe Googe, of "what relates to New Year's day in Naogeorgus; better known by the name of 'The Popish Kingdom," " A.D. 1570: "The next to this is New Yeare's day, whereon to every frende They costly presents in do bring, and Newe Yeare's gifts do sende. Their tables they do furnish out with all the meate they can." &c. &c. Some of our monarchs used to expect these gifts from their subjects: Henry III. is said to have extorted them; and the immense wardrobe of Queen Elizabeth is supposed to have been formed, in great part, from presents of this kind made to her by her nobility. Among the humbler classes of society, the custom assumed various forms. Bourne says,"If I send a New-Year's gift to my friend, it shall be a token of my friendship; if to my benefactor, a token of my gratitude; if to the poor, which, at this season, must never be forgot, it shall be to make their hearts sing with joy, and give praise and adoration to the Giver." These generous resolutions show how possible it is to infuse a thoroughly Christian spirit into a practice which heathenism handed down to us. Nothing is to be despised which tells of, and tends to nourish, kindly feeling between man and man, and an anxiety for each other's welfare. Gifts, however trifling, and wishes,—no matter what the origin of the form of words in which they are uttered, if they are but genuine expressions of goodwill, can scarcely fail to be acceptable; and accordingly, with all sincerity and earnestness we wish to all our readers A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR! As we do so, we congratulate them on being spared to see it; and ask them to join us in hearty thanksgiving, for the benefit, to Him in "whose hands " our "breath is," and to resolve anew to glorify Him in the loving service of consecrated lives. Let us all strive to make it a "New Year" indeed; not only accepting and noting it as a new period of life, but setting out upon it with prayers and purposes calculated to make it a "year" of personal religion, which shall be "new" in the degree of its vigour and enjoyment, and of duty,-" new "in the measure of its wise and loving earnestness. Each of us can make it "new," by striving to be holier than we have ever been before, doing all our work better than it has ever been done, and being more useful than we have hitherto been. If this be so, the "New Year" will assuredly be "happy" also, but not otherwise. men. Let us be on our guard against a vague and vain hope that the New Year will be better and happier than the old one, merely because it is new. Such a delusion as this it is easy to cherish, but it is very hurtful. Some time ago the "Times" newspaper had this sentence,-"The chapter of accidents is the Bible of the fool." Nothing can be more true. If any one who has been selfish, proud, passionate, unbelieving, or unsuccessful in 1867, hopes to be loving, humble, meek, believing, and successful in 1868, merely because of the probable difference which there may be between the circumstances of the one year and of the other, he is only flattering himself with a most groundless expectation. New years do not make new Old years hand on character and habits into new ones, unless new prayers bring down new measures of the Holy Spirit's grace to renew and strengthen the heart, and purify the life; and unless new resolves, promptly acted on, give a new turn to conduct. If we would so endorse the good wishes of our friends as to ensure that the year shall be a new one in the prosperity of religion in our own souls, we shall do well to begin it with a careful scrutiny of ourselves and our "ways." We should seek out the kinds and causes of past failure and defect; search for and take note of all weak places in our character, those points at which Satan has assailed us with most easy and frequent success, and then watch them with all care, praying for special grace to make us "strong in the Lord" in all those respects in which we are most weak in ourselves. Let us more diligently use all the means of grace, private and social; considering whether some are not neglected in which we might engage with profit, and whether those to which we are accustomed might not be made to yield more edifying results. We shall do well to endeavour more heartily, simply, and fully to believe the Gospel; and to look for all the blessings of that complete salvation which it promises, with a prompt and firm faith in Christ. 66 So, too, in relation to all our Christian work, especially in the Sunday-school, if we sincerely desire the year to be a "new" and "happy" one in its success, we shall follow up the wish by thoughtful, earnest, appropriate, and immediate effort to make it so. It will be well to take pains first to find out in what direction improvement is needed and possible; to examine ourselves as to the aim and manner in which we have undertaken our work,-that, if the aim be found too low, we may at once make it a higher one; if the manner be faulty, we may at once amend it; resolved by God's help to master all difficulties, and to labour expectantly for the thorough instruction and early conversion of all the scholars whom we have under our care. Our New-Year's "wish" for our readers we shall endeavour, in these and similar respects, to sustain and follow up during the year by seeking to fill our pages with helpful and stimulating articles, which shall be worthy of their careful study and use. We labour from month to month with an anxious desire to furnish-at the lowest practicable price-as much, as varied, and as efficient assistance as possible to those who toil for the religious education of the young. We hope our efforts are acceptable, and have good reason to believe them to be so; at the same time, more active exertions, on the part of our subscribers and readers, for the wider circulation of this Magazine, would greatly encourage us. Will our friends aim at this? THE WORK OF THE PRESENT. ONE secret of success, in almost every line of action, lies in the little word NOW. A good man who resolves to do his work to-morrow, seldom sees the day; and many a bad man who says he will call for Christ "at a more convenient season," enjoys neither the season nor Christ. We must "choose this day whom we will serve ; and are expressly told, that "Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." I am afraid that many of our Sunday school teachers lose sight of the importance of present blessings, as well as of the glorious fact that they are attainable. They resolve that some day they will set to work "in right good earnest;" and labour, not so much with the object of imparting mere instruction to the children, as of leading them to Christ, and endeavouring to secure the salvation of their souls. "Only wait a few Sundays longer," say they; "we want this book, this chapter, or that series of lessons finished, and then we will commence seriously to work for the salvation of our scholars." Now, are we justified in giving way to procrastination in a good cause ? Why should that "thief of time” pilfer our best moments, and lead us to squander them in idleness? One often-enforced reason why we should work now for the attainment of all those results which we desire, but do not labour to secure, is, that the postponement of that work involves the awful possibility of never having the opportunity to do it at all; and that, from many causes. We may not live, or we may be removed by Providence far away from those whom we intended to profit; or they may not live until we consider it time to fulfil our promises. And think for a moment of the awful pangs which an upbraiding conscience will inflict upon your mind; realize, if you can, the abiding mental anguish which will be endured, if, while you have the opportunity of speaking a word, in the name of Jesus, to a perishing soul, you neglect to do so, excusing yourself with the plea that you have no time then, or, that another time will do as well, and a few hours afterwards find that an enemy, which will wait for no man, when he has his commission in his hand, has stepped in before you, and snatched away the person upon whom you had only spent your worthless promises. Ah! my dear fellow-workers, I am now speaking from poignant experience. Allow me to refer to the circumstance. A few years ago there was a revival in a town in the North of England. The place was divided into small districts for the purpose of a house-to-house canvass; so that everybody might receive a personal invitation to the services. One district was taken by two individuals, who, in the course of their canvass, found themselves in a room scantily and poorly furnished, in which, on a bed, lay a poor woman, grown old and feeble, and apparently suffering from, not only hunger and want, as her pinched-up features testified, but also from disease. She slightly turned her head as the visiters entered the room. One of them explained their mission; and, seeing that the possibility of her attending chapel was out of the question, offered to leave her a tract. She said she did not want it, as she could not read. He said, "But perhaps you can get some friend to read it to you." She answered that she had no friend who could read, and did not care to have it read at all. He then asked how it was with her soul, when she impatiently replied, "I do not want to hear anything about my soul!" Leaving the tract, with a word or two of exhortation, they went away. This was, under the circumstances, and for the moment, as much, perhaps, as they could be expected to do; but was not this a case for some special effort? Here was a poor woman, seemingly on the verge of another world, sick in body and soul; all alone in two respects; for there seemed no earthly friend near to comfort, and no Saviour to cheer her heart in her last moments. Should not some time have been devoted to the welfare of this wretched woman's soul? The case demanded attention, but perhaps there was the ever-ready and pernicious excuse-want of time. The saddest part of the history is yet to be told, and it comes with sharp pangs of remorse to my heart. The next day, only seventeen hours after the above occurrence, the room in which that miserable woman lay, from some cause or other, was set on fire, and was soon enwrapped in flames. The cry was raised,-"Where is the old woman ?" No voice responded. When the fire was extinguished, the people entered the room as well as they could: everything in it was burnt, and where was she? My heart sickens as I think of it! In a small, low cupboard, on one side of the fireplace, were found the charred remains of what once had been a woman. The anguish and sorrow of the two visiters, when the news of the awful end of that poor woman reached them, none can tell. The writer knows what he felt, (for he was one of them,) but he cannot describe his feelings. We had every reason to think that she was unprepared for death when the hurried summons came. Might it not have been otherwise if we had spent some time in directing her to Jesus, and teaching her the way of salvation? If so, the lesson taught is clear, without any further comment. O! let us give heed to the warning voices of such occurrences as these, and endeavour to "be wise to-day," knowing that "tis madness to defer." I think I hear some one saying, "Well, I admit the force of all you have said: I know well enough that it is best to work when opportunity offers; why do you make so much |