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LONDON:

PRINTED BY W. H. AND L. COLLINGridge,

148 AND 149, aldersgate STREET, E.C.

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AN ADDRESS TO

EAR YOUNG FRIENDS,—As we present you with the first number of the LITTLE GLEANER for 1881, we desire also, with heartfelt interest in your welfare, to wish you, one and all," A Happy New Year," and may the blessing and goodness of God attend you from the beginning to the end thereof, We wish you yea, even for evermore. well for eternity, and therefore we try to set before you plainly what we know is the truth of God's holy Word. We also strive faithfully to warn you against those evils which are the ruin of many, even in this life, such as smoking, drunkenness, Sabbath-breaking,disobedience to parents, pride, bad company, novel reading, slothfulness, and lightly esteeming the Word of God. You live in a day when great evils, and fearful temptations thereto, abound on every side, and we desire you to watch against them, and against all who seek to entangle you therein. Whenever you are enticed by others, or feel your mind inclining to anything that is fascinating and conscience-hardening, ask yourselves the following questions: "Is it in accordance with the Word of God? Can I ask the Lord's blessing upon it? or should I like to die while so engaged?" The answer of your conscience to these questions may be to you what we have found in our own case, in years gone bysomewhat of a guide to your conduct, and a means of deterring you from what is evil. Always be careful to hear and regard what conscience and the Word of God have to say to what may be proposed to you as seemingly desirable, for the answer to that important inquiry, "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?" is an infallible truth," By taking heed thereto according to Thy Word" (Psalm cxix. 9); therefore take care never to associate with those who slight or seek to explain away the plain testimonies of God's holy Word; but try everything by it, and reject all that does

OUR READERS.

not honour it; and, if its counsels are
reverenced and followed by you, the result
will prove that the Lord honours those
who thus honour Him. Infidelity abounds
on every hand to an alarming extent,
and it is to be feared that it is greatly
promoted by many who have a form of
religion, but who at the same time dis-
parage or deny some of the important
and plainest teachings contained in the
Bible. How often has it been seen that
those who have discarded the Bible and
rejected its counsels have made them-
selves the prey of evil men and seducers,
while their course from bad to worse has
been rapid in its progress and terrible in
its end. Therefore, seeing what sad
fruits result from the evils now so pre-
valent among men, and so dangerous
to the interests of the young, we anxiously
labour and pray for your moral benefit,
hoping that you may escape the evil
and follow the good.

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But, while we seek to interest and benefit you morally, we feel that the concerns of your immortal souls are of the highest importance, and therefore it is the chief object of our monthly work to tell the thousands of readers who welcome the LITTLE GLEANER as faithful messenger something of Him who is "the Friend of sinners," and who said when He was here upon earth," Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God." All that live and die strangers to Him die in their sin, and will hear from His lips the dreadful sentence, "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Oh, think on this, and remember that there is no escape but by faith in Jesus Christ, for "without shedding of blood there is no remission." It is only by Him you can be reconciled to God, and enjoy divine peace; therefore give no heed to the delusive theories of false teachers who

BIBLE QUESTIONS ON THE BOOK OF GENESIS.

set aside repentance and the new birth, and make light of faith by treating it as though it was only a mere assent and consent to the truth of God, instead of the inward work of the Holy Ghost, who convinces of sin, and leads to Jesus Christ.

Dear readers, never adopt a form of profession as a substitute for living faith and vital religion, since to follow such a course would only be to deceive yourselves for time, and lie down in sorrow at the last (Isaiah 1. 11). True faith in Christ will have repentance connected with it, and repentance will be evidenced by godly sorrow for sin (2 Cor. vii. 10), confessing it unto God, and forsaking it (Prov. xxviii. 13). Oh, that many of the young may, by means of what we send forth month by month in the GLEANER and Sower, be wrought upon by the Holy Spirit, and taught to flee with all their guilt and misery to Jesus, the Good Physician, who only can cure the malady of sin and save from the wrath to come. Our ardent and continual desire is to encourage all who seek Him to press on until they apprehend Him, and to strengthen and confirm those who know and love Him in the faith of the Gospel, while at the same time we humbly beg an interest in the prayers of all those who desire the success of His Word, that the Lord will graciously approve and prosper our efforts in His

cause.

And now, dear young friends, permit us to say that we hope, by the Lord's help, to continue to send forth in the GLEANER Such bundles of useful and interesting reading as will make it still a favourite in our schools and families; and, while we are doing our best for you, we hope you will encourage us by spreading abroad the GLEANER and SOWER, and by seeking to make good use of what you receive therein. The Scripture Lessons given on the Almanack should be carefully read, and the texts in connection with them committed to memory during the week, in order that you may be prepared to meet your teachers on the Lord's Day,

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that, by careful attention to what is brought before you, some abiding benefit may be derived.

That the Lord, to whom we again commend you, may bless you in these matters, and by His own grace prepare you to meet Him face to face, is the prayer of THE EDITOR.

BIBLE QUESTIONS ON THE BOOK OF GENESIS.

CHAPTERS I. TO XXVIII.

1. WHAT is the name of the man who confessed to his wives that he had injured himself?

2. What is the name of the man who was in great danger by being in bad company?

3. What mother wept because she thought her child must die?

4. What rich man's servant prayed to be prospered in his master's business?

5. Whose mother sent her daughter away from home because she saw it was the Lord's will?

6. What man proposed in his heart to injure another, but did not do so?

7. What examples have we in any of the above cases-especially in the fourth? and what lessons do they teach us?

[Questions similar to the above will be regularly inserted in the GLEANER, and we propose to give twelve prizes at the close of the year, one to each of the twelve subscribers under fifteen years of age who shall answer correctly the greatest number of questions which will be given month by month.—ED.]

As to this world's goods, God may not give His children according to their wishes, but He makes them content with what He gives.

THE SONG OF THE FREE.

OT has been well said that "music has charms." Dull and discon. Isolate is that heart that is not sometimes moved by it. Young and old, rich and poor, rude and refined, religious and profane, all more or less respond to the sound of music. The infant in arms often has its little sorrows assuaged by the mother's lullaby. The weary farm labourer, after a hard day's toil, quickens his footsteps at the merry peals from the village bells. The aged sire, when surrounded with his grandchildren singing and playing the tunes that once were his delight, tries with tremulous voice to join them, and seems to return to the days of his youth.

But there are times when music seems out of season. The captive Israelites felt it so when they sat down by the rivers of Babylon, for they hung their harps upon the willows. What a burden to their heavy hearts must Nebuchadnezzar's band have been, which was the signal for all that heard it to fall down and worship the golden image (see Daniel iii. 5, 6). It would be as dismal to them as the sound of a military band to the wounded and dying on the battlefield, by which their piteous moans are drowned.

But, when the Lord caused Cyrus to liberate His people, the case was altered: "Then was their mouth filled with laughter, and their tongue with singing" (Psa. cxxvi. 2); and amongst those that returned to Jerusalem under Nehemiah were two hundred and forty-five singing men and singing women, who no doubt were engaged in the service of the sanctuary. It is worthy of note that very little instrumental music seems to have been played by the Jews after their Babylonish captivity, and throughout the New Testament the worship of God was carried on simply by vocal music.

When the Hebrews came out of Egypt,

God having delivered them from Pharaoh, and they having by faith passed through the Red Sea, while the Egyptians, going presumptuously after them, were drowned, it was a time of great rejoicing. Then Moses and the children of Israel sung that beautiful song which we have in Exodus xv., and which Miriam, the sister of Aaron, with the women answeredthat is, they sang it over again, "with timbrels and with dances," as shown in our illustration.

The timbrel was a kind of drum, or tambourine, several of which they must have brought out of Egypt,and it is very probable they danced for joy, just as David did when he was bringing the ark of the Lord to Mount Zion. But the word translated "dance" in some passages, both in the Old and New Testament, may mean singing in chorus; thus (Psa. cxlix. 3) it is said, "Let them praise His name in the dance." It might be rendered "chorus." So in Luke xv. 25-it might be read, "He heard music" and "a chorus," or "a company of dancers;" whereas some think the word "dance" sometimes means a musical instrument, or pipe; therefore, the marginal note of the Psalm before referred to has the passage, "Let them praise His name with the pipe." So, it may be, the company that followed Miriam had pipes or flutes as well as drums. They might well be joyful in being so miraculously brought through the Red Sea after four hundred years' captivity.

And it was on the occasion of their coming out of Egypt that the Lord told Moses, "This month shall be to you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you;" so that they had, as it were, to begin to reckon time afresh. They still observed time as they had in Egypt for business matters. beginning of the civil year would be about the month of September with us, but the new appointment, by the institution of the Passover, opened their ecclesiastical

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