A NEW YEAR'S ADDRESS TO OUR READERS. EAR YOUNG FRIENDS,-We most heartily greet you with the usual salutation, and wish you, in truth and love, A HAPPY NEW YEAR, desiring that the year 1883 may prove to each and all of our numerous readers to be one rich with the blessing of a good and gracious God, who is kind in His dealings with them that seek Him. If He is your Guide, your way will be well directed; and if you have a part in His blessing, it will be well with you in all circumstances you may be called to pass through. This is a changing state. Day by day various things remind us that there is nothing abiding below. Friends are lost to us by death, and pleasures are marred by the withering of our comforts and the blighting of worldly prospects, therefore those who have nothing good beyond the world and time to hope for, have but a poor portion at the best; while all who know and love the Lord have the promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come. We desire that many who read our pages may be thereby spiritually instructed, and in due time led to seek and find mercy, as we rejoice to know some already have, in Him who came to seek and save the lost. Sin is soul-destroying, the blood of Christ is saving. All who die out of Christ must perish for ever; all who die trusting in Him, by faith, will live with Him for evermore. We wish you ever to remember that there must be a saving change take place in all those who go to heaven. They must be brought through conviction of sin, with godly repentance, to the feet of Jesus; and the Scriptures declare that "whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall find mercy." The blood which Jesus shed was for transgressors, and all who believe in Him receive the remission of sins, the Holy Ghost bearing witness thereof in their hearts, by imparting to them the peace of God, and enabling them to draw nigh to the throne of grace with humble confidence of an interest in the doing and dying of the Lamb of God. All such obtain favour of the Lord, and with them it is and shall be well, for God has declared so (Eccles. viii. 12; Isa. iii. 10). In providing our monthly bundle of gleanings, we hope still to keep in view the moral, intellectual, and spiritual profit of our readers, whose interest in our work, and appreciation of our efforts, we hope we shall see increasingly manifested. We hope that our prayers and labours in their behalf may not be in vain, but that they may be preserved from those dreadful evils against which we wish to ever faithfully warn them, among which Popery and that insidious form of infidelity called by such names as " evolutionary philosophy," "materialism," agnosticism," "free-thought," &c., are not the least, and which we shall endeavour to expose, as viewed in the light of God's holy Word. We hope all will try and help on the circulation of the GLEANER, and also of the SOWER, which is a useful Magazine to spread among the young, as it contains the pure seed of divine truth, and is full of interesting and profitable reading. To those who have not regularly taken it, we would say, begin to do so this year, and we believe you will wish to continue it. This will be but a small cost to our readers, and it will prove an encouragement and help to us, as well as being the means of spreading abroad the good seed of the Word of God. And now, in beginning the work of another year, we desire to look up to Him who fills the mercy-seat, for help and blessing, whereby our labours can alone be made useful; and we entreat an interest in the prayers of all those who have been taught to visit and supplicate the throne of grace, for we are sure the Lord will hear the desire of the humble. Dear young friends, accept our best THE PURse of ruPEES. wishes for your welfare. May the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob bless you, both now and for evermore, is the prayer of THE EDITOR. THE PURSE OF RUPEES. MERCHANT put two thousand rupees into a purse, and, having closed the mouth thereof with a seal, gave it in charge to a Cazy, and then went a journey. When he returned, he received it from the Cazy, sealed up in the same manner as when he had delivered it; but, upon opening it, saw copper coin instead of his silver. He began disputing with the Cazy, who denied that he had shown him the rupees; and said he had received back the bag, sealed up, just as it was delivered. The Cazy's people drove him away. The man went to the King, and represented his grievance. The King, after pausing a little, said, "Go for the present; leave the purse with me, and I will do you justice." The next day he made a small rent in the new musnud (cloth) of the throne, and then went a hunting. A Ferásh, whose turn it was to be that day in waiting, when he saw the musnud torn, was so frightened that his body was all in a tremor. He showed it to another Ferásh, and said, "If the King should see it, he would kill me." The other asked whether any one else had heard of the accident, or had seen the musnud, and he answered in the negative. "Be of good cheer, then," replied he, "for there is in this city a Ruffoogur [or darner] who is a perfect master of his business. Carry the musnud to him, and he will fine-draw it in such a way that no one will discover it." The Ferásh went to the shop of the Ruffoogur, and told him that, if he would but do the business nicely, he should have whatever he might demand. The Ruffoogur required only half a dinar, but the Ferásh gave him a whole dinar, and the musnud was mended 3 and returned in the course of the night. The next day the Ferásh spread it on the throne. When the King saw that the musnud was put to rights, he asked the Ferásh who had darned it. The Ferásh pretended ignorance; but the King told him not to be alarmed, for that he had torn the musnud to answer a particular purpose. The Ferásh then named the Ruffoogur, and the King sent for him, and asked him whether he had darned a purse in the course of that year, and whether, if he should see it, he should know it again. He answered, "Yes." The King then showed him the purse, which he knew again, and said that the Cazy of that city had given it him to do. The King, having sent for the Cazy, said, “I had perfect reliance on your integrity, on which account I promoted you to the dignity of Cazy. I did not know you to be a thief. How came you to steal a man's property ?" He answered, "Alas! my lord, who accuses me of this ?" The King replied, "I say so !" He then produced the purse, and showed where it had been darned. The Cazy was confounded, and trembled. The King sent him to prison, and commanded the owner of the purse to take his money from him; who, having no alternative, paid it. The next day the King ordered the Cazy to be hanged. SUNSHINE. THE day had been overcast. Suddenly the sun shone out, and a little patch of sunshine brightened the corner of the carpet. Immediately Tray got up, and, with a wise look, trotted to the bright place and laid himself in it." There's true philosophy," said George; "only one patch of sunlight in the place, and the sagacious little dog walks out of the shadow to roll himself in the brightness." Let not Tray's example be lost upon us, but wherever there shall shine one patch of sunlight, let us enjoy it.-Children's Paper. HIDDEN TREASURE. for fame or glory-things that, at the utmost, can but yield a passing pleasure for a few brief years; while, on the other hand, how few there are that are found seeking for heavenly wisdom, for everlasting riches, and unspeakable joys! How pointed are the words of Scripture upon this matter : "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: butlay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matt. vi. 19—21). HE story has been related, how | learning, some for pleasure, and others that a family in reduced circumstances were fortunate enough to find an old letter behind the wainscot of a room, which had been written by a relative long since deceased, stating that some money would be found hidden under the floor of a particular room, where it had been placed by the writer, lest it should be squandered by her extravagant brother. It need scarcely be said that the kind aunt, and her two young charges, to whom she performed the part of a mother, speedily went to the spot indicated, and were rewarded for their trouble by finding a number of gold coins, which were the means of helping them out of their difficulties, and filling their hearts with gratitude for the timely and welcome deliverance. In Eastern countries it was, in former days, the usual custom to hide money for safety in the ground or in any place where robbers were not likely to find it, so that it was not at all unusual, after a man's death, to dig up all his garden, and to search every corner of his house, hoping by this means to discover some hidden treasure, and those that sought were frequently rewarded by a substantial find. To this custom Jesus doubtless referred when He said, “The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field" (Matt. xiii. 44). By this parable, the Lord would convey this lesson to us, that there is treasure to be found in the Gospel field, which every true seeker earnestly desires to become possessed of, and which the Lord is willing to bestow upon all who truly seek it, and that as a gift," without money and without price" (Isa. lv. 1). We have often been struck with the diligence and earnestness with which some people seek for riches, some for The following anecdote, written by one who could evidently vouch for its truth, will fully illustrate the force of the foregoing words : A friend of mine in America went to see Jacob Strong, the great farmer, during the war, to try to get some money for the poor soldiers. After dinner my friend was taken by him up to the cupola on the top of his house, and he said to him 'Reynolds, look over yonder, as far as your eye can reach. There is no finer land in the Mississippi valley than that land; and that is all mine. I came out West a poor boy, and I have earned all this property by my own energy and effort." Then he took him to another view from the cupola, and pointed out farms and pastures for thirty miles around, with large herds of cattle and sheep grazing, and he said "These are all mine." And then he took him to another view, and showed him farm after farm, all stocked and improved, and he said "Those farms are all mine." And then he took him to another view, and showed a town where he lived. There was a great hall named after him ; |