hope; or other such, breathing forth the pity of the Lord, or opening glimpses of the world where all tears are wiped away; and lo! as he reads, peace descends upon their troubled spirits, and they rise up strengthened; for they have heard a voice divine, speaking to them. And for all life's trials, many as they are, this has proved the word of comfort. Why, if you were to take out of the past what has been contributed to human happiness and the soothing of human pain, say, for example, by the psalms of David, what an immeasurable and sad subtraction from the sum of the joy of three thousand years you would make! Annihilate what the parable of the prodigal son has done for sinful, conscience-stricken men, and how you would impoverish human experience! There are chapters in the Bible that have been angels of mercy here on earth from immemorial days. And a poet-I know not what poet- has paid them, as such, the tribute of these tender verses:

strengthens virtue with glorious exhortations, gives angelic eloquence to prayer, and almost rises to the seraph's joy in praise. In distress and fear they breathe the low, sad murmur of complaint; in penitence they groan with the agony of a troubled soul. They have a gentle music for the peace of faith; in adoration they ascend to the glory of creation and the majesty of God. For assemblies or for solitude, for all that gladdens and all that grieves, for our heaviness and our despair, for our remorse and our redemption, we find in these divine harmonies the loud or the low expression. Great has been their power in the world. They resounded amidst the courts of the tabernacle; they floated through the lofty and solemn spaces of the temple. They were sung with glory in the halls of Zion; they were sung with sorrow by the streams of Babel. And when Israel had passed away, the harp of David was still awakened in the church of Christ. In all the eras and ages of that church, from the hymn which first was whispered in an upper chamber until its anthems filled the earth, the inspiration of the royal prophet has enraptured its devotions and ennobled its rituals. And that has been not alone in the august cathedral or the rustic chapel. Chorused by the winds of heaven, they have swelled through God's own temple of the sky and stars; they have rolled over the broad desert of Asia in the matins and vespers of ten thousand hermits; they have run through the deep valleys of the Alps in the sobbing voices of the forlorn Waldenses; through the steeps and caves of the Scottish Covenanters; through the woods and caves of primitive America in the heroic hallelujahs of the early pilgrims.- Scottish American.

Blessed Saviour! with my whole heart I do bless thee for the appointment of the inner chamber, as the school where thou meetest each of thy pupils alone and revealest to him thy Father. O my Lord! strengthen my faith so in the Father's tender love and kindness that as often as I feel sinful or troubled, the first instinctive thought may be to go where I know the Father waits for me and where Let the never go unblessed. prayer can thought that he knows my need before I ask, bring me, in great restfulness of faith, to trust that he will give what his child requires.

I WISH I could, in this our closing hour together around the Study Lamp, open and read aloud to all our pleasant company some of the letters that come daily. The many difficulties that beset the way are now all forgotten in the gladness of a new, larger, and brighter world opened. England, the land of our forefathers, and of a noble race, has become so interesting that the theme must be an alluring attraction for our student hours as long as life lasts. Indeed, most of us already realize that the satisfying taste acquired in the history and literature of this delightful land is even more to us than the little knowledge we have accumulated.

ANOTHER thought so often mentioned, is one of rejoicing anticipation. The year has prepared the way to enter upon the American studies of the coming year with special pleasure and profit, for the roots of American civilization rest in English soil. It is probable that with few exceptions our entire Circle will be together again next year. What a delightful task it will be to study with you and direct your studies as we traverse the uplands of our own civilization.

HAS it not often occurred to every reader that astronomy is one of the most unselfish as well as the most elevating of all the sciences? Others have a practical utility at every step, while the study of the heavenly universe yields little, if any, practical support to problems of food and raiment. But in the expansion of the mind, elevation of thought, and sublime sensations, astronomy is the most potent of all the sciences. From the contemplation of the heavens, the mind involuntarily flies to the heavenly Father, and faith grows stronger. To astronomers belongs the glory of having emancipated the human mind from much of the superstition and error that once prevailed over the earth. They have given us a purer faith, and filled our souls with reverent devotion. And yet astronomy has a practical side, too. It aids commerce so much to-day that, should the astronomers cease their observations and charts, our almanacs and diaries would soon cease to appear, and mariners at night upon the trackless ocean, without astronomical reckoning to guide their course, would be in extreme peril.

ONE of the oldest Ohio colleges cheerfully gives one of its students who is taking the Bay View Course, special credit on the college subjects taken up in our Course. It is pleasant to think of this recognition, and I am sure such an estimate of the good work that may be done in the Circle will inspire every member to make his studies rank still better.

THIS is the place for practical suggestions. Here is one that has been offered to several circles, and they are going to use it. It is to interest the pastor of one of the churches in holding a Sabbath-evening vesper service with the circle, all the congregation participating. Sufficient copies of our Circle's beautiful vesper service will be furnished free. This is an impressive song and responsive service, calling for a short, appropriate address, and gives an evening that will be long remembered.

IT will be a profitable exercise in the last circle meeting, to have an experience number when each member will recall the appreciable benefits derived in the circle. It must be much of real interest could be said. Early in the year the letters of many who had not for years given any mental effort to their reading, mentioned how hard it was to study. Seven months later their letters are more confident. The firmness of their grasp of once difficult subjects and the clearness of their own thinking is now becoming a positive delight.

IT used to be, when a literary club formed in the town or city, it broke up toward summer with no practical plan to resume in the autumn. In this situation, when fall came, nothing was done to reorganize, and matters went on until there was a spasm somewhere to have a literary society. Perhaps the new one had no relation to the former club. It began, like the other, with indefinite and untried plans, but, nevertheless, with boundless hopefulness, showing in the end the ephemeral life of the first. Let us, if possible, avoid in the Bay View Circle this unsatisfactory course. The idea of continuance and permanence