are a grand triumphal arch, spanning the interval of time between two eternities. Of this arch, Christ is the Key-Stone. Take but this support away, and the whole structure collapses; the entire universe, with its freight of angelic and human life, sinks into hopeless ruin; life, light and immortality have forever fled; nought remains save darkness and chaos.

But, blessed be God, we are not shut up to such dire forebodings of evil. Christ, the central stone, is also the Living Stone. It can never be moved. " Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven."

Every blow aimed by the wily foe at this Stone only causes it to send forth scintillations more and more intense in brilliancy, and the Precious Stone itself shines with a luster all its own.

"Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable Gift"!

"What glory gilds the sacred page !
Majestic, like the sun,
It gives a light to every age;
It gives, but borrows none.

Let everlasting thanks be Thine
For such a bright display,
As makes a world of darkness shine
With beams of heavenly day."

L.