_Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us_.--HEB. xii. i. When the powers of hell prevail O'er our weakness and unfitness, Could we lift the fleshly veil, Could we for a moment witness Those unnumbered hosts that stand Calm and bright on either hand; Oh, what joyful hope would cheer, Oh, what faith serene would guide us! Great may be the danger near, Greater are the friends beside us. ANON. We are compassed about by a cloud of witnesses, whose hearts throb in sympathy with every effort and struggle, and who thrill with joy at every success. How should this thought check and rebuke every worldly feeling and unworthy purpose, and enshrine us, in the midst of a forgetful and un-spiritual world, with an atmosphere of heavenly peace! They have overcome--have risen--are crowned, glorified; but still they remain to us, our assistants, our comforters, and in every hour of darkness their voice speaks to us: "So we grieved, so we struggled, so we fainted, so we doubted; but we have overcome, we have obtained, we have seen, we have found,--and in our victory behold the certainty of thy own." H. B. STOWE. November 3 _Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another_.--EPH. iv. 25. In conversation be sincere; Keep conscience as the noontide clear; Think how All-seeing God thy ways And all thy secret thoughts surveys. THOMAS KEN. The essence of lying is in deception, not in words; a lie may be told by silence, by equivocation, by the accent on a syllable, by a glance of the eye attaching a peculiar significance to a sentence; and all these kinds of lies are worse and baser by many degrees than a lie plainly worded; so that no form of blinded conscience is so far sunk as that which comforts itself for having deceived because the deception was by gesture or silence, instead of utterance. J. RUSKIN. He that is habituated to deceptions and artificialities in trifles, will try in vain to be true in matters of importance; for truth is a thing of habit rather than of will. You cannot in any given case by any sudden and single effort will to be true, if the habit of your life has been insincerity. F. W. ROBERTSON. November 4 _A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger_.--PROV. xv. i, _Doest thou well to be angry_?--JONAH iv. 4. Renew Thine image, Lord, in me, Lowly and gentle may I be; No charms but these to Thee are dear; No anger mayst Thou ever find, No pride in my unruffled mind, But faith, and heaven-born peace be there. P. GERHARDT.