MORNING

So runs the old missionary hymn; and, indeed, the symbol there employed for truth has a mission which appeals very powerfully to the human heart. Jesus the Christ called himself the "light of the world," and Mrs. Eddy uses light again and again as a symbol of truth; nor can we wonder at this, for there is something inexpressibly inspiring about the dawn of a new day, which lends itself very readily to convey spiritual realities. The appeal of morning sunshine is universally acknowledged by most members of the human family as something that is precious and beautiful.

Has one laid himself down at night weary, overburdened, or perhaps with some problem unsolved? Surely, as that one wakes to a fresh sense of life next morning, new light, new spiritual ideas are more likely to pour into his calmed and rested thought, and things assume a new aspect. There is fresh opportunity for progress; there is divine Love's message of tenderness and ever-presence to receive and reflect; and buoyancy and sunshine come again into the heart. Yes, "a glorious day is dawning" to the one who wakes with the understanding which Christian Science brings. See to it, O mortal, that the "dark and hidden places" shall be made to disappear, as in the morning, by the beams of truth; then no shadows will gather again even at nightfall.

It has always interested the writer to read of Mrs. Eddy's experience when writing "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," which she describes on page 114 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany," as follows: "What I wrote had a strange coincidence or relationship with the light of revelation and solar light. I could not write these notes after sunset. All thoughts in the line of Scriptural interpretation would leave me until the rising of the sun. Then the influx of divine interpretation would pour in upon my spiritual sense as gloriously as the sunlight on the material senses." The light of Mrs. Eddy's revelation of God's allness and availability to help mankind has shed its rays over all the earth, and to one student of Christian Science the early morning has always brought a special sense of freedom from material sense, nearness to God, and light upon her daily path, ever since she first learned the truths of being from our Leader's writings. This dawn of true ideas in consciousness is in some measure repeated, morning by morning, in a fresh sense of hope, in new occasions for proving Science true, in an upspringing joy in beginning again, which is all cause for gratitude to our faithful Leader. Mrs. Eddy won her dawns of joyful light by many hard night watches and vigils, when all seemed dark; and we, too, may have to experience something of the night doubts and fears: but she never faltered; and we can win through also, for we have the same light that she had to guide us all the way.

David must have loved the dawn. There is an exquisite verse in the psalms spoken of as the last words of the "sweet psalmist of Israel,"— "And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain,"— which describes the sweet graciousness of the true Ruler, the Christ; and it is surely one of the most perfect word paintings ever conceived. The freshness of the dawn seems all about one, with its pure scents and tender light. What an impression these early morning hours must have made on the poetic sense of the radiant shepherd boy! Their inspiration must often have been a comfort to the man whose after life was stormy and sometimes very troubled. It is pleasant to think of the love of nature's sweetness and beauty remaining with this great human character throughout all his days. Such simple joys are loved by the truly great, and by those who are seeking after God.

That strange genius, the poet Blake, still so admired by some, sang of the angel of the morning:—

Christian Science teaches that angels are messages from divine Mind, God, to His idea, man; and these thoughts entertained bring the kingdom of heaven to earth, showing us the way to one eternal day, wherein is no night of error at all, no darkness, no doubt, no fear!