533 [Assembly 



To the young and the gay, the happy and the healthful, morning 

 cannot come too soon to liglit them to their enjoyments: to the poor 

 and the careworn, to the sick and the sorrowing, to the sailor tem- 

 pest-driven, and the landsman troubled, hope comes with the morn- 

 ing. 



One who appreciates Nature in all her glorious works, has said of 

 the morning — 



" It is morning, and a morning sweet, fresh and delightful. 

 Everybody knows the morning, in its metaphysical sense, as applied 

 to many objects and on so many occasions. The health, strength 

 and beauty of early years lead us to call that period the ' morning 

 of life.' Of a lovely young woman we say, she is * bright as the 

 morning;' and no one doubts why Lucifer was called 'son of the 

 morning.' But the morning itself, few people, inhabitants of cities, 

 know any thing about. Among all our good people, not one in a 

 thousand sees the sun rise once a year. They know nothing of the 

 ' morning.' Their idea of it is, that it is that part of the day which 

 comes along after a cup of cofifee and a beefsteak, or a piece of 

 toast. With them, ' morning' is not a new issuing of light, a new 

 bursting forth of the sun, a new waking up of all that has life from 

 a sort of temporary death, to behold again the works of God, the 

 heavens and the earth, it is onl}' part of the domestic day, belong- 

 ing to breakfast, to reading the newspapers, answering notes, send- 

 ing the children to school, and giving orders for dinner. 



" The first faint streak of light, the earliest purpling of the east, 

 which the lark springs up to meet, and the deeper and deeper color- 

 ing into orange, and red, until, at length, ' the glorious sun is seen, 

 regent of day,' this they never enjoy, for they never see. 



" Beautiful descriptions of the ' mornirg,' abound in all languages, 

 but they are the strongest, perhaps, in those of the East, where the 

 sun is often an object of worship. King David speaks of taking to 

 himself ' the wings of the morning.' This is highly poetical and 

 beautiful. The 'wings of the morning' are the beams of the rising 

 sun. Rays of light are wings. It is thus said that the Sun of 

 Righteousness shall arise, ' with healing in his wings;' a rising sun 

 which shall scatter light, and health, and joy throughout the universe. 

 Milton has fine descriptions of the morning, but not so many as 

 Shakspearc. 



