* " Fairest of stars, last in the train of night, If better thou belong not to the dawn : Sure pledge of day, that crown'st the smiling morn With thy bright circlet, praise him in thy sphere, While day arises, that sweet hour of prime."
Paradise Lost. Book V*
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the morning;" and the morning-star i&r the first beam shooting from under these lids as they begin to re-open, that the eye of day may again irradiate the earth. It is only they who awake early that see the first opening of these eye-lids, or gaze upon the morning-star, or breathe the morning freshness, or taste the morning dew. So is it with those of whom it is said, " Bless- ed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection." To them come the quickening words, " Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust." (Isa. xxvi. 19.) Into their tomb the earliest ray of glory finds its way. They drink in the first gleams of morning, while as yet the eastern clouds give but the faintest signs of its uprising. Its genial fragrance, its soothing stillness, its bracing freshness, its sweet loneliness, its quiet purity, all so solemn and yet so full of hope, these are theirs. Oh the contrast between these things and the dark night through which they have passed ! Oh
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the contrast between these things and the grave from which they have sprung ! And as they shake off the encumbering turf, flinging mortality aside, and rising, in glorified bodies, to meet their Lord in the air, they are lighted and guided upward, along the untrodden pathway, by the beams of that Star of morning, which, like the star of Bethlehem, conducts them to the presence of the King.
There seem to be more periods than one (if times so very brief may be called by that name) opening out upon us when the Lord comes. Just as there are more scenes than one, and more acts than one, in " the day of the Lord," so there are more periods than one. And it is interesting to notice these in connexion with the Morning- star.
All the time up to the moment of his appearing is reckoned night. Then the scenes change, and, step by step, the day with its full sunshine is brought in. First,
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there is the period of the Morning-star, during which the dead saints awake and the living saints are changed; then that which is sown in corruption is raised in incorruption, that which is sown in dis- honour is raised in glory, that which is sown in weakness is raised in power, that which is sown a natural body is raised a spiritual body; and then they that have long dwelt in dust awake and sing. In every land they have found a grave, and every land now gives up the sleeping clay. They come forth " in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning," like the ten thousand times ten thousand dew-drops of the night, made visible by the morning-star, and sparkling to its far- coming glory. (Psa. ex. 3; Isa. xxvi. 19.) It is' long since " light was sown for the righteous," (Psa. xcvii. 11,) and this is the first-fruits of the harvest.
Next there is the period of the twilight. This is the time when " the light shall not
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be clear nor dark/' like " the morning spread upon the mountains." (Joel ii. 2.) Then has the last battle-strife begun ; then the Lord with his rod of iron is breaking his enemies in pieces like a potter's vessel ; then he cometh forth from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity ; then, with all his saints, he executes the infinite vengeance, delivers Israel, destroys Antichrist, lays waste the world with sore calamity and purging fire. " Before the morning he is not," says the prophet, foretelling the ruin of the great enemy of Israel and the church. (Isa. xvii. 14.) *
Next there is the morning. The enemy has disappeared ; each wreck that marked
* It is either to this or the close of the preceding period that such passages are to be referred: " All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee." Ezek. xxxii. 8. " The day of the Lord is darkness and not light." Amos v. 18, 20. " While ye look for light he turn it into the shadow of death." Jer. xiii. 15. " The light is darkened in the heavens thereof." Isa, Y.30.
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either his , dominion or his destruction is gone. The face of the earth is renewed, the storm is laid to rest, and the glory of an unclouded sun and an unsullied firma- ment makes creation sing for joy. The voice of the Beloved is heard, " Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone ; the flowers appear on the earth ; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land ; the fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away." (Sol. Song ii. 10—13.)