Twilight And Dawn | Page 7

or of the first
time that it set, but were just pleased to see the sky so red and glowing,
and sorry when the beautiful sunset colours faded and the clouds
became cold and grey.
Or perhaps, as you have shaded your eyes from his noonday splendour,
you may have remembered that it was God in heaven who made that
wonderful sun to light up the sky, and that he has been shining down
upon this earth ever since; but did you ever stop to ask such a question
as this--
How long has that great sun, which is now above my head, been
shining in the sky? Or, again, as he passed in glory out of sight, How
many beautiful sunsets have there been since he first began to "rule the
day" and to rise in the east and set in the west?
Ah! so long a time that no thought of ours could measure it; so many
sunsets that we could never count them. All we can know about it is
that there was a time, long, long ago, when the sun first set and a time
when he rose upon the earth, which was then so beautiful--fresh from
the hand of God.
This world of ours is a very old world, but there was a time when all
was new; not only the sun and moon, but all that you see around you

had a beginning--a birthday. There was a time when no such things
were, and there was a time when they began to be. Now it is about this
beginning that I want you to think a little.
[Illustration: "HOW PLEASANT THE LIFE OF A BIRD MUST BE!"]
As we open our eyes to-morrow morning and see the light come in at
the window, let us thank God that He has made His sun to shine upon
us, to send away the darkness and bring a new day. And as the light
grows and grows, and we lie awake and listen to the morning songs of
the thrushes and blackbirds and the chatter of the sparrows, do not let
us forget that God gave its own sweet note to every one of those
warblers, and that the air has been full of the songs of birds ever since
the day, so long ago, when the first little lark flew up, up, up into the
blue sky and sang its first song, so full of gladness. Then, as the
pleasant sound of the lambs, bleating after their mothers, comes to us
from the fields, let us remember there was a day when that sound,
which you know so well, was heard for the first time; and as we go for
our walk and look around us at the green fields and the trees with their
leaves and blossoms, and then far away to where the strong mountains
lift their heads against the sky, let us say to ourselves, "All these things,
which seem as if they had been there always, had a beginning; there
was a time when there were none of them, and then there came a time
when they were there, for God had made them to be."
While we were talking about this, the elder children and I, the little
boys were very quiet; but I was afraid it was all rather difficult for them,
so I asked Leslie and Dick to tell me what we mean when we speak of
the beginning of anything.
I forget whether I got the answer from them or from one of the elder
ones, but I know I thought it a good answer when somebody said, "The
beginning of a thing is the first of it."
Then we spoke about the beginning of the table at which we were
sitting--I suppose we chose that to talk about because it was so close to
us--how it was made of wood, and the wood was once a tree; and if it
was an oak, that giant tree must have been long, long ago only a tiny
acorn in its pretty green cup. Each of those children, too, as they sat
round the table, had had a beginning. Have you ever thought of this?
There was a time, not so very long ago, and yet you cannot remember it,
when your life had not begun. And then your birthday came, the first of

all the birthdays; that day when your dear father and mother thanked
God for giving you to them to love and take care of, and everyone at
home was so glad because God had sent a little child to the house;
someone who had never been there before.
Just think, you were that little child; only a tiny thing, but as you
opened your baby eyes to the