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TO US OF THE ETERNAL NOT LIKE EARTHLY BEAU-
TY, DANGEROUS TO LOOK UPON, BUT LIKE THE
MORNING STAR WHICH IS THY EMBLEM, BRIGHT
AND MUSICAL, BREATHING PURITY, TELLING OF
HEAVEN AND INFUSING PEACE. O HARBINGER OF
DAY! O LIGHT OF THE PILGRIM! LEAD US STILL AS
THOU HAST LED. IN THE DARK NIGHT, ACROSS THE
BLEAK WILDERNESS GUIDE US ON TO OUR LORD
JESUS, GUIDE US HOME.
His eyes were dimmed with tears and, looking humbly
up to heaven, he wept for the innocence he had lost.
When evening had fallen he left the house, and the first
touch of the damp dark air and the noise of the door as it
closed behind him made ache again his conscience, lulled
by prayer and tears. Confess! Confess! It was not enough
to lull the conscience with a tear and a prayer. He had to
kneel before the minister of the Holy Ghost and tell over
his hidden sins truly and repentantly. Before he heard again
the footboard of the housedoor trail over the threshold as
it opened to let him in, before he saw again the table in the
kitchen set for supper he would have knelt and confessed. It
was quite simple.
The ache of conscience ceased and he walked onward
swiftly through the dark streets. There were so many flag-
stones on the footpath of that street and so many streets in
that city and so many cities in the world. Yet eternity had
no end. He was in mortal sin. Even once was a mortal sin.
It could happen in an instant. But how so quickly? By see-
ing or by thinking of seeing. The eyes see the thing, without

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