Morning.

CLIV.

Behold the dawn approaching from the East! Evil shadows depart; health comes with her glow. The purple-tinted radiance streams into every dwelling, and the sacred mother gently unseals the eyelids of her sleeping children. Over land and sea she passes swiftly, restoring all living things to consciousness. The bird rises from its nest, and man passes to his task. Now let all pure flames ascend; let the dawn kindle sacred fires in every dwelling. The altar-fire is born of the rubbed stick, and man begets the immortals.

The Fire-Worshipper.

CLV.

Think not that our fathers were adorers of fire; for that element was only an exalted object on the lustre of which they fixed their eyes: they humbled themselves before God; and if thy understanding be ever so little exerted, thou must acknowledge thy dependence on the being supremely pure.

The Soul's Thirst.

CLVI.

O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: My soul thirsteth for thee,

My flesh longeth for thee,

In a land dry and weary, where is no water.
As with rich dainties my soul is satisfied,

While with joyful lips my mouth praiseth thee,
When I call thee to mind on my bed,

When in the watches of the night I meditate on thee. Because thou hast been my help,

Therefore in the shadow of thy wings I will rejoice.

Ascription.

CLVII.

Who can bless thee, or give thanks for thee or to thee? When shall I praise thee, O Father; for it is neither possible to comprehend thy hour nor thy time? Wherefore shall I praise thee,-as being something of myself, or having anything of mine own, or rather as being another's? Thou art what I am, thou art what I do, thou art what I say. Thou art all things, and there is nothing which thou art not. Thou art thou, all that is made, and all that is not made the mind that understandeth; the Father that maketh; the good that worketh; the good that doeth all things. Of matter, the most subtile and slender part is air; of the air, the soul; of the soul, the mind; of the mind, God. By me the truth sings praise to the truth, the good praiseth the good. O All receive a reasonable homage from all things. Thou art God; thy man crieth these things unto thee, by the fire, by the air, by the earth, by the water, by the spirit, by all beings.

CLVIII.

Waiting.

I wait for God, my soul waiteth ;
And in his word I hope.

My soul watcheth for the Lord,

More than they that watch for the morning-
Than they that watch for the morning.
Lord my heart is not haughty,

Nor are mine eyes lofty;

Neither do I employ myself in great things,
Or in things too wonderful for me.

Truly I have composed and quieted my spirit,
As a weaned child towards its mother:
As a weaned child is my spirit within me.

God.

CLIX.

Thou pure and perfect God! thine is the world's beauty and dominion. Thy beauty transcends the sun, and thy completeness the universe of forms. I call thee not high nor low, recognising no limit to thy being thou art highest, thou art deepest: all beings' essence. How can I know thee who art beyond the vision of reason? So concealed, thou art the more revealed to the eye of the heart. The world were an empty tablet but that thou hast written thereon thy eternal thought. Of thy divine poem the first word is Reason, and the last is Man. And whoso shall trace the words from first to last shall find them the unbroken series of thy

favours, the varied names of thy love. Antagonistic natures blend in sweet accord: in fine ether, behold the solid sphere suspended; fire and water work together for that great harmony from which the good sprang into being. Such harmony is the sign of the best. In mines gleam the gems, and the earth hath its green vesture; but deep within me shall that harmony be found singing praises, with the revolving spheres, to the fairest and best.

WORSHIP.

CLX.

The Rosary.

He needs no other rosary whose thread of life is strung with beads of love and thought.

Worship of Wisdom.

CLXI.

This world is not for him who doth not worship. Know that the worship of spiritual wisdom is far better than the worship with offerings of things. In wisdom is to be found every work without exception.

Although thou wert the greatest of offenders, thou shalt be able to cross the gulf of sin with the bark of wisdom.

There is not anything in this world to be compared with wisdom for purity.

Wisdom is all hands and feet, and all ear; it sitteth in the midst of the world, possessing the vast whole. It is the reflected light of every faculty. It standeth at a distance and is yet present. It is that which now destroyeth, now produceth. It is the light of lights. It presideth in every breast.