"The Morning Breaks, the Shadows Flee" is an 1840 hymn written by

Latter Day Saint The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by Jo ...

apostle Parley P. Pratt. The lyrics to the hymn were first published in May 1840 as a poem on the outside cover of the inaugural issue of the ''

Millennial Star ''The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star'' (usually shortened to ''Millennial Star'') was the longest continuously published periodical of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), and was printed in England from 1840 unti ...

'', a periodical of the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The chu ...

published in England. When the church published its

Manchester Hymnal ''A Collection of Sacred Hymns for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Europe'', informally known as the ''Manchester Hymnal'', was first published in Manchester, England, in 1840. Like the first Latter Day Saint hymnal, this hymn ...

later that year, "The Morning Breaks, the Shadows Flee" was the first hymn in the work. Since the Manchester Hymnal was published, the song has often been the first song in hymnals published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It is hymn number 1 in the current LDS Church hymnal under the shortened title, "The Morning Breaks". In 1864, George Careless composed music to accompany Pratt's poem. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir adopted Careless's rendition and it has since become one of the choir's standard numbers. The hymn has five verses and centers on the theme that God has restored the gospel to the earth.

References

Terryl L. Givens Terryl Lynn Givens is a senior research fellow at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute of Religious Scholarship at Brigham Young University (BYU). Until 2019, he was a professor of literature and religion at the University of Richmond, where he held the ...

and Matthew J. Grow (2011). ''Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonism'' (New York: Oxford University Press, ) pp. 179–80 *David Maxwell
"'The Morning Breaks': George Careless, Musical Pioneer"
'' Ensign'', February 1984
"Latter-day Saint Hymns: 'The Morning Breaks, the Shadows Flee'"
''

'', vol. 88, no. 2 (14 January 1926) pp. 28–31

External links

"The Morning Breaks, the Shadows Flee"
text in Mormon Literature Database
The Morning Breaks
churchofjesuschrist.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Morning Breaks, the Shadows Flee, The 1840 poems 1864 songs 1840 in Christianity Latter Day Saint hymns Works originally published in Millennial Star Works by Parley P. Pratt Works by apostles (LDS Church)

See also

References

External links