The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1858-03-03

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of Paradise, ascend to his God before he
has learned his existence. IndeeI, it
seems law of nature that all the higher
and richer emotions of the heart should
express themselves in music and in num-
bers '4# .aH
Those inaulible and invisible agencies
that bind in peaceful s;sterhood the starry
host of heaven can only be characterized
in mortal language, as the "musie of the
spheres 1t was a beautiful conception
of Plato that the heavens modu.ated and
sent forth q harmony too pure for the
weak ears of morta!s, but to which the
dcities themselves delighted to listen. In
reference to the same idea, greater than
Plato exclaims, "See how the floor of
Wonder heaven is thick inlaid with patincs
of thick gold. There's not the smallest
orb thou beholdest but in his motion like
IN angel sings, still choring to the young
eyed cherubim: such harmony is in i'm
mortal souls" In fact, music and poetry
seem the appropriate medium through
which our souls may best sympathize
with heaven. They form for us the tru-
est, the divincst uttcrance of that everast-
ing order ''whosc seat" in the beautiful
language Of Hooker sis in the bosom Of
God, and whose voice the harmony Of the
universe The whole world may be said
to be vast instrument of music, replete
with tho materials for melody, and every
where tecming with the proportions of
harmony. Man, in his fallen estate, strikes
bat here and there a solitary chord, and
its melod:ous vibrations thrill his soul with
ecstasy. An angels hand might awaken
the echoes of music that had kept silence
since the day of ans apostacy.
But even now creation is not destitute
of music. Can you go out into the grove
on fright summer morning and hear
the sweet carol Of early birds and the art
less ministries of the fearthered choirs, and
| not feel that you are surrounded by an
atmosphere Of song, and all nature is at
tuned to its harmony! These innocent
little creatures sing, not for money or ap-
plausc,. but because they are happy.-
They tell al their raptures, all their loves,
in music. They seem to exist but to SOW
the earth with droppings of song. The
winds themselves are changed to artieu-
late melodies as they pass our habltations,
and nature sa!utcs us with numberless
harmonies wherever we go. sg agau atsstg
An | as IN Isie is cxhaled by us with lur-
est enjoyment, SO it falls upon us with the
purest of influences. 1t is at once the
earliest symptom and mightiest agent IN
human cultivation At its voice the most
savage cruelty mclts into the tenderest
gushings of nature, beastIy terocty Is
soothed to gentleness, and nations with
out music have been found to be the very
abstract of fendis!l debascmcnt. How
was it in ancient times? Whence come
those traditions from remote ant,q' ity:
- SD tons qucl!ed, cures wrough,
fleets and armies governed by the force
L hot #
rocks and trees to the harp Of Orpheus?
= city's walls uprising beneath the
wonder working touches Of Apollo's Tyre:
[ shall be told these are fables. They are
fables, but they beautifully proclaim the
mysterious union there is between man
and music as an agent of his civilization.
The sublimest aspirations heaven ever
breathcd upon man have been einba!med
and enshrincd in music and poetry. Isra-
els greatest kings were carth's greatest
singers, and their harps have rendered
revelation itself vocal with song. Who
has not had his heart kindied within him
as he contemplated the exalted strains Of
the sweet singer Of Israel?
The divine behcNt that struggled i'll
his soul, blossomed out into music on is
lips. His whole heart seems bursting
with heavenly symphonies as he beholts
tho beauty Of the Lord. His bosom seems
to have been perennial fountain Of song,
his life itself appears melody that
had strayod away from some celestial
choir, and was endeavoring is sing its
way back to its heavenly home. In bis
hand there was nothing too low to afford
a sound, nothing to dumb to yield q note.
Creation became div;nely constructed
harp, and the smallest, fecblest string yiel-
ded its music to his touch. Now the i'll
ference wish to make Of this is not that
all could or should be Dayids-but hat
an art that could SO completely absorb
the attention Of such a mind, is not with
out its use to all minds. infer too it is
only when we approach nearest the puri-
ty Of heaven in the feelings oftllc heart,
we are most apt to engage in tho exer-
else of song. Forwhile David the sinner
vas suppliant, David the saint was Is
rael's chief musician.