The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1903-08-06

To many, dare say, the express
sion Beauty Of God" seems at first
somewhat bizarre.
Beauty is something OF which we
are wont to think only in connection
with material objects.
Beauty, we say: that is an expert
ence which reaches the mind from
without. 1t comes to us through the
ear. for instance Good music is beau
tifui. Certain isolated tones, as OF a
rich human voice or OF silver Deii'
though maybe not attaining the quat-
ity of music, are still beautiful.
Or. we say, beauty may find its way
into our soul through the avenue OF
the eye. Most curved lines and sur
faces have beauty. So do certain col
ors. And when grace OF form blends
with rich color or colors, as in the
rainbow or the rose, the result is one
realizing almost the acme OF beauty
as ordinarily considered.
All these species of beauty, ear
beauty and the two sorts OF eye beau
ty. that of form and that OF color,
pertain to the realm OF physics. In
all these applications, beauty is an at
tribute Of things. 1t addresses us as
a form, quality or characteristic OF
matter, of air wavelets greeting the
ear, or of ether wavelets borne to the
eye And beauty so far as thus ap-
pretended is, in effect, a phase, mo-
dificaton or application OF physical
fact.
What, then, can beauty and divin-
ity have in common? How can God
possess beauty? He is not matter, but
mind. He is spirit, which the physi-
cal eye cannot see or the physical ear
hear. He has no color; he assumes no
outward form; he emits no tone. Show
himself he does, but not in the way OF
optics. Speak to us, he does, but not
after the fashion of acoustics. How
can beauty attach to him? What can
the Psalmist mean by the notion OF
beauty of God: Let the beauty OF
Jehovah our God be upon us?
The answer is that the ordinary,
popular, physical account Of beauty
is altogether incomplete. There is
another and higher department OF
beauty. There is such thing as in
ner, immaterial, spiritual beauty;
beauty of character. This is what the
psalmist sights when he prays: LET
the beauty of the Lord our God be
upon us" Plato sights the same at
the end of his Phaedrus, where he
MAKES Socrates breathe that charming
prayer, 80 beloved Pan, and all we
other gods who inhabit this place,
grant unto me that may be beautiful
in the inner man, and that whatever
external fortunes | ever possess may
be at peace with those within. May
| esteem the wise man rich, and may
l own only such measure of gold as a
wise man can at once bear and use."
Beauty is among the very old SUBJ
jects of human discussion and inquiry
1t has been turned over and philos
ophized about in mems minds since
the very dawn of speculation. A
whole catalog of inquiries have been
raised concerning it. Three great
questions in llrticular, are on the
list, touching its nature, which are
worthy of explicit mention.
First-Are the several varieties Of
beauty at bottom one and the same
thing or are the varieties, when fully
apprehended, something solder and
more static than varieties, so many
different kinds of beauty? When va
speak of beauty in color, is it simply
a new manifestation of the same
thing which greets us In a charming
sound; or is each of these qualities
something to be called beauty, one as
much fundamental nature as the
other, the unity between them being
effected only by the name? This is
one of the historic questions regard
ing beauty, which it is ever so easy
to ask but ever SO difficult to answer.
There is a second. Whether beauty
is of just one kind of varieties, or Of
many different kinds, we want to
know with which variety or with
which kind, as the case may be, the
primacy belongs. Is eye-beauty in any
way anterior or superior to ear
beauty, or ear-beauty to eye-beauty?
Was color, as the rainbow, the first
thing to be hailed as beautiful, AMI
did men come to view curves and
sweet sounds as beautiful because of
some semblance or analogy conceived
to exist between them and the rain
bow; or was the reverse, or some