MANY persons of eminence have paid high tribute to the power of music as a means of purifying and uplifting thought. They have dealt with music and song as an influence which strengthens the moral sentiments rather than merely a feature of entertainment. Martin Luther vindicated the value of music by saying: "Next to theology I give music the highest place and honor;" also, "It is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us." Beethoven declares, "Music should kindle the divine flame in the human mind;" and Auerbach says, "Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."
The harmony and melody expressed in highest music foreshadows the perfect harmony of man and the universe. Mary Baker Eddy in her writings points out the analogy between harmony in music and harmony in living; and she uses many musical terms which may be applied to the affairs of life, and which, if understood, enable a higher sense of things to be gained. Life's music, then, may be considered as the bringing out in daily living of holiness, happiness, and health. In an address to her students Mrs. Eddy asks them the following question (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 116): "This question, ever nearest to my heart, is to-day uppermost: Are we filling the measures of life's music aright, emphasizing its grand strains, swelling the harmony of being with tones whence come glad echoes?" This is a searching question; and for the answer to it each student must look within the deep recesses of his own heart.
"Filling the measures of life's music aright" is no small task, and one quite impossible to those who have not the correct understanding of God and of the real man. Christian Science reveals God as the divine Principle of all, expressing perfect concord throughout His entire universe. He is the all-harmonious One; the omnipotent Mind, "altogether lovely." And man is the image and likeness, or the reflection, of the all-harmonious Mind. Think you, then, that man could be inharmonious? It would be as impossible as it would be in music or mathematics for notes or numbers to represent anything other than an harmonious, unchanging law.
