p. 4 | The Divine Law in Music by J. S. Washburn

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 8, 1915

The Divine Law in Music

By J. S. Washburn

J. S. WASHBURN

By a glorious vision of angels, with a song ineffably sweet, and the night air aquiver with the grandest chorus earth ever heard, was heralded the tender, sweet story of the lowly birth of the Lord of heaven in the humble stable at Bethlehem. The Scripture says that there was “a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

Amid all the jarring discords of sin and strife and hate, in a world where man wages war against his Maker, we may still hear the soothing, rhythmic melody, the perfect, heavenly harmony of God’s own music. Yes, we may not only hear, but we may join in the anthem, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

Since sin came into Eden and brought all our woe, we have lost the keynote, lost the divine purity of voice; but all, without money and without price, may come to the Master Musician of the universe, learning of him the divine harmony. All sin is discord; I almost said, All discord is sin. We may be sure there are no discords in heaven. God himself establishes the keynote. He is the author of every lovely sound. He is the fountain of melody, the center, the soul, of harmony.

Perfect Mathematical Order

Sound is caused by the vibrations of matter in the air. If a body is unequal, imperfect, the vibrations are irregular. The result is noise. If the vibrations are equal and perfectly regular, the result is a musical tone. The more rapid the vibrations the higher the tone; and conversely, the slower the vibrations the lower the pitch of the tone.

In the upper C, the note in the third space of the treble clef, there are in standard pitch 128 vibrations a second. In what is called by Sir William Herschel the natural pitch, which was adopted at Stuttgart, Germany, in 1830, and is the accepted Continental pitch, there are 512 vibrations in a second. In the C an octave lower there are just half the number of vibrations, 256; in the C an octave below, the ordinary bass C, 128; in the very low bass C, 64; in the octave below that, 32; in the octave still lower, 16. In tones below that the vibrations are so slow that the human ear fails to recognize the tone as music. In the C an octave above the standard C, whose vibrations are given as 512, there are 1,024 vibrations in a second; this is the very high soprano C. An octave higher we have 2,048 vibrations; another octave, 4,096; another, 8,192; and still another, 16,384; above this our ears cannot distinguish tone; the vibrations are too rapid.

But there is a great difference in ears in this matter; some are able to distinguish tones of a much higher pitch, the shrill sounds produced by insects being plainly audible to them, while the ears of other men will detect no sound at all. Observe the simple, mathematical law, that double the vibrations produces an octave. Surely a divine hand is here,—the hand of Him who has arranged all things in perfect mathematical order. In all the intermediate tones also there is perfect, absolute law, and any departure from it will produce discord. There is a divine hand in music; no work of chance in this holy art.

I have noted that the human ear is able to perceive about eleven octaves of sounds; but when God restores man to perfection, we shall hear sweetest music now wholly inaudible to human ears, for all of man’s powers are limited now. A few years ago if any one had said that it is possible to see through a wooden box to count the coins in it, to see through the flesh of the hand and count the bones and detect the presence of any foreign body, men would have said, “Impossible!” But now God has permitted the veil to be drawn aside, and the wonderful X rays have made all this very simple. X stands here, as in algebra, for the unknown quantity, the unknown power. This unknown power is the “unknown God” of Athens, the Author of light and of sound. Some day we may hear the loveliest, richest harmony where now no sound is audible.

Relation of Color and Sound

Color as well as sound is simply the result of vibrations of different velocity. But while in sound the ear perceives about eleven octaves, the eye perceives only about an octave and one third in colors. The spectrum is an instrument which resolves a white ray of light into all the colors of the rainbow, and it has been clearly demonstrated that the colors differ in direct proportion to the velocity of their vibrations, just as in music. An instrument has been prepared which produces a different note as the different-colored rays of light fall upon it. The tenor C, 264 vibrations, being taken as the center, the colors are as follows: G below C is red; G sharp, another tint of red; A, still another tint of red; A

sharp, orange red; B, orange; C, yellow; C sharp, green; D, greenish blue; D sharp, cyanogen blue; E, indigo blue; F, violet; F sharp, violet; G, ultra-violet; G sharp, another tint of ultra-violet; A, another tint of ultra-violet; A sharp, still another tint of ultra-violet. Thus does the glorious beauty of the rainbow sing aloud an anthem of sweetest melody and loveliest harmony to him who by his own musical voice called all color into being. When our ears are open, we may hear the rainbow’s chorus. Every lovely flower, the glorious blue heavens, and all the various colored stars in heaven, may actually sing to us. O, the glorious chorus in which we may all join when is fulfilled this blessed word: “And every creature [“every created being,” R. V.] which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.” Rev. 5: 13.

The Word the Cause of All Things

All things that exist came because of the voice of God. “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. . . . For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.” Ps. 33: 6, 9. God said, “Let there be light: and there was light.” Hear his word: “Be still, and know that I am God.” Hear the still, small voice. Listen to the very tone that brought you into being. If you will but hear his voice, if you will but respond to the touch of the Master Musician, you may be in harmony with him again.

The Keynote

When a quartet was singing in a room where there was a piano standing unused, a full, strong chord was sung and the piano suddenly answered as if struck by an invisible hand; the very same chord sounded and resounded on the piano. This was a revelation to me; we were singing in exactly the piano pitch. We struck the exact chord, and the dumb instrument joyously responded; there was sympathy. Again, a note was sung in a hall which was the exact tone of the deep hall; the very walls trembled with joyous recognition of unity and harmony. The inanimate structure seemed to respond instantly, yet almost with reverence. The effect was startling. Again, the same day, the same powerful, resonant bass note caused the empty hall to sound a reverent yet triumphant “Amen.”

If this be true of instruments of music and structures erected by man, how much more so of every creature of God. How happy is he who has heard God’s voice, and who has been willing to respond, “Here am I.” How blessed to be in true harmony with the Author of music, that he may strike through us the chord that shall be the very one that will reach the heart of the sinner, and to know the unutterable joy of a part in the heavenly choir forevermore! O the power for good or evil in this blessed gift of music! Let it be consecrated, with every power of our being, to the divine Author of “every good and perfect gift.”

Philadelphia, Pa.