NATURE AND HER HARMONIES. 37 



governs or wields the material forces, acting through the or- 

 ganization of the ant, the atom, and the elephant, produces like 

 results to the full extent of the organic and creative intention 

 in each, and therefore this organization is the law of Reason ! 



Now that our conscience has been unburdened, and that still 

 small voice had gone forth with this portentous announce- 

 ment we shrink upon ourselves abashed and horrified ! 

 Fear cometh upon us 1 What is it we have done ? After all 

 this flourish of trumpets, little more than prolong the echoes 

 of dull and stale materialism ? 



Yes, this is it I If Reason be determined by our organiza- 

 tion, then, of course, the dissolution of the one, is the end 

 of the other ! Who could fail to recognize the heavy and 

 assinine front of this ancient philosophic bore? Shame! 

 shame ! The metaphysician, to get his boat staved against 

 the very rock the light-house stands on ? 



We writhe like a wounded worm. But one truth is as 

 much as the mind can possess and enter into at a time. Long 

 have we paused, and wrestled on the threshold of the nest. 



What! the thick rayless gloom, hopeless and weary, of 

 this sensual creed, to be our abiding place! Fairly and 

 well, by the clear lamp of Truth, have we counted our 

 footsteps heretofore. From link to link, carefully have we 

 traced the interfering grades through all forms, and seen and 

 felt the universe of matter an harmonious whole the harp 

 of God ! each string accordant with the string last touched, 

 and melting in the tone of that before. No jarring notes 

 no discord ! but order the law, and music, such as seraphim 

 can hear and mortals feel, the expression ! 



Then comes a dim hint of what we seek and yearn for, like 

 a distant ray of daylight to a lost wanderer in a cavern : 



" Such sweet compulsion doth in music lie, 

 To lull the Daughters of Necessity, 

 And keep unsteady Nature to her law, 

 And the low world in measured motion draw 

 After the heavenly tune." 



