Such a song of praise it is that the whole creation uplifts unto God. But it is man alone who can truly praise. The Esthonians realized this when they formed their legend of the origin of song. The god of song, they said, descended on the Domberg, where was a sacred wood, and there he played and sang. Around him stood the creatures, and each learned its own portion of the celestial strain. The tree discovered how to rustle its leaves, and the brook how to murmur along its bed, and the wind and the bird and the beast alike caught the parts assigned to them. Man only, of them all, was able to combine everything, and there man alone can rightly praise.
Watts Tune Handel - late 1600, early 1700 |
