Murillo’s Lesson

[J R Chambless]

“As down a long valley, with cedars o’er-spread”
Murillo’s Lesson is probably the most popular song from the Sacred Harp hymnal in the Cleburne County, Alabama area. Several years ago I was asked to do a devotional for the Cleburne County Retired Teachers Association and I chose to use Murillo’s Lesson as the element of the devotional. This is not that devotional but the idea is the same.
The lyrics of this work reflect in my mind elements of religion, human spirit, and national pride.

      Murillo’s Lesson
As down a long valley, with cedars o’er spread
From war’s dread confusion, I pensively strayed.
The gloom from the face of fair heaven retired,
The winds hushed their murmurs, The thunders expired.
Perfumes as of Eden flowed sweetly along,
A voice as of angels enchantingly sung,
A voice as of angels enchantingly sung,
Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise,
The queen of the world and the child of the skies.

I picture as I read the words of the first two lines:

As down a long valley, with cedars o’er spread
From war’s dread confusion, I pensively strayed.

A soldier or a messenger who has been sent on a mission that took him from the battleground; he has left behind the noise and confusion as well as the conditions of war that must have existed at the time of the writing and has reached a place where he notices that the world still has places of beauty and peace. The poem continues:

The gloom from the face of fair heaven retired,
The winds hushed their murmurs, The thunders expired.
Perfumes as of Eden flowed sweetly along,

How sweet must have been the peace that this person felt, knowing that the war continued behind him but he was no longer affected directly by the machinations of the conflict and was able to breath air untainted by the effects of the war machines. But even as he is enjoying the peace of the moment, he remembers the war and the expected results of the war which he is sure will see:

Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise,

Columbia as in District of Columbia was a direct reference to these United States of America and the name that some wanted to apply to this country. He felt that the country was under the leadership of heaven because;

A voice as of angels enchantingly sung,
A voice as of angels enchantingly sung,
Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise,
The queen of the world and the child of the skies.

Yes, angels sang at Jesus’ birth and now angels are singing at the birth of this great nation and suggesting that the nation will be the “queen of the world “ or the greatest nation on Earth because it is a “child of the skies.”

Most of us, myself included, have never been to war or on a battleground but in our daily lives we have battles that we must fight as we meet the demands that life places on us. Family, jobs, the economy, and many other battles must be dealt with each day. We need to walk away from these battlegrounds and breath the breath of Eden and find a moment of peace for ourselves and those around us.