Our Life Tune on the Harp of Ages

While searching for information on the origin of the phrase “Harp of Ages,” I found this following interesting paragraph. I do not expect this is where A. N. Whitten got his songbook title, but who knows?

Ah, it is a fearful thing to set ourselves to play our life tune on the Harp of Ages. The melody begins so soft and low in the infant’s cradle that the voice can just be heard; but it remains not always thus; alas, too often does it end in one long, harsh, discordant note. But, as I look down the flight of years to come, I think I hear the music of souls yet unknown to us, and it comes like the harmony of the gentle Zephyrs in the mild evening time, and I see the great human throng coming up the narrow way a true united choir. I see the gates of Paradise open, and behold, there stand the Heavenly band. I hear their songs still more melodious, till they thrill the very soul with joy as the two unite in one to chant their praises in the Home above forever.

“Each Life A Tune,” By ‘An Unknown Friend,’ Nassau Literary Review, William E. Lupton, Editor (Volume 23, Number 4, December 1862, p. 173)