" So
neither is all, that pleases the ear, perfectly salubrious to the mind.
There are few customs, against which some argument or other may not be
advanced: few in short, which man has not perverted, and where the use
has not become, in an undue measure, connected with the abuse.
Providence gave originally to man a beautiful and a perfect world. He
filled it with things necessary and things delightful. And yet man has
often turned these from their true and original design. The very wood on
the surface of the earth he has cut down, and the very stone and metal
in its bowels he has hewn and cast, and converted into a graven image,
and worshipped in the place of his beneficent Creator. The food, which
has been given him for his nourishment, he has frequently converted by
his intemperance into the means of injuring his health. The wine that
was designed to make his heart glad on reasonable and necessary
occasions, he has used often to the stupefaction of his senses, and the
degradation of his moral character. The very raiment, which has been
afforded him for his body, he has abused also, so that it has frequently
become a source for the excitement of his pride.
Just so it has been, and so it is, with music at the present day.
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