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The reader must always bear it in his mind, if the Quakers should differ
from him on any particular subject, that they set themselves apart as a
christian community, aiming at christian perfection: that it is their
wish to educate their children, not as moralists or as philosophers, but
as christians; and that therefore, in determining the propriety of a
practice, they will frequently judge of it by an estimate, very
different from that of the world.
The Quakers do not deny that instrumental music is capable of exciting
delight. They are not insensible either of its power or of its charms.
They throw no imputation on its innocence, when viewed abstractly by
itself; but they do not see anything in it sufficiently useful, to make
it an object of education, or so useful, as to counterbalance other
considerations, which make for its disuse.
The Quakers would think it wrong to indulge in their families the usual
motives for the acquisition of this science. Self-gratification, which
is one of them, and reputation in the world, which is the other, are not
allowable in the Christian system. Add to which that where there is a
desire for such reputation, an emulative disposition is generally
cherished, and envy and vain glory are often excited in the pursuit.
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