impure sentiments to the mind. Vocal, on the other hand, is capable of
conveying to it poison of this sort. For vocal music consists of songs,
or of words musically expressed by the human voice. But words are the
representatives of ideas, and, as for as these ideas are pure or
otherwise, so far may vocal music be rendered innocent or immoral.

The mere singing, it must be obvious, can be no more immoral than the
reading, of the same song, singing is but another mode of expressing it.
The morality of the action will depend upon the words which it may
contain. If the words in a song are pure, if the sentiments in it are
just, and if it be the tendency of these to awaken generous and virtuous
sympathies, the song will operate no otherwise than a lesson of
morality. And will a lesson of morality be less serviceable to us,
because it is dressed up in poetry and musically expressed by the human
voice, than when it is conveyed to us in prose? But if, on the other
hand, the words in a song are in themselves unchaste, if they inculcate
false honour, if they lead to false opinions, if they suggest
sentiments, that have a tendency to produce depraved feelings, then
vocal music, by which these are conveyed in pleasing accents to the ear,
becomes a destroyer of morals, and cannot therefore be encouraged by
any, who consider parity of heart, as required by the christian
religion. Now the Quakers are of opinion, that the songs of the world
contain a great deal of objectionable matter in these respects; and that
if they were to be promiscuously taken up by children, who have no
powers of discriminating between the good and the bad, and who generally
lay hold of all that fall in their way, they would form a system of
sentimental maxims, very injurious in their tendency to their moral
character.

If we were to take a collection of songs as published in books, and were