XVIII. Between the first and second of these, there comes in another sort of composers, who, though in point of abilities, are above mediocrity, they for sacred compositions are the worst of all. These are they, who sport with, and run the changes, upon all the delicacies music is capable of; but dispose them in such a manner, that the melody produced, has the sound of pantomime airs. All the irregularities they practise, either in false concordances, or accidentals, are introduced as graces, but graces very different from those recommended by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Colossians: _Ingratia cantantes in cordibus vestris Deo_: instead of such; they are graces of banter, and harmonies of indecency; and are a sort of passages, the best of which, the musicians themselves call childish and apish. Are such proper for the church? Let them, in God’s name, be sent to the courts of the comedies, and the halls of the dance. But is it not an impious abuse, to introduce into the house of God, things which are trifling, apish and indecent? And is not the blending them with divine worship, an abominable error? XIX. Is not this attempting to banish from music, all enlivening chearfulness, except that which savours of the puerile and buffoon? Music may be exceedingly chearful, and at the same time, impregnated with a majestic gravity, capable of exciting in the hearers, affections of respect and devotion: or, to speak more properly, the most chearful and delectable music of all, is that which induces a sweet tranquillity in the soul; collecting it within itself, and let us say, elevating it with a kind of extatic rapture, superior to the body it is attached to; that the mind may take a flight, towards the mansions of bliss, and contemplate divine things in a nearer point of view. This is the sort of chearful music, which St. Austin approved as useful in churches, and which he treated St. Athanasius with excessive severity for having objected to; because its proper effect, is elevating those hearts to noble affections, which are oppressed and weighed down with earthly inclinations: _Ut per hæc oblectamenta aurium infirmior animus in affectum pietatis assurgat._ (Lib. 10. Confess. cap. 32.)