Music is an art unsearchable

Music is an Art Unsearchable, Divine, and Excellent, by which a true Concordance of Sounds, or Harmony, is produced, that rejoyceth and cheareth the hearts of men...The first and chief Use of Music is for the Service and Praise of God, whose Gift it is. The second Use is for the Solace of Men; which as it is agreeable unto Nature, so is it allowed by God as a Temporal Blessing, to recreate and chear men after long Study and weary Labour in their Vocations. Eccl. xl. 20. Wine and Music rejoice the heart. Ælianus, in his Hist. Animal, I. 10. C. 29 writeth, that, of all the Beasts, there is none that is not delighted with Harmony, but only the Ass.

From “An Historical Account of Music,” in The Spiritual Man’s Companion, or, The Pious Christian’s Recreation, Fifth Edition, by Israel Holdroyd, 1753