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 A SERMON 
 
 PRKACHED 
 
 IN BLOOR ST. METHODIST CHURCH, YORKVILLE, 
 
 On Sabbath Evening, Jan. 30th, 1881. 
 
 B"? THE 
 
 REV. W. J. HUNTER, D.D., 
 
 Op the Toronto Conference, Methodist Church of Canada. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY BEQUEST. 
 
 TORONTO : 
 
 Methodist Book and Publishing House, 
 78 AND 80 KiNa Strbbt East. 
 
 1881. — ■ ---->-r 
 
Preface. 
 
 T the earnest solicitation of many friends I give this 
 sermon to the public ; and I give it just as I preached 
 it, without revising a sentence or changing a word. For the 
 many expressions of approval ten lered since the delivery of 
 the sermon, and especially for the prayers of God's people that 
 my courage may not fail in the day of battle, I feel grateful 
 to God and to the loyal and devoted people amongst whom 
 it is m-y privilege to live and labour. I have purposely made 
 up the strongest points in the argument from the utterances 
 of great and good men connected with other branches of the 
 Christian Church, contenting myself with a simple recital of 
 the clause in our Book of Discipline bearing on the subject. 
 No pure-minded person will take exception to the chaste and 
 faultless language in which these eminent authorities describe 
 the immodesty of round dances, though it may cause the par- 
 ticipants and apologists of the dance to wince a little. Still, 
 everybody knows that the description is true ; and I have 
 never yet met man or woman prepared to defend round dances. 
 The usual method of attempting to break the force of arguments 
 against dancing is to affect sensitiveness at the descriptions 
 given of it ; but if a description of the dance, given by the 
 most cultured minds and in the choicest language, shock the 
 modesty of these persons, what must it be to witness the 
 performance itself, or to take part in it ? That is the argument 
 
* 
 
 iy PREFACE. 
 
 in a nutshell. I would not have my ministerial brethren sup- 
 pose that when I say, " I am told that it (dancing) is introduced 
 into Methodist families and that the ministers wink at it," etc., 
 etc., I accept that statement. Our ministers do not wink at 
 it ; but when prominent members of the Church tolerate H in 
 their homeP and allow their children to indulge in the dance, 
 they cripple our eflbrts and bring the Discipline into contempt. 
 I know that our people, on the whole, are loyal and devoted, 
 and no man need fear to "declare the whole counsel of God" 
 in a Methodist pulpit. 
 
 I respect the honesty of those ministers who take the position 
 that it is not prudent to preach on dancing, but when I find 
 them preaching .on the theatre and gambling, and the house 
 of the strange woman, I am at a loss to see the consistency 
 of their position. I am convinced that the pleasure dance is 
 doing more to-day, in Methodist circles, to quench the Spirit 
 and hinder the work of God, and keep our young people out 
 of the Church, than any other amusement or practice. And 
 because we do not preach against it, the impression prevails 
 that we do not regard it as a serious and ruinous evil. 
 
 Since the delivery of this sermon, kind friends have placed 
 at my disposal various books and pamphlets containing valuable 
 articles on the subject here discussed, and on other subjects, 
 which I propose to examine in proper succession. For this 
 kindness I tender my heartfelt thanks, and I pray that all who 
 read my sermon may be led to an honest survey of " The 
 Pleasure Dance in its Relation to Religion and Mo- 
 
 rality." 
 
 W. J. HUNTER. 
 
 YoRKViLLE, 7th February, 1881. 
 
THE PLEASUEE DANCE 
 
 IN ITS RELATION TO 
 
 RELIGION AND MOEALITY. 
 
 •• And the meek will He teach His way."— Psalm xxv. 8. 
 
 > <•> i 
 
 CCOEDING to announcement, I am to address 
 
 ^^ you to-night on "The Pleasure Dance in its 
 
 Relation to Religion and Morality." The subject is 
 one of great delicacy, and needs to be wisely handled. 
 I have prayed for the spirit of wisdom and under- 
 standing in the preparation of this sermon, and I 
 now pray for the spirit of tenderness and love in 
 the delivery of it. I am not here to speak dogmati- 
 cally; but to assist you to what I conceive to be right 
 and scriptural conclusions on a subject which has 
 elicited and still elicits a wide diversity of opinion. 
 It is a source of perplexity to Christian parents who 
 desire to train up their children in the nurture and 
 admonition of the Lord, and at the same time fear, 
 lest a too rigid enforcement of discipline might 
 alienate filial affection and produce results the very 
 opposite of those intended. It is a source of per- 
 
SERMON. 
 
 plexity to many youthful professors of religion who 
 want to live a Christian life ; who have serious doubts 
 touching the propriety of participating in this amuse- 
 ment ; but who meet it in social gatherings, and some- 
 times even in the houses of church members. It is 
 a source of perplexity to many seriously disposed 
 persons who try to persuade themselves that there is 
 no harm in it ; and yet it is the very thing which 
 hinders a full surrender to God and keeps them out 
 of His church. Now I believe that if we are prepared 
 to investigate this subject honestly and without pre- 
 judice ; if we are willing to relinquish our preconceived 
 opinions should we find them without foundation ; if 
 we say with David, "Show me Thy ways, Lord: 
 teach me Thy paths," there shall be fulfilled in us the 
 promise of my text, "And the meek will He teach 
 His way." 
 
 In the first place let us endeavour to ascertain 
 the teaching of God on this subject as presented in 
 history. All history proves that dancing in some form 
 has existed among all nations, and that it was originally 
 practised only as a religious act. Let us begin with 
 Bible history, and we shall find the dance mentioned 
 for the first time in connection with Israel's passage 
 of the Red Sea. In Exodus xv. 20 we read, "And 
 Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a 
 timbrel in her hand ; and all the women went out 
 after her with timbrels and with dances." In Judges 
 xi. 34, we find that when Jephthah returned from 
 the defeat of the Ammonites, his daughter " came out 
 to meet him with timbrels and with dances." And 
 
SRRMON. I 
 
 again, in the 21st chapter of Judges, we find an 
 account of a dance by the daughters of Shiloh in 
 connection with a religious feast. Then, in 1st Samuel 
 xviii. 6, we read that, " when David was returned from 
 the slaughter of the Philistines, the women came out 
 of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet 
 king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments 
 of music." Also, in 2nd Samuel vi. 14, we are told 
 that when David brought the Ark of the Lord from 
 the house of Obed-edom, "David danced before the 
 Lord with all his might ; and David was girded with 
 a linen ephod." Again, in Jeremiah xxxi. 4, God 
 speaks of the restoration of Israel, saying, " Again I 
 will build thee, and thou shalt be built, virgin of 
 Israel : thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, 
 and thou shalt go forth in the dances of them that 
 make merry." 
 
 Now, here are six distinct passages of Scripture in 
 which we find dancing mentioned ; and in every in- 
 stance the dance was a religious act, and in no case 
 thus far do we find the sexes mixing in it. Let us 
 now look at another class of Bible-texts in which the 
 dance is mentioned. 
 
 In the 32nd chapter of Exodus we have an account 
 of Israel's idolatry when they made a golden calf and 
 worshipped it. And in the 19th verse we are told 
 that " when Moses came nigh unto the camp he saw 
 the calf and the dancing, and his anger waxed hot." 
 Again, in 1st Samuel, 30th chapter and at the 16th 
 verse, we find David surprising the Amalekites while 
 they were "spread abroad, eating, and drinking, and 
 
S SERMON. 
 
 dancing." In Matt. xiv. 6-12, we have an account ' 
 of the dance of the daughter of Herodias, before a 
 drunken king and his adulterous wife, and which cost 
 John the Baptist his head. Then again, in Job xxi. 
 11-14, it is said of the wicked, " They send forth their 
 little ones like a flock, and their children dance. They 
 take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound 
 of the organ. They spend their days in wealth, and 
 in a moment go down to the grave. Therefore they 
 say unto God, depart from us ; for we desire not the 
 knowledge of thy ways." 
 
 Now, in each of these instances we find the dance a 
 mere carnal gratification and in very bad company. 
 The passages which I have quoted constitute, with 
 their parallel passages, the history of dancing as re- 
 corded in the Bible. When our Lord says, " We have 
 piped unto you, and ye have not danced," and when 
 He mentions music and dancing in connection with 
 the return of the Prodigal Son, the words are used 
 simply in the way of illustration, as when David, 
 grateful to God for innumerable blessings, exclaims, 
 "Thou hast turned my mourning into dancing." So 
 that when Solomon says " thtre is a time to dance " we 
 are not warranted in applying his words to any but the 
 religious dances of Scripture. Indeed, no argument 
 can be founded on these words of Solomon, for in 
 the same connection he says, " there is a time to kill." 
 If we turn now from sacred to secular history we 
 find in its earliest pages that the dance was observed 
 only in religious worship. Plato affirms that amongst 
 the Egyptians it was never practised as an amusem&nt, 
 
SERMON. 
 
 9 
 
 but was strictly a religious ceremony. Servius pleads 
 for dancing as a part of worship, on the ground that 
 the whole body should join in acts of adoration ; 
 and in Homer the noblest characters, from the gods 
 down, are represented as performing in the dance. 
 It was equally so in Greece. Her most noted men 
 cultivated the dance as a religious ceremony. Eome 
 was the first to break down the purely religious 
 character of dancing and convert it into an amusement. 
 All modesty was set aside, and vice of every kind 
 found in the dance its full satisfaction. The dance 
 actually threatened to uproot the foundations of the 
 Empire, and the Eomans passed a law prohibiting it. 
 It was thus suppressed as immoral and ruinous to 
 the State, by a heathen legislature, 186 years before 
 the Christian era. As we trace the early history of 
 the most civilized States of Europe, we find that 
 dancing was not cultivated as an art, nor valued as 
 an accomplishment. In the fifteenth century it again 
 forced itself on public attention. In Italy, at the 
 marriage of the Duke of Milan with a Spanish 
 princess, it was introduced in the form of a theatrical 
 entertainment, in which the actors were men only. 
 It retained this form for about two centuries. And 
 now we approach the origin of the amusement which, 
 in these modern days, has assumed such vast pro- 
 portions. 
 
 In A.D. 1681, an entertainment was given in the 
 court of Louis XIV. of France, in which for the first 
 time, the sexes mingled in the dance. Confined for 
 a time to the theatre, dancing was gradually introduced 
 
10 SERMON. 
 
 into private assemblies, ai)d I am bound to say that 
 it was as gradually stripped of many of its indecencies 
 until, in our day, it is patronized by many whose 
 virtue and morality cannot be questioned. 
 
 And this brings me to the real subject of the hour — 
 the pleasure dance of modern society. It is no mere 
 abstract question you propose when you ask, Is there 
 any harm in dancing ? And before I proceed to answer 
 your question, let me be perfectly understood by my 
 young friends. I am no enemy to innocent amuse- 
 ments. God bless the young people, and keep them 
 young for many a day. We all grow old too soon. 
 I would be the last man to dampen the ardour of 
 youth, or cast a cloud over the young life. A youth 
 without spice in the composition — nutmeg, or cloves, 
 or ginger — is not worth much. But when you ask me. 
 Is there any harm in dancing ? my answer is that your 
 question is misleading. In the simple act of dancing 
 there is no more harm than in the act of walking ; but 
 dancing, in the abstract, is a very different thing from 
 the pleasure dance of modern society. If you want 
 to cultivate health, and with that view spend an hour 
 every morning in dancing all alone in your room, I am 
 not going to object. But that is quite a different thing 
 from the pleasure dance as we find it to-day, with 
 all its associations and tendencies. I will take the 
 liberty at this point of dealing with the grounds on 
 which some good people are disposed to look with 
 favour on this amusement. The first ground is that 
 it is regarded as " an accomplishment, and that it gives 
 ease and gracefulness in society." Now, if you consult 
 
SERMON. 11 
 
 the dictionary you will find that the meaning of the 
 word accomplishment is, " that which constitutes 
 elegance of mind or elegance of manners ;" but no 
 mere bodily exercise can constitute or impart elegance 
 of mind. The mind is a subtle spiritual essence, acted 
 upon only by thought, study, and intellectual exertion. 
 You cannot acquire elegance of mind by first lifting 
 up one foot and then lifting up the other. Can you 
 acquire elegance of manners ? I am not prepared 
 to deny that the art of dancing, as now taught, em- 
 braces many good lessons on politeness, and that it 
 does impart a certain ease and gracefulness of manner ; 
 but it is not necessary to go to a dancing-school, or 
 to attend dancing-parties, in order to acquire ease and 
 gracefuless in society. There are thousands of ladies 
 and gentlemen who have never danced, and whose 
 elegance of manners no one will question. Those 
 amiable and accomplished ladies, Mrs. President Hayes 
 and Mrs. ex-President Polk, of the United States, 
 while receiving and treating their guests with great 
 kindness and politeness, have never permitted dancing 
 in the White House during the terms in which they 
 have presided over its social ceremonies. 
 
 Another ground on which a plea for dancing is based 
 is, that "young people must have amusement, and 
 - our social gatherings will be dull and stupid without 
 something of this kind." The first part of this plea I 
 have already granted, but I object to the second part as 
 illogical in its reasoning and fatal in its conclusion. 
 We might as well cast the Bible to the winds. as to 
 argue that because young people want to do so and so, 
 
12 SERMON. 
 
 therefore they may do so and so. But this is not all. 
 Such an argument is most uncomplimentary to those in 
 whose behalf it is employed. It insinuates that there 
 is on their part an intellectual inability to spend an 
 evening in a rational manner. When Plato denounces 
 the custom of introducing dancing girls at the enter- 
 tainments of the Greeks, he declares that none but 
 those who are incapable of amusing themselves by 
 rational conversation will have recourse to such means 
 of enjoyment. An evening dull and stupid without 
 dancing ! With the whole range of literature, and 
 science, and religion at command ; with the great 
 events which are transpiring every week in this won- 
 derful age, when the world in miniature is laid on 
 our breakfast tables every morning through the agency 
 of the printing-press. If under these circumstances a 
 social party is dull and stupid without dancing, I pity 
 the intelligence of the party. And I want to say, 
 in all earnestness, that young people who cannot 
 spend an evening together without "taking to their 
 heels " will have a pretty dull time of it when they 
 come to spend a lifetime together. Perhaps you will 
 say, "Better dance than talk gossip and slander your 
 neighbours." But that is no argument at all. I sup- 
 pose it is better to lie than to steal, bat if I refuse 
 to lie I am not bound to steal. And besides, the 
 argument, that it is better to dance than slander your 
 neighbours, is one which you would be ashamed to 
 reduce to the test of practicality. Who would 
 mingle in the dance if their presence on the floor 
 proclaimed to all beholders, "We are here in order 
 
SERMON. 13 
 
 to save ourselves from the more disagreeable per- 
 formance of slandering our neighbours ^" 
 
 1 come now to the grounds on which I base my 
 objections to the pleasure dance as subversive of reli- 
 gion and morality. My first ground of objection is based 
 on its associations. You cannot judge of the merits 
 or demerits of any business, or occupation, or amuse- 
 ment without weighing all its associations and tenden- 
 cies. The first association and tendency of the pleasure 
 dance is an injurious effect itpon the health. The per- 
 formance begins late in the evening and lasts till early 
 in the morning. The atmosphere is made impure and 
 unhealthy by the violent physical exercise involved, 
 and the tired dancers snatch a few hours of sleep, 
 and then rise to the duties of the day, pale, and 
 haggard, and yawning, as though they had awoke from 
 a drunken debauch. I anticipate the objection you 
 will offer to this line of thought. You will tell me 
 that social gatherings, generally, are characterized by 
 all the excess I have mentioned, even when dancing 
 forms no part of the entertainment. And your objec- 
 tion is well taken. Or.r social customs need a reform- 
 ation radical as that of Luther in religion and theology. 
 The whole system of late parties and midnight suppers 
 is in defiance of the laws of health and the laws 
 of God. Our bodies are just as sacred as our souls. 
 They have been redeemed, and are destined to be 
 splendidly rebuilded, and made like the glorious body 
 of Christ. They are the temples of the Holy Ghost, 
 and it is our imperative duty to preserve them in 
 health, and chastity, and temperance. 
 
14 SERMON. 
 
 I never attend one of these midnight parties without 
 going home condemned, and I plead with our people 
 that they will go back to the good old common-sense 
 habits of our fathers. Let the supper be not later than 
 eight o'clock, and let the party break up not later 
 than eleven. But when to all these excesses you add 
 that of dancing, you tempt disease and death to come 
 in at every pore of your being. 
 
 Nineteen-twentieths of those who seek recreation in 
 the pleasure dance — especially young men — are on 
 their feet and at work from seven in the morning 
 till six at night ; and what they want is rest for the 
 tired muscles, and recreation for the languishing brain. 
 In all our cemeteries there are hundreds of tombstones 
 on which a true inscription would read, " Here lies 
 a victim to the pleasure dance." It prescribes light 
 clothing, and thin stioes, and tight lacing, and every- 
 thing favourable to consumption and headache, and 
 dyspepsia, and an early grave. 
 
 Another pernicious association of the pleasure dance 
 
 is die dissipation of mind it produces. In a young 
 
 - country like ours, circumstances render it neces- 
 
 . sary to devote the most of our time to our material 
 
 interests. As a people, we must work for a living ; 
 
 and we are so burdened with toil and business, that 
 
 . literature, and art, and other things calculated to refine 
 
 and elevate are denied the attention they deserve. 
 
 And it is a shame that the golden hours which might 
 
 be thus employed are spent in a laborious bodily 
 
 exercise which tires the muscles and unfits us for 
 
 the duties of life. Dr. Adam Clarke testifies that the 
 
SERMON. 16 
 
 pleasure dance created in him a fondness for company^ 
 an impatience of control, a passion for finer clothing 
 than he was able to wear. It drowned the voice of 
 conscience, and impelled him to seek happiness only 
 in this life. 
 
 Needless expenditure is another association of the 
 pleasure dance. Our money is not our own. It is 
 a talent bestowed by the Almighty, and He will hold 
 us responsible for the use we make of it. Dancing 
 parties call for richer dresses and finer coats than 
 are required anywhere else, and they have led many 
 a young man to ruin and many a family to bankruptcy. 
 
 But I come now to an objection against the pleasure 
 dance, stronger far than any I have yet mentioned — 
 It tends to subvert and destroy our native instinct of 
 modesty. Dr. Goodrich, pastor of the First Presbyterian 
 Church, Cleveland, Ohio, some years ago preached a 
 sermon on " Christian Morals in Social Life," in which 
 he says : " There is born in all of us a delicate percep- 
 tion of what is modest and pure. There is a sile^it 
 law which tells us all alike, with one instinct, what 
 are the due bounds of familiarity in behaviour, in 
 address, in the very contact of our persons. Everyone 
 whose native sensibilities have not been blunted, feels 
 at once what constitutes an undue freedom, either in 
 manners or in the slightest suggestion, tone, or allu- 
 sion of language ; and every modest mind r* sents such 
 liberty and sees in it an affront. Now, against this 
 instinct of modesty, worldliness, from its vantage- 
 ground of place and power, wages subtie and incessant 
 war. Whether by design or not, there have crept into 
 
16 SERMON. 
 
 those usages of society, which have come down to 
 us from worldly, and especially from foreign life, not a 
 few allowances and freedoms which, without the 
 sanction of high custom, everyone would call immodest. 
 When, some years ago, a distinguished citizen of Phila- 
 delphia, who was at the very summit of society, first 
 saw the waltz, then just introduced from France, he 
 broke out in indignation and declared, that if any man 
 should offer to dance after that fashion with his wife or 
 daughters he would horsewhip him on the spot. He 
 spoke bluntly out an honest instinct of our nature. 
 Nothing but the overbearing insolence of worldly 
 custom has persuaded any who pretend to modesty 
 to practice that and other similar dances of modern 
 date. I should think worse of womanhood if I did 
 not believe that the novice in such pleasures often feels 
 the silent protest of a native delicacy against the indis- 
 criminate contacts, if not um.sual freedoms, to which 
 these and even simpler forms of dancing are liable. 
 Certainly, any man who should offer to approach and 
 half embrace a true woman in the quiet of her parlour 
 would be thrust with indignation from the dwelling, 
 never again to enter its door. But if such a freedom is 
 insolent in private, what makes it tolerable in public 1 
 If an embrace is not to be endured in the decorum of a 
 parlour, why is it to be endured, with prolonged indul- 
 gence, in all the swaying throng and pressure of a 
 select assemblage ? If it would be an offence and an 
 outrage in an evening call, why is it permitted in the 
 presence of invited guests ? Why, but that the power 
 of worldly custom has strangely marred the pure in- 
 
SERMON. 17 
 
 stinct which God has put in us, and worn away, with 
 polished and persistent impudence, the finer sense of 
 modesty. It is easy far parents to be indulgent. It is 
 common for the young to be thouglitless. Young men 
 may heedlessly say, ' If women are satisfied with such 
 modes of pleasure, it certainly is not for us to object.' 
 But I am sure that many such a young man, if he had 
 but known a mother's love, and cherished a sister's or 
 a wife's honour, would cut off his right hand before he 
 allowed them to be subject to such a law of social life. 
 He knows with what kind of comment every such 
 freedom is liable to be discussed, beyond a woman's 
 hearing. And if he give a 3ober second thought, he 
 will feel that for him there is a manlier part. He is to 
 protect, not to trifle, with female delicacy. Rather 
 foreo-o every such form of pleasure, than hazard the 
 slightest disrespect to one who bears the name of 
 Woman." 
 
 A writer in one of our Quarterlies, speaking of the 
 pleasure dance, says : " It mingles the sexes in such 
 closeness of personal approach and contact as, outside 
 of the dance, is nowhere tolerated in respectable society. 
 It does this under a complexity of circumstances which 
 conspire to heighten the impropriety of it. It is even- 
 ing, and the hour is late; there is the delicious and 
 unconscious intoxication of music, and motion in the 
 blood; there is the strange confusing sense of being 
 individually unobserved among so many, while yet the 
 ' natural noble shame ' that guards the purity of man 
 and woman alone is absent. Such is the occasion, and 
 still hour after hour the dance goes on, bringing hearts 
 
18 SERMON. 
 
 SO near that they almost beat against one another; 
 darting the fine personal electricity across between the 
 meeting fingers ; flushing the face and lighting the eye 
 with a quick language, subject often to gross interpre- 
 tation on the part of the vile-hearted. Always the 
 dance inclines to multiply opportunities of physical 
 proximity and contact between the sexes, always to 
 make them more prolonged and more daring." 
 
 I object to the pleasure dance on another ground. 
 It is inconsistent with the whole spirit and tenor' of 
 religion. Everything that I have said up to this point 
 is general in its application. But I speak now to 
 Christian people, to those who profess to be the fol- 
 lowers of Christ and guided by His Spirit and example. 
 I have said that the pleasure dance is inconsiatent 
 with the whole spirit and tenor of religion, and my 
 argument to sustain that position shall be practical 
 rather than metaphysical. In the first place I ask you 
 honestly, How many humble, pious, devoted Christians 
 do you know who patronize the dance ? Do you know 
 of one whom you regard as a model of Christian 
 character, and who is fond of dancing ? In the next 
 place, did you ever know a votary of the dance who, 
 when converted to God, did not turn away from it 
 forever ? Can you think of a person addicted to 
 dancing whom you would send for to pray with you, 
 and talk to you, if you were dying ? In the next 
 place, would you like to have as your pastor and reli- 
 gious teacher a dancing minister ? Would the people 
 of the world themselves have any confidence in a 
 minister who was known to indulge in this amuse- 
 
SERMON. 19 
 
 ment ? Every one of these questions you will answer 
 in the negative, and wherefore ? Beca\ise these two 
 things — religion and the pleasure dance — are incon- 
 sistent and irreconcilable. I am aware that the opinion 
 prevails that this view of the subject is limited to the 
 Methodist Church, but that is a great mistake, as I 
 shall now proceed to show. 
 
 The late Bishop Mcllvane, of the Episcopalian 
 Church, in one of his pastoral letters says : " Let me 
 now turn to two objects in which there is no difficulty 
 of discrimination — the theatre and the dance. The 
 only line I would draw in regard to these is that of 
 entire exclusion. And yet, my brethren, I am well 
 aware how easy it is for the imagination to array both 
 of these in such an abstract and elementary simplicity, 
 that no harm could be detected in either. And the 
 same precisely can easily be done with the card-table 
 and horse-r^ce. The exercise of graceful movement ia 
 the dance, and the exercise of speed in the horse-race, 
 may easily be conceived of in such a light as to make 
 them very innocent. But what if they were attempted 
 to be got up under such an abstract form, and made 
 common amusement in such elementary simplicity, 
 how would they succeed ? Strip them bare, till they 
 stand in the simple innocence to which their defenders' 
 arguments would reduce them, and the world would 
 not have them. Were the trial made of a series of 
 dancing assemblies, conducted in all respects as be- 
 , comes the sobriety and spiritual-mindedness of the 
 Christian character, so that it would be nothing incon- 
 sistent if every attendant were a devout and earnestly 
 
20 SERMON. 
 
 pious person, it would need no prophet to predict their 
 entire failure. The world would ridicule such a dance, 
 and Christian jJeople would think that they had some- 
 thing else to do than to attend it." 
 
 Bishop Mead, also of the Episcopalian Church, says 
 of the pleasure dance : " As an amusement, seeing 
 that it is a perversion of an ancient religious exercise, 
 and has ever been discouraged by the sober-minded and 
 pious of all nations on account of its evil tendencies 
 and accompaniments, we ought conscientiously to in- 
 quire whether its great liability to abuse, and its many 
 acknowladged abuses, should not make us frown upon 
 it in all its forms. When taught to the young, it is 
 attended with an expense of time and money which 
 might be far better employed. It promotes the love of 
 dress and pleasure, to which the young are already too 
 prone; it tempts to vanity and love of display; it 
 leads the young exactly into an opposite direction to 
 that pointed out in the word of God and pledged in the 
 baptismal vows." 
 
 If we turn now from the Episcopalian to the Presby- 
 terian Church, we shall find the testimony equally 
 strong and explicit. The General Assembly of that 
 influential body in the United States has recorded its 
 conviction in these words : " With respect to dancing, 
 we think it necessary to observe that however plausible 
 it may appear to some, it is perhaps not the less dan- 
 gerous on account of that plausibility. When the 
 practice is carried to its highest extremes, all admit the 
 consequences to be fatal; and why not, then, appre- 
 hend danger from its incipient stages ? It is certainly 
 
SERMON. 21 
 
 in all its stages a fascinating and an infatuating prac- 
 tice. Let it once be introduced, and it is difficult to 
 give it limits. It steals away our precious time, dissi- 
 pates religious impressions, and hardens the heart." 
 
 Dr. Albert Barnes, the great Presbyterian Commen- 
 tator, in a sermon on this subject says : " The whole 
 process connected with dancing is inconsistent with 
 the aim of life which the Christian professes to seek. 
 He professedly lives for heaven. The soul, according 
 to his professed views, is of a value which no words 
 can estimate, and for which no amount of gold or 
 diamonds would be an equal exchange. Meanwhile 
 that child, which may be cut down in a moment, and 
 fade like the flower, is trained under influences adverse 
 to the soul. The training of the dancing-school, so far 
 as it has any bearing at all, is a training to appear well, 
 or to shine in the gay world. It is not a part of the 
 training for the communion-table, or for the office of 
 Sabbath School teacher, or to impart Christian con- 
 solation to the afflicted, or to qualify to enter heaven. 
 . . . It is a world of splendour without enjoyment ; 
 of professions without sincerity; of flattery without 
 soul; of smiles where the heart is full of envy and 
 chagrin ; where the cup of pleasure has dregs of worm- 
 wood, and where momentary bliss is succeeded by long 
 nights of painful reminiscences and by despair. And 
 shall Christian parents train up their children for such 
 a world ? No child dances into heaven, but many a 
 one dances into hell." 
 
 I have thas given the opinions of high authorities in 
 two of the great Protestant denominations — the Epis- 
 
lis SERMON. 
 
 copalian and the Presbyterian. The position of the 
 Methodist Church of Canada, in relation to this and 
 kindred amusements, is clearly defined in her Discipline. 
 On page 112 we read: "But in cases of neglect of 
 duties of any kind, imprudent conduct, indulging in 
 sinful tempers or words, the buying, selling, or using 
 intoxicating liquors as a beverage, dancing, playing at 
 games of chance, attending theatres, horse-races, cir- 
 cuses, dancing parties, or patronizing dancing-schools, 
 or taking such other amusements as are obviously of 
 misleading or questionable moral tendency, or disobe- 
 dience to the order and discipline of the Church, — 
 First, let private reproof be given by the Superinten- 
 dent (Minister), or the Leader of the Class. On a 
 second offence, the Superintendent or Leader may take 
 one or two faithful friends, and if there be acknow- 
 ledgment of the fault and proper humiliation, we will 
 bear with him for a season. On a third offence, let the 
 case be brought before the Society, or a select number, 
 and if there be no sign of real humiliation, ohe offender 
 must be cut off " 
 
 Now, do you think that Christian ministers and 
 Church courts wish to prohibit the enjoyment of any- 
 thing which does not hazard the eternal welfare of 
 those over whom they watch, as men who must give 
 an account unto God ? These rules are not enacted by 
 ministers alone, but by ministers and laymen acting in 
 their joint capacity in the interests of religion and 
 morality. I know very well how plausibly some 
 people reason on this subject. In the first place, they 
 tell us that many other things are just as inconsistent 
 
SERMON. 2S 
 
 as the dance; and that is perfectly true, but "two 
 wrongs cannot make one right." In the next place 
 they ask us, what harm can there be in parlour dancing 
 when a few friends meet together? I have already 
 admitted that in the act itself, considered in the 
 abstract, there is no harm at all. But people do not 
 dance in the abstract, and you are bound to look at the 
 amusement with all its associations and tendencies; 
 and in general these are evil, only evil, and that con- 
 tinually. And therefore the safe way is to "abstain 
 from all appearance of evil." Plead as you will for the 
 dance, when it cmnes in, religion goes ovi. I am told 
 that it is on the increase, especially in the higher 
 circles of religious society. I am told that it is intro- 
 duced into Methodist families, and that the ministers 
 wink at it, and have not the courage to grapple with 
 the innovation. Then, so much the worse for the 
 families that introduce it, and the ministers that shrink 
 from the discharge of duty, and violate their solemn 
 ordination vows. I do not expect to make an enemy 
 by the preaching of this sermon. You may not all see 
 as I do on this question, but you will give me credit 
 for the courage of my convictions, and the faithful dis- 
 charge of my duty. But I take a step in advance of 
 this. I claim that the views presented in. this discourse 
 are scriptural, and are in accordance with the views of 
 the most intelligent and pious Christians of all ages 
 and all Churches, and it is a very serious thing for you 
 to set them at defiance. If what I preach is true, you 
 disregard it at the peril of your soul. And so I come 
 to plead with you to-night. With those of you who 
 
II SERMON. 
 
 are not Christians, I can plead only on the grounds 
 already enumerated. I can only say, the pleasure 
 dance is injurious to health. It produces dissipation 
 of mind. It tends to subvert and destroy our native 
 instincts of modesty. But I plead with Christians on 
 higher grounds than these. " Ye are a chosen genera- 
 tion, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar 
 people ; that ye should show forth the praises of Him 
 who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous 
 light." " Ye are the light of the world," and you are 
 commanded to "Let your light so shine before men, 
 that they may see your good works, and glorify your 
 Father which is in heaven." You are to " abstain from 
 all appearance of evil." You are to " put on Christ," 
 as an actor puts on costume. You are to personate 
 Christ — to act just as He acted among men. And I 
 ask you if you can be all this, and do all this, and at 
 the same time patronize the pleasure dance of modern 
 society ? No ; you cannot, and you know it. Then I 
 plead with you to come out from the world and be 
 separate. Stand with Christ, and Paul, and the holy 
 men and women of all ages, with your face as a flint 
 against a custom of society which is fraught with peril, 
 disgrace, and ruin. 1 plead with you as parents. God 
 will hold you and me responsible for the habits and 
 conduct of our children so far as we are able to control 
 the one and guide the other. And every man or 
 woman is able to determine what shall, and what shall 
 not, be allowed in the home ; and what shall and what 
 shall not b^ allowed in the conduct of the inmates of 
 that home. I have no sympathy with those parents 
 
SERMON. 
 
 25 
 
 who plead that the young people overrule tlieir wishes 
 in matters of this sort. There must be no compromise 
 when principle and truth are involved. God said of 
 Eli, "I will judge his house forever, for the iniquity 
 which he knoweth, because his sons made themselves 
 vile, and he restrained them not." 
 
 I plead with you as Methodists. By your love to 
 the Church of your choice and affections, by the memory 
 of its sainted Founder and its sainted heroes, by the 
 unbroken testimony it has given on this subject for 
 more than a hundred years,— do not bring reproach upon 
 its teachings and its discipline by opening your parlour 
 for the dance, or permitting your children to attend 
 parties where the dance is indulged. 
 
 I plead with every pure-minded woman in the name 
 of the white flower of virtue and modesty, which is her 
 crown of glory, that she will never place herrelf under 
 a law of social custom which might render it possible 
 for her to be pastured on with palms of pollution and 
 adulterous eyes. 
 
 And I charge you, one and all, to remember that the 
 day of solemnity draweth nigh. The garland of roses 
 will be exchanged for the death-damp on the brow. 
 The music and the banquet will be exchanged for the 
 coffin and the shroud. Time, like the vapour cloud on 
 the mountain side, will vanish, and eternity will unfold 
 its hidden grandeurs. Live for that hour, and when it 
 comes there will be .; 
 
 • . V Two hands upon the breast, 
 
 And labour's done ; 
 Two pale feet cross'd in rest, 
 The race is won . 
 
26 SERMON. 
 
 Two eyes with coin weights shut, 
 And all tears cease ; 
 
 Two lips where grief is muta, 
 And wrath at peace. 
 
 Two hands at work addres't, 
 Aye for His praise ; 
 
 Two feet that never rest, 
 Walking His ways. 
 
 Two eyes that look above, 
 , Still, throiigh all tears ; 
 Two lips that breathe but love, 
 Never more fears. 
 
 QUABOIAN BOOE AND JOB PRINTIMO HOUSI, 4 COURT STRUT, TOROKTO.