Show religion and dancing THE dlin AT it at length we have a reply fo to oui our oui heresy on the daud dand dancing question the alleg allegation a tion of the by M E chur church ch conference which elicited our filst first article wasa was among the il greatest hindrances to our church work that we find in this new now country is 16 dancing andal andai and atten danea danca on dancing parties dancing was singled out pounced upon anathematized e 2 held up to the church as a thin thing so abhorrent and execrable as aag a bar r to christianity that if the apse ipse divit were accepted on one e mus must t needs recognize it as a deadly sin even gambling whisky drink drinking hig big lewdness violence and ana dishonesty were passed by as lesser evils to grapple with the monster and sum of all iniquities dancing and now when a moon has waxed and waned since the gage was laid af a the feet of the conference comes one of the ablest of its members with an arraignment again s t dancing so diffident so void of direct objections I 1 so specious in its ita substitution of abuse alfa and extremes for ordinary conditions looking atit at it as 03 03 a hindrance to a uch such an eth ethereal iced spiritual condition that it makes a mart man feel like the ghost of a martyr io oread it and so evidently imbued with the tho idea that this world is only for people to get ready to die dle in in and life a bac bad scrape which requires all our dine time to fix up that we begin to tb seo see how weak the practical objections ate and consequently ly that there is 14 little hope of reconciliation for prejudice is ever stronger than reason the writer quotes bishop me inic ilvaine who arbitrarily ay draws the tho line against dancing not be gause of its abstract sinful sinfulness sin bin falness nessi but for for tor some reason not uS signed assigned he also quotes the presbyterian general assembly of 1818 and he figlie a great deal stronger denunciation from those a sturdy turdy old patriots and christians aa as christiana were rated those day days s who in the name of god burned women in massachusetts for being witches the writer etes cites other authorities and makes some oine comments ants of his own the ThO result and sequence of 0 all lathat is that thab the mere were fact ot of dann dand dancing ilg i is iss not sinful on the contrary it is accorded some bome grace byg byl it is the enchanting pleasure derived from rational dancing ingi alienating the thoughts of professors from their theoretical rosaries aud and the excesses and abuses of danciu dancin dancing g t hat that are condemned now if olun olur ministerial erial friend holds that rational e enjoyment ment if he will a thorough gli eu enjoyment enjoyment oy so absorbing so intense so satisfactory that ona one forgets for fon the time that he has a sinful nature which was given him so without his consent or kh knowledge 0 and a soul to save by some process over the methods of which holy men have been wrangling and putting bac each h other to death for cen centuries is irreliA irreligious lous ious and must be barred we ft insist upon it that these donation parties purties and dogma dogmatic tid tie controversies and steaming dishes of yellow leg lel 9 ged ed chic chickens liens ilens a and ud marriage mair lago lage musi music musie c literature all such things thae that that ilease glease please and make life happier must be e classed with dancing if we consider it in the tho abstract that is logical and fair you assert there are bad associations that bad people dance that the better people do not Is a there any man under the sim sun that ostracised ostracized from good society will not seek worse your churches place dancing under a ban you are doing it here in ill montan Mont anait a altis itis is denounced as an U ungodly n recreation your people who are the salt of the earth are forbidden to da dance danee nce nee tinder under penalty of church punishment and then you turnabout turn about and say behold these sinners this is the recreation of the wic kedl that is just juste what you do the tho methodist church owes much of its growth and success to the adoption of a kind of popular music that a century ago was exclusively clu ciu if appropriated by the devil and we wo do 40 not know thabit is any worse than the other churches outlawed as dancing has been by the churches churchea it is inherently ly so ad sinless that it has withstood t the IK a ostracism and is is a pure festivity YOU have no more right to cite the cancan can can and like dances as a legitimate 1 offspring of or the social ciu clu dance danee ce than we have to cite the pharisee who prayed at the street corner as a typical representative of christianity social dancing does not necessarily involve undesirable associations any naon than business relations or church going but if you christians will not dance we sinners are without recourse suppose you should say to your professors vou you isyou shall not attend public lectures concerts or 01 social parties 11 you would have the same plea to urge against their morall morale average people especially the young must musj have some diversion r human nature 0 o requires it compare a social dance with the frivolous and silly plays adopted where dancing is prohibited and ary any rational unprejudiced person will award the higher place to the dance theace is cited that dancing is ip indulged in by the lomei classes chases true it is a recreation i within their reach perhaps berha s one oj 01 the very few from which they an ar not de barred by poverty but they singa too Is singing an evil because they love it in the hg higher her altitude of humanity cited the rolling rollin carriages the gildea gilded saloons the ile rich tabie table tables the opportunity to indulge in ex expensive entertainments perhaps laziness laness or intent study or labor or ambitious projects orthe or the fact their set do not dance or the other fact that they fio flo not know how may have much influence in excluding the dance and about I 1 gross forms forma of vice and the dance being left behind as you go up the scale sug suggests geste that gilded vice is worse than gros gronsand sand that the upper ten are not always sinless witness the great scandals intrigues gues corruptions corrupt ions lons infamies amies that break bieak out at the dizziest dizz iest heights and flood the world with woe the best element of america Is its middle class and it dances plenty now in conclusion the church is liberalizing it did preach fear god it does preach lovegod love iove god it does not take half ile the brimstone to supply a pulpit that it did tw twenty enty yea years rs ago they used to infuse religion into man with the tho sword and torch and thumb screws when the phrase gejl sclE hating rating each other for the love iove of god meant death to those who differed from the strongest the austere lives and cruelly rigorous a customs in vogue a few generations given way to happy looking christians fians sund and reasonable rea Tea requirements our out rational graceful grateful he healthful attainable social dacca dan ce ig jar tabooed through unrelenting eral old notions its abuses magnified and descanted des canted upon and its virtues ignored it does not app appear ear to jo us ug that in iq proper quantity among their associates with good music and in cool weather there is anything in a social dance danee I 1 to hurt or harm barn r A a warm blooded practical christian our correspondent has hos not shown it and there is much good in them there would be more if the churches would accord a little more freedom freedora of conci conscience ence to lay members new north west feb 5 A lady wrote recently to mr arr and remonstrated with him for spending 1500 in flowers at his delmonico dinne dinner party when that sum of money would have done BO so much good among the poor next day the lady received a note containing a check for 1500 from mr and the postscript read real persevere in your noble work notes similar to the one you so kindly sent me would induce a man to forge rob cheat and steal in order to get money with which to aid the poor new york mail |