The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1859-01-26

place, and they would earnestly beg To be
!. excused from dying then and there. They
/ would rather die praying than dancing or
gaming, and advocating tho dangerous
tendency of such earthly pleasures, than
their innocency. Be ye therefore ready
also, for in such an hour as ye think not.
tue Son of Man cometh." Delay not the
preparation. "Behold, now is the ac->
cepted time; behold, now is the day'of
salvation" .oIts+ d8 H ~
Again: Dancing and card playing are
among the things for which God will
bring men into judgment. "Rejoico, O
young man. in thy youth, and let
thy heart cheer thee in the days
of thy youth, and walk in tho ways of thy
heart, and in the sight Of thine eyes; but
know thou, that for all THESE things God
will bring thee into judgment"
Now, do young people, when dancing
and card playing, rejoice in their youth!
Do their hearts cheer them? Do they
walk in the ways of their hearts and in
the sight of their eyes? They do, fheu,
if ever. This no one can deny. Then
will God bring them into Judgment for
indulging in these pleasures; and envy
not the condition of that man who seeks,
by example, teaching and influence, to
strengthen the hands of young people in
the practice of follies condemned by tho
Bible. .f1 r- FIX t3e t}
Your remarks on preliminaries. seem to-
me quite as irrelevant and impertinent rs
ours did to you. I had supposed that it
belonged to the affirmative to commence.
the discussion, and, that courtesy, as we'll
as the rules of debate, required the mega
tive to make no reply, even to the irnper-
tinent features of preliminaries, until tho
affirmative had first been heard. a
You say, ''you are not aware Of laring
informed us that excitement exists in this
community on the subject" and charge
us with gratuitously crediting you with.
this assertion" Gentlemen, one of your
number, if correctly understood, has i'm
parted such information, and the proof
will be given if demanded Whether
the types awaken in your minds such a.
sense of responsibility" as they ought, We
leave to g the eyes of discriminating
people" But, as excitement has, no
doubt, existed to some extent. and been
talked about by all, more or less. in the.
community, would it not be well for all
of us to lay aside this cutting and thrust
! ing at each other, and use the columns Of
the JOURNAL more to the point. Argus
ment is preferable to sarcasm. lr
Again, you say "we arc not aware of
ever having published system of NOR
| ais"
In conversation with one of you, gen.
tlemcn, | understood you to say distinctly
that "you believed morality to be re1iyi--
on" From this | dissented. This re-
mark Of yours led me to say that dancing
and card playing according to your sys-
ofmora.s, had never affirmed to be inn
moral. Also to ask for the amended form
of your Resolution.
That morality is morality still, wheth-
er in or out of the Church." may be true.
| But, that morality emanating from the
unregenerate heart, is essentially tho same
with that which flows from the heart in
which the Holy Ghost has wrought his
own holy imag', requires proof "Men
do not gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of
thistes, ia corrupt tree cannot hiring
forth good fruit"
I Tie morality advocated by tho affiirna-
| tive is included in the embrace Of religioa,
which religion no man possesses until re-
generated by the power of Divine grace.
pun tiIio DSoiS iatNC VIC SpOktu VI tucS0
''worldly pleasures" as being ucrrImcurns
to the welfare of our community. Upon
this basis you have met us for discussion,
And upon this basis. alter first pointing
o, tho depravity f the human race in
order to get at the root of the matter, vow
have been shown that dancing and card
playing, as practiecd in this village. are
the legitimate offspring of depravity in
man-tend to prevent sinners from COM
ing to Christ, - stand opposed to rclig-
| ious revivals,-are not relished by the
soul in its first love for Jesus, nor ever af.
| terward with that love in exercise, --are
inconsistent with prayer praise to God.
the example Of Christ and the Apostlea
as we'll as their teaching,--true piety,--
the sudden calls Of death, and finally, are
among the things for which God will
bring men into judgment.
s Having agreed with my associates to
Il VS.