The New York herald., 1871-03-26
The rnrtuncs Of methodism.

Now let the lcentious playgoer tremble.
Dancers, ballgoers, calico hoppists, private
partyists, quake; you are on the verge of
being blasted by bolt of Methodist pulpit
thunder. Innocent girl, with garlanded hair,
stepping daintily in white satin chaussure
upon the floor of your fathers salon, every
pace you take is eighteen inches more or less
nearer to perdition. Exquisite Emilius of the
centre parted hair, swallow tail and patent
glossy black should wilt to the whteness of
your snowy neckte did you but know how, at
every glance upon the fair girl by your side,
your immortal soul is blackened with guilt.
You know it not then learn.
We sing the song Of cant, Of undying, ire
pressible cant. II is no new song, and yet not
so very old. 1t is chiefly sung through the
nose. There is cant in every profession, but
head and shoulders over all stands religious
cant. 1t is with the latest outburst of this
holy hypocrisy that we propose to deal. Ages
ago there was Romish cant; centuries ago
there was Puritan cant; now it is the Metho-
dist variety of the same article.
In the days of le grand naonarQue Moliere
was much exercised over the cant of the
period, and, with courage worthy of the
HERALD, wrote certain witty play called
'Le Tartuffe, or, the bypocrite. He attacked
Romish cant right and left, and it has never
recovered from the blow since. There was
big fight, however, for the long hated, black
gowned gentry Of the day had the play
driven for some time from the stage. 1t
is curious to read in his apology nowadays
how he implores and conjures them with all his
heart s'not to condemn things before seeing
them; to rid themselves of all prejudices, and
not to wait on the passions of those whose
grimaces dishonor them" There was much
humor for the masses in it, but the tartuffes
could not laugh at the joke. The play was
played Notwithstanding, and the risibiities of
generations have been tckled ever since.
On the Protestant side cant has held sway
which no amount of satire can wholly scourge
out of it. Swift, in his celebrated ''Tale Of
Tub" goes for it. 1t was Calvinism then;
but his description of Jack, who could not eat
or drink or do anything else without Scrip
ture phrase, fits exactly on the canters of to-
day. These things happened in the seventeenth
century; SO let ns skip over couple of hun
dred years and drop into the midst of a Method
ist Conference which took place last week in
New York city. John Wesley, with his cooked
hat is nearly a century in paradise; but DR..
William II. Ferris, Presiding Elder of New
York, is sitting under the lank shadow of his
picture which hangs on the wall. Arou>d
him are the lumiDaries of the urban pulpit,
and the dance as Christian institution is be-
fore the house. Brother Gorse, with his six
feet of corpulent humanity, looks meek as a
tame elephant over his shaven upper
lip and close-cropped beard, as he rises to re-
mark that call these things are sinful. He
was never in theatre, could not dance (this
was almost needless), couldn't play chess,
cards or checkers, but was compelled, on his
experience as a pastor, to literally condemn
them all. 0 my brethren in Wesley! when
once church member has seen play he or
she will not listen to sermon" 1t might be
interesting to have learned whether it was
the fault Of the sermon or the play. There
are those who would say that Gorse, this wild
flower Of Methodism, ran a church which was
a comfortable place to sleep in. Pious, tall
and thin Brother Smith acknowledged an equal
ignorance of what he was talking about and
came down heavy on the dance. A hush
broods over the sorrowing assemblage as
Brother Schaffer, of the Five Points Mission,
c;o 70 hso a. md ho ~ - <bo
theatres nor does he smoke or chew tobacco,
yet he did not consider it very wrong for
people to dance in their homes. He
himself had danced with his two sons and
daughters, and could see no harm in 1t. The
picture Of the venerable Schaffer floating
about in the may waltz or hopping peri
patetic polka hsated in horror before the
eyes of the Conference and made stout DR..
Ferris bounce up from his chair like cannon
ball on the ricochet. He could not stand it
any longer, he said. "What will the world
think Of MS, when minister publicly acknow-
lodges his criminally saltatory conductp How.
brethren, can we condemn from the pulpit
what we do in our own homes?" We can
fancy how the capering Schaffer shuddered;
but he found strength to plead the super
vision of parents as a palliation. Shud-
der after shudder attested the weakness
of the excuse. The last shudder shook
little wiry old DR.. De Vinne off his chair
and put him on his feet. He had been in the
ministry sixty-two years and never heard of
such thing. There was q terrible laxity
everywhere when such thing were possible.
One after another, we learn, did the pious
brothers pelt the devoted Schaffer with the
hard-boied eggs Of Wcsleyism. Last of all
came an angel, with half-moon face, and, if
the phrase may be permitted, methodist
comedian" When he takes the floor he gives
the knowing wink of man who has been