The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1875-03-03
A SHORT PRACTICAL SERMON

be horror-stricken II ball were gotten up in
the neighborhood, who would not hesitate to
originate and perpetuste church chickering's and
quarrels. They would consider it moral sin
to dance, and yet are stirrers up of strife, jsal-
ousiss, animosities and hard feelings, as far as
their influences extend.
Large volumes have been written,
and printed, too; long and labored
sermons have been preached by divines
whose names are familiar as household
words to the tongue of fame, that con-
tanned not one 1.-THE of the truth so
forcibly and so tersely put in the brief
paragraph that serves us for text.
The trouble with too many people
and we fear a majority of them-is the
striving to seem rather than to be.
Appearances are all they seem to care
for. They take outward form for in
ward grace. They think they are
serving GoD when in reality they are
playing into the hands of the Devil.
We cannot have too much religious
zeal. But, then, we are eternally mis-
taking church partisanism for religious
zeal: and this mistake is little short of
sin. Because we may be Methodist,
or Presbyterian, or a Baptist, or a
Catholic, or a member of any one of
the several hundred denominations that
compose the corps and divisions in
the army of the LORD, We must not
have the presumption to claim that we
are the superior of the others-that
the particular UNCONVENTIONAL banner
to which we rally is the only true flag.
Remember, men and brethren, that
the jackass is the only animal that
thinks itself superior to all the other
animals, and its claim to superiority
rests solely upon the length of its ears.
And they are but christian jackasses
who pirate of their own church being
the one and only true church. Where
is the man who dare set up such a
claim, Where does he get his author
ity for it? GoD does not judge US by
our professions, but by our deeds. He
does not reward us because our names
happen to be upon the rolls of any par
ticuIar church, but according to our
deservings, based upon our conduct as
men and women in this life.
In dancing per &c, there is no harm
under heaven. Nowhere in His word
does GoD denounce it as sin. The
war upon it is a silly and senseless war.
Sensational clergymen use it as a
scapegoat at which to hurl anathemas
coined of Indignation at sins they dare
not assault from the pulpit, because
/ custom has made them general and so
ciety has voted them respectable.
! Dancing, in and of itself, is a healthful
and pleasant recreation, and were we a
minister of the gospel, we would dance
whenever we felt like it, and have nc
; fear of being called to account for it In
the world to come. The men and wo'
/, men who dance never trample the life
, the substance, the happiness, the very
souls OF their neighbors to eternal de
!, struction, by the figures Of the dance
I and to the cadence of merry music. Or
D the other hand, we know prominent
3 members of the church, who roll theil
|. eyes to the heaven they blasphem'
every day of their lives by their acts
? and hold up their hands in holy hor
d ror, and groan in uttermost grief o
I spirit, when the sound of the fiddle anC
|, the tread of the light-hearted dancer'
3 fall on their ears. Yet these piou'
!, creatures, at their groceries and stores
0 to the clinking music of nickels drop
8 ping into their tills, will peddle out Il
their neighbors liquid which is hell
J broth, poison which kills their bodies
/ kills their domestic happiness, kill
their regulations, and eventually kill
I their souls beyond the power of Col
himselfto cleanse aud redeem. Jus
: as certain, o brethren, as CHRIST wa!
cruelty done to death on Calvary, whel
the souls of such christians are roasting
in hell there will be dancers in heaven
And look at the quarrelings, AM
chickering's, and slandering, and back
biting INDUCED in by men and gomeI
who belong to the churches. Charac
tiers are remorselessly, and too Otter
causelessly, murdered by tongues ia
o miliar with prayer and psalm-singing
E We know that this is true of every
t community in the land. 1t is a sill
t that curses and degrades the religion
of CHRIST. They are worse than inf
dels who indulge in, it. They are no
as good christians as the heather, wit
knovs not Con