The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1881-09-01
Is 1t Wrong to Dance P-ScripturaI and
Historical Precedents
Can We dance and be CbristiaI

IAN We dance and be Christians o.
10 put il in another form, Can we b
| Christians and dance ;" This question
agItateS PRESBYTERIAN circles in Western
Pennsylvania An interesting eeclesias
teal trial has grown out of it. 4
Fenango man is under discipline for tn,
crime Of dancing. His case was takcI
up by the session Of Nenango church anC
decided against him From the decision
OF the session he appealed TO the pres
,nytery, appearing in that judicatory a.
his own counsel His speech was long
and so was the discussion upon it. The
, testimony queerly enough showed thar
the accused had not actually danced but
had only tried To. 1t was for this at
tempt that he was dealt with and pro
nounced sinful man Prcsbvterv
turned deaf ear To his argument and
refused To reverse sthe Judgment of the
church session. 80 the unhappy ex-
brother Is pronounced unworthy of
christian fellowship and must SO remain
until the next meeting of the SYNOD OF
Ere, to which he has appealed Fer
| the benefit Of those who are not verscd
IN Presbyterian affairs il NAV be stated
that the synod Is Il superior court 70 the
presbytery and can reverse its decision
The general assembly is higher vet and
| can reverse the decision of synod The
synod Of Erie viii meet in October next.
when lively time may he expected
over this dancing case. The general
| assembly does not meet till next Nav,
ana the Nanango man says if he does
not get Justice in synod he will take il
to the general assembly. 1t is common
" supposed that there is a law of the
Presbyterian church, or something like
q law, against dancing. This IS not the
case. There is no allusion to dancing
either IN the form of government or in
the hook Of discipline. Neither is there
any thing said about it in the shorter cat
echism, In the larger catechism there
Is an ailusion to it. Under the question
" hat Is forbidden in the seventh com.
mandment?' part OF the answer is
LascivIous books, pictures, dancing
stage plays There Is no prohibition
against dancing which is not lascivious
any more than there is against books.
pictures and plays which are not iasciv
ious, Under anything which is found
IN these standards of the PRESBYTERIAN
| church 1t Is as irregular to condemn a
| man tor dancing as 10 condemn him for
having books and pictures in his
| possession. 1t does not appear that the
lascivlous element entered into the
Nenango's mans efforts to dance. On
the contrary, it may have been that his
! brethren saw ht to make an example al
hlm for the clumsy way in which he
handled his feet and the futile attempts
he made at tripping the light fantastic
toe, 1t may be asked by those who
would discipline a church member fol
dancing or for trying to: "Does not the
Bible for bid the dancer The answe,
is that it does not. In the Book O
Psalms dancing Is alluded to as an ac
of praise The Hebrew word ntachoI uset
i'll the psalms IS the same that used else
where In connection with making merry
| So David danced before the Lord whel
the ark was brought from the house q
| Obed-Edom to Jerusalem. The wor
used in the account Of this rs given j
| the Book of Samual is kdrGf, which sic
nifies to move around in "A lively manner
The account in Chronicles uses the wor
ragad, which means to skip or be livel,
and is used in Ecclesiastes in the passag
which says there is time to dance.
Miriam, the sister Of Moses, led I'm
triumphant dance when the Israelite
came safely Though the Red Sea. TIL
wold H1echoiah is used in speaking of this
1t is the word to tell of the dance of JepI
tha's daughter, Is also OF some Of tn
dancing done by David, as recorded i
the First Book Of Samuel The GreeI
word orcheOmaj, which means lift up th,
feet, or to rise up, is used in MATTHEW
where the complaint is made: Nv,
have piped unto you and ye have no
danced = and also III the parallel pas
sage in Luke. The dancing spoken .
in the account of the prodigaI SON.
return expressed in Greek by the word
chorus, whence our word chorus. There
is nothing wicked in the idea oft. Th,
chief argument used against dancing
is that Herodias' danced, and thai
her dancing was attended with fatal re
suits to John the Baptist. The record.
in the fourteenth Of Matthew and the
sixth IF Mark show that this was indeed
80. But the circumstances were such as
are not likely to happen among decent
people.
One thing IS very certain. If an at
tempt is made to discipline any Presbyte-
rian Of this city or New York or Brook
Ign for dancing or for trying to dance,
the result would be much the same n
that which was divuIged in ? reading
Baptist church where discipline was pro-
posed or che or two Of the younger
members for the sin Of going to sec Pima
fore 1t was found that nearly all the
young people had been to see it. Then
some Of the older members suggested the
propriety Of making a Wholesale business
of justice and disciplining them all.
Thereupon the census was taken among
the older people and it was found that 5
majority Of them had witnessed the sin
fuI -bcv- DiscIplipa s.5az fu1aEuiral,