The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1881-08-16
IsIT wRosG TO DANCE.

AUGUST 1881, JKAN ERNEST
lSlT wR0SG TO DANCAs
Bsriptural Aud IiisiOrlsaI PRESIDENTS,
"oan we dance and DO ChristiAnaf" or
to pat 1t in another form, "oan We be
Christians and dancer" This question
agItAtea Presbyterian circles in Western
Pennsylvania. An interesting eccleaiasti-
cal trial has grown out Of 1t. A VsnapgO
man Is under discipline Tor the crime Of
dancing. His case was taken up by the
session Of the ysnAngo church and do.
cidsd against him. From the decision Of
the session he appealed to the Presbytery,
appearing In that iudlaatory 40 his own
counsel, BE speech was long, and 90 waa
the discussion upon 1t, The testimony
queerly enough showed that the accused
had not actually danced but had only tried
TO- II was Tor this attempt that
no was dealt with and pronounced ain
iul man. Presbytery turned deaf ear
to his argument and refused to reverse the
Judgment Of the church session, So the
unhappy ex.brother 10 pronounced I'M
worthy OF Christian fellowship and must
90 remain until the next meeting oil the
Synod Of Erie, 10 which body he has up.
pealed. For the benefit Of those who are
not versed In Presbyterian affairs II may
be stated that the Synod Ia superior court
to the Presby terry and can reverse It's de-
cisIon, The General Assembly 10 higher
yet, and can reverse the decisions Of
Synod. The Synod oi Erie will meet In
October next, when lively time may be
expected over this dancing case. The
General Assembly DOES mot meet until
May, and the VenAnRo man ssys that II
be does not get Justice in Synod he will
take his case to Assembly, It 10 common
" supposed that there Is law Of the
Presbyterian Church, or something like q
law, against dancing This 10 not the
case. There 10 no allusion TO dancing |
either In the form oi government or
the book Of discipline. Neither
10 there anything about It in the shorter
caleChlsm. In the larger catechism there
is an alluSion 10 II. Ubder the question,
"Whati Ia forbidden 10 the Seventh Ohm
mandment?" part OF the answer is, "I.As,
ciyoua books, pictures, dancing, stage
plays" There 10 no prohibition against
the dancing which 10 not lascivious any
more than there 10 sgainst books, pictures
and plays which are not lascivious. I'm.
der anything which Ia found In these
standards Of the Presbyterian church It 10
as irregular TO condemn man for dane.
lug as to condemn him Tor havin books
and picLu 60 in bis possession, II does
not appear that the lasCivious elements
entered into the Venango's mans efforts
TO dance. On the contrary, 1t may have
been that his brethren law 1T 10 make an
example OF him for the Clumsy way In
which he handled his feet and the futile
attempts be made at tripping the light
fantastic toe. l. may then be asked BY
those who would disCipl line church mem
Der tor dancing or trying 10: "Does mot
the Bible FORBID danCing?" The answer 10
that II does not, Ia the Book oil Psalms
dancing 10 alluded to as an act OF praise.
The Hebrew word RlathOi used In the
psalms is the same that Is used elsew here
10 connection with making merry. So
David danced before the Lord when the
Ark WAS brought from the house Of Obed.
Edom 10 Jerusalem, The word used In |
be account Of this as given Ia The Book Of |
Samuel 10 karar, which signifies to move
around In lively manner. The account
In Chronicles ute the word re9dd which |
means to skip or be lively, and 10 used In |
ECClesiatteB, In the passage which says
there Ia 20 time 10 dance" Miriam, the |
sister Of Moses, led 10 triumphant dance
when the IsraellIes came safely through |
The Red sea. The word mechOtah 10 used |
In speaking oil this. Il 10 the word used |
to tell Of the dance OF Jephtha's daughter,
as also Of some Of the dancing done by |
David, as recorded In the First
Book OF Samuel. The Greek word orchsO. |
mai, which rneanS 10 liIt up the feet, or 10
rise up, 10 used Ia Matthew where the
complaint 10 made: eve have piped unto
you and ye have not danced" and also In
the parallel passage In Luke. The dane.
Ing spoken OF In the account OF the prodi.
gal sons return 10 expressed In Greek by
The word cI0ros, whence our word chorus.
There Ia nothing wicked In the idea OF II,
The chief argument used against dancing
Ia that Herodias' daughter danced, and
that her dancing was attended with fatal
results to John the Baptist The records
In the fourteenth OF Matthew and the
sixth OF Marx show that this was indeed
so. But the circumstances were such as
are not likely to happen among decent or
orderly people.
One thing Is very certain. II an at.
tempt were made to discipline any Pres
bylerian Of this city or New York or
Brooklyn for dancing or for trying 10
darCe, the result would be much the
same as that which was divulged 10 lead.
Ing Baptist church where discipline WAS
proposed on one ur two OF the younger
members Tor the sin Of going 10 see Pima
fore. II was found that nearly oil the
young people had been TO see II. Then
some Of the older members suggested the
propriety OF making a wholesale business
Of Justice and disclplining them all. There.
upon the census was token among the
older people and II was found that a ma.
jorlty Of them had witnessed The sinful |
show. Discipline wsB indie finitely post |
poned.-Phitadelphia Timtt.