Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1884-11-22
The Fashionable Amusement.

We give below an extract from q
sermon by Bishop Pierce on Dancing.
The Bishop takes some rather extreme
views of this popular amusement, and
while many who read may conscien.
tiously disagree with many of the sen.
timents expressed, yet careful peru.
sal Of the sermon cannot fail to open
up broad and wholesome field OF
thought:
Having stated the principals of the
text and the distinctive features of
those who are condemned by them,
propose to make an application of all
to single popular amusement.
select dancing as the most common,
most popular, the least defensible, and
In some respects the most demorahzing.
In the cities other expressions of the
worldly spirit occur and abound. They
are in the same condemnation. Dane.
ing is common to town and country.
The evil is ubiquitous, prevailing all
places and all grades of society. 1t
identifies itself as an evil by its effects
on mind, character and social life.
Whatever its form, from the reel to
the waltz, round Or square, private or
public, my observation is that 10 spirit,
tendency and result, it is inimical to
every element of genuine religion. 1t
is death to spiritual life. 1t is an in
truder upon the sanctity of the church.
A dancing community is not religious
will not be, cannot be. Bishop Nc
llvance uttered great truth when
asked by a lady, "Is it any harm for a
christian to dancer" replied, "a chris
tian never wants to dance" He or
she has no heart for it. 1t is a forbid>
den thing, unbecoming, incongruous,
out of character. The desire for it is
proof either that we never were "re>
newed in the spirit of our minds" or
that we have forfeited the grace of
God and are backslidden. To patron
ize it, to defend it, to advocate it, is to
take sides with the world against Christ.
Nobody ever knew a very religious
person to engage in il. The fear and
love of God, lite of prayer and holy
communion, the joy of the Holy Spirit,
rule out this vanity!
l confess | have no patience with it,
no liberation of it. | think it is the
silliest, the most nonsensical amuse>
ment that rational beings, so called,
ever engaged in. 1t is heathenish in
its orsgin--a pastime of savages-iS a
part of idolatrous worship--lewd, sen.
sual, obscene. This is its history. 1t
appeals to the lowest instincts of hu>
mainly and Is the chosen sport of the
vilest and most imbruted of our race.
The slum of society everywhere revel
in it. Rowdies and prostitutes-these
are its patrons. 1t is vile in its origin,
yet worse in its associations, and worst
of all in its analysis. 1t has been re-
fined, polished l grant, but it cannot
be dignifed nor elevated. The venom
of the serpent is in it. The faint of
its birth, the virus Of its constitution,
is ineradicable, 1t is evil, only evil,
and that continually.
No one claims torit place among the
agencies for promoting piety. No one
has ever been made better by it. 1t is
not so designed or expected. 1t is a
csrnal enjoyment, simple and uncom-
pounded. The public estimate of the
moral character of church members
who indulge in it is lowered. Take
any man noted for his piety, any saint
ly woman, introduce them on the
dancing-AOor, and let them "trip the
light fantastic toe"-the sight would
be shock even to the bad. Every>
body would feel there had been fall,
sad eclipse Of consistency, disgrace,
full betrayal of the church and Chris.
tianity. For some people to do this
would excite no surprise-nothing bet.
ter was expected of them; but for