Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-02-04

What harm is there in dancingr' was
the theme of Rev. MIR. Marquis evening
discourse at the Broadway Presbyterian
church yesterday. The announcement of
the subject brought out congregation
that filled every available seat in the
house. Mr.. Marquis alluded to the subs
iect in his scripture selections for the
evening, and when the time came for the
sermon took his tex from Rom. xiii:
Ia
Il beseech you therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God, that we resent your bodies liv-
ing sacrifice holy acceptable unto God, which Is
your reasonable service. And be not conformed
to this world
Mr.. Marquis said:
Paul wrote these words to little hand
full in the proud capi.a al of the Roman
empire. Capital cities are proverbially
uncongenial TO the development of plety
He knew that his brethren in Christ
would be subject to many sore tempta-
lions in that great center of fashion,
power wealth and vice. Hence this ex-
hortation hich Is based upon the broad
principal. applicable 20 business as well
rs pleasure.
The christian. body and mind, is to be
consecratei unto God; To keep himself
separate from the world and to make the
will of God the limit of his liberty and
the law of his life. This is the founda~
ton upon which we base what we have
to say about the modern society dance
And our remarks are addressed primarily
| to christians, who have been bought with
Christ's blood, regenerated by the spirit,
and have publicly and voluntarily ere
nounced the world the flesh and the
devil" By dancing we do not mean
dancing for JOY or praise, or worship
mentioned many times in the bible and
always executed by men or women alone
Neither do we mean that dancing for
sorrow in which many of US have In
dulged when our own mouths fur
nished music in minor key and a
stern parent was floor manager
Nor yet that ideal dance which every
dancer loves to defend consisting of the
Virginia reel or deCorus quadrille per-
formed in the sacred privacy of home
with brothers, sisters. cousins and per-
haps second cousin or two present. By
dancing we mean that fashionable
and fascinating amusement of modern
society, in which the sexes commingling
in the most questionable intimacy keep
| time to music with their feet. This it is
against, which enlightened pagan nations
| and the Christian church in all ages has
| condemned. Why?
|. Because ii endsnGers the heath of
the body The human body needs four
Z al
wholesome food, VIII DlesOme air, whole
some work, and wholesome recreation.
| Dancing, as an agent Of physical develop
ment. must come under the last of these
| if any where. But is it as commonly
practlced n recreatICn2 Do late hours,
| late suppers, heated, dust !adened air.
| excessive bodily exercise and strong,
| nervous excitement. conduce to the res
tOration of expended energy, the read
Justment of equilibrium between over
| taxed muscles and brain, and the reforming
of the body with fresh vitality Let
| any one who thIuks so. 90 call upon
| these who dance at the next charity bali
| upon the morning after; and note the
| splendid color in their cheeks, the energy
| of their movements and the sparkle OF
bounding life in their eyes.
Do you say other amusemen;s may
| produce the same facilitating results !
That only proves thai other amusemcnts
as well as dancing Gudanger health. Do
YOU say dancing may be carried on with
| out any of these resultsT Grant 1t. But
it is not. And so We arraign the dance
of modern society ~ IA form of dissipa
ton rather than recreaton; and we
1 nh NIT
dragging out weary days, more blighted
lives and hopes, and more premature
deaths than any form OF fashionable
amusement that can be named.
:. Dancing also endangers the holt
ness of the body. It's tendency is to de
file this temple of God. Here we put our
hand upon the pulse Of It's life. Here we
come face TO face with that which has
made the church lis enemy and the
world its friend. 1t gould be cowardice
| to speak on this theme, and not speak
| plainly upon this point. But let it be
| clearly understo 3D. ali that is charged
| upon the dance as an institution Is not
charged upon every dancer. We often
do in ignorance that which wisdom bids
us quit" Many whose piety and purity
| we would not think of questioning en-
gage in the dance. 1t is about dancing
| as an institution that we speak. This
then is the grave charge against the
| modern society dance. 1t is essentially
| lmmodest, and therefore its tendency is
| TO awaken that which is basest in the
human heart. This is not u new charge.
1t is not the charge Of the church alone
Even Cicero defending Il Roman consul
4 onainSf moi no alIG Tho clan6pr Df hpin u
| dancer saysi" Almost no one ever dan
ces who is sober, or IS not a mailman. "
No one would accuse Lord Byron with
being prude. But ne has branded the
walr2~as that endeariug waltz" that
! seductive waltz that not too lawfully
| hegotten waltz, decent vice, warm not
wanton which whispers my slippery
| paths are safest in the dark. Can any
christian think it safe to risk his own or
cbildren's moral purity in an amusement
of which such things have been written
| by the ungOdly?
VIM. Cleaved Wilkinson, another Law
man says: MY accusation is that the
dance instead of affnrdng An opportunity
for mutually ennobling companionshil
between man and woman, inspired with
a chaste and sweet interfused remem
brance of their contrasted relationship to
| each other,-the dance instead of this
consists substantially of system OF
means, contrived with more than human
ingenuity to excite the instincts of sex to
action, however subtle and disguised al
the moment. in its sequel the most bestial
and degrading. l charge that here and
not elsewhere In the anatomy of that
elusive fascination which belongs so pee
culiarly to the dance, the scalpel is laid
upon the quivering secret of its life.
Passion and nothing else, is the
true basis of the popularity of the dance. .
| Farther on he adds 1T is no accident
| Tho Ionoa 10 uhat n "a It min ulQs