The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1894-10-05


sing down the street we unconsciously
keep step to the sound of the brass
band. while the Christian in church
with his foot beats time while his soul
rises upon some great harmony. While
this is so in civilized lands, the red men
of the forest have their scalp dances,
their green-corn dances, their war
dances. In ancient times the exercise
was SO utterly and completely depraved
that the church mathematical it.
The old Christian fathers expressed
themselves most vehemently against
it. st. Chrysostom says: 1.-THE feet
were not given for dancing, but to walk
modestly, not to leap imprudently like
camels." One. of the dogmas of the
ancient church reads: "A dance is the
devils possession, and he that entereth
into dance entereth into his posses
sion. As many PAGES as man makes
in dancing, so many PAGES does he
make to hell" Elsewhere the old
dogmas declared this: 1.-The woman
that singeth in the dance is the prin-
cess of the devil, and those that an
swer are her clerks. and the beholders
are his friends, and the music is his bel
lows, and the fiddlers are the ministers
of the devil. For as when hogs are
strayed, if the hogsherd call one all
assemble together, so when the devil
calleth one woman to sing in the dance.
or to play on some musical instruments,
presently all the dancers gather to-
gether." This indiscriminate and uni
versal denunciation of the exercise
came from the fact that it was utterly
and completely depraved.
But we are not to discuss the customs
of the olden times, but customs now.
We are not to take the evidence of the
ancient fathers, but our own conscience,
enlightened by the word of God, is to
be the standard. Oh. l bring no harsh
criticism upon the young. | would not
drive out from their soul the hilarities
of life. | do not believe that the in
habitants of ancient Wales, when they
stepped to the sound of the rustic
harp, went down to ruin. l believe
God intended the young people to
laugh and romp and play. do not
believe God would have put exuber-
ance in the soul and exuberance in the
body if he had not intended they
should in some wise exercise it and
demonstrate it. If mother join hands
with her children and cross the floor
to the sound of music, see no harm.
If group of friends cross and recross
the room to the sound of piano well
played, see no harm. If a company.
all of whom are known to host and
hostess as reputable. cross and recross
the room to the sound of musical in
strument, see no harm. tried for a
long while to see harm in it. / could
not see any harm in it. l never shall
see any harm in that
What are the designations of social
life to-day. and what are the dissi pa
tions of the ball room? In some cities
and in some places reaching all the
year round, in other places only in the
summer time and at the watering
places. There are designations of social
life that are cutting very wide swath
with the sickle of death. and hundreds
and thousands are going down under
these influences. and my subject in APP
plication is as wide as Christendom.
AS we go on in years let us remember
that we had our gleeful times: let us be
able to say: I'VE had our good times;
let others have their good times" Let
us willingly resign our place to those
who are coming after us. But while
all this is SO, we can have no sympathy
with sinful indulgences, and | am going
to speak in regard to some of them,
though l should tread on the long train
of some popular vanities.
Social dissipation is the abettor of
pride, it S the instigator of jealousy. it
is the sacrificial altar of health, it is
the defiler of the soul, it is the avenue
of lust. and it is the curse of every
town on both sides of the sea. Social
1t may be hard to draw
the line and say that this is right on
one side, and that is wrong on the
other side. 1t is not necessary that we
do that. for God has put throne in
every mans soul, and l appeal to that
throne to-day. When man does
wrong he knows he does wrong, and
when he does right he knows he does
right, and to that throne which AL
mighty God lifted in the heart of every
man and woman appeal.
AS to the physical ruin wrought by
the designations of social life there can
be no doubt. What may we expect of
people who work all day and dance all
night? After awhile they will be
thrown on society nervous, exhausted
How many people have stepped from
the ballroom into the graveyard? Con-
and swift neuralgias are
close on their track. Amid many of
the glittering scenes of social life, dis
eases stand right and left and balance
and chain. The breath of the sepulcher
floats up through the perfume. and the
froth of deaths lips bubbles up in the
am told that in
some of the cities there are
parents who have actually given up
and gone to boarding
that they may give their time
to social designations. !
have known such cases. l have
known family after family blasted in
that way in one of the other cities
where preached. Father and mother
turning their back upon all quiet cul-
ture and all the amenities of home.
leading forth their entire family in the
wrong direction. / give you the his
,ory of more than one family when /
say they went on in the designations of
social life until the father dropped into
L lower style of dissipation, and after
awhile the son was tossed out into So
,iety a nonenity, and after awhile the
laughter eloped with a French dancing
master, and after awhile the mother,
rettinp ON further and further in years