The Penn's Grove record., 1894-10-05
RBV. DR.. TALMAGE
THE BROOKLYN DIyINE's sun.
DAY SERMON.
SUBJECT : 1.-THE Quick Feet"

IL 40 tho nAhhtNohbhAy u
Tho palace Is lighted. The highways lead.
ing thereto are all ablaze with the pomp OF
invited guests. Lords, captains, merchant
princes, the mighty men of the land, are
coming to mingle in the festivities. The
table is spread with all the ~luxuries that
guest, white robed and anointei and
the table. Music! The jests evoke
roars OF laughter. Riddles are p~ropoundei.
Repartee is INDUCED. Toasts are drunk.
The brain is h%efogged. The wit rolls on
into uproar and ~blasphemy. They are not
satisfied yet. Turn on more light. Pour
trumpets. Clear the floor for a dance
Bring in Salome, the beautiful and
accomplished princess. The door opens,
and in bounds the dancer. The lords are
enchanted.
Island back and make room for the brill
liant %gyrationsl These men never saw such
"poetry OF motion" Their soul whirls in
the reel and bounds with the bounling feet.
Herod forgets crown and throne ard every
thing but the Vaccinations of Salome. Allthe
magni1cence OF his realm is as nothing now
compared with the splendor that whirls on
tiptoe before him. His body sways
from side to side, corresponding with
the motions OF the enchantress. His
soul Is thrilled with the pu'sations Of the
feet and bewitched with the taking posturns
and attitudes more and more amazing. At
ter awhile he sits In enchanted silence look
ing at the flashing, leaping, bounding beau
ty, and as the dance closes and the tinkl;ng
cymbals cease to clap and the thunders
Of applause that shook the palace begin
to abate the enchanted monarch swears to
the princely performer, Whatsoever
thou shall ask Of me I will give 1t thee, TO
the half Of my kingdom" Now, there was
In prison at that time a minister OF the Cos
pei of the name of John the Baptist, and Re
had been making a great deal of trouble by
preaching some very plain and honest SER
mons. He had denounced the sins of the
king and brought down upon him the wrath
of the female Of the royal household. At
the ~lnstigation OF her mother Salome takes
advantage of the extravagant promise of the
king and says, bring me the head OF John
the Baptist on a Inner plate"
HarG to the sound of feet outside the door
and the clatter Of swordsl The execution
ers are returning from their awful errand.
Open the doori They enter, n they pre-
sent the platter to Salome. What is on this
platter7 A new glass Of wine to continue the
uproarious merriment2 No. Something
redder and costlier-the CHASTITY. bleeding
head Of John the Baptist, the death glare
still in the eye, the locks dabbled with the
gore, the features still distressed with the
last agony
This woman, who had whirled so grace
fully In the dance, bends over the awfulbur-
den without a shudder. She gloats overthe
blood, and will as much Indifference as a
waiting maid might take a tray OF empty
| glassware out OF the room after an enter
tainment Salome carries the discovered head
| of John the Baptist, while all the ~banqueters
shout with laughter and think it agoo l joke
that in SO easy and quick a way they have
got rid of an earnest and outspoken minister
OF the gospel.
You will all admit, whatever you think of
that style OF amusement and exercise, that
from many circles 1t has crowded out all in
telltgeat conversation. You will also admit
that It has made the condition of those who
do not dance, either because they do not
know how or because they have not the
health to endure 1t, or because through con-
scfenttous scruples they must decline the ex-
erctse, very uncomfortable. You will also
admit, all of you, that It has passed in many
cases from an amusement to o dissipation,
and you are easily able to understand the
bewilderment Of the educated Chinaman,
who, standing In the brilliant circle where
there was dancing going on four or five hours
and the guests seemed exhausted, turned to
the proprietor Of the house and said, 'sWhy
don't you allow your servants to do this for
your"
You are also willing to admit, whatever be
your idea In regard to the amusement that 1
am speaking oil, and whatever be your idea
OF the old fashioned square dance, and of
many Of the professional romps in which I
can see no evil, the round dance is admins
trative OF evil and ought to be driven out of
all respectable circles. / am by natural tenn
peramcnt and religious theory opposed to
the position taken by all those who are hor-
rihed at playfulness on the part of the
young. and who think that all questions are
Neutrality-suspicious. Of decency and morals
by the position Of the feet, while, on the
other hand, I can see nothing but ruin, tenn
poral and eternal, for those who go into the
designations ofsocial life-dissipations which
have already despoiled thousands Of young
men n Young women Of all that Is noble
In character and useful in life.
Dancing Ia the graceful motion Of the
body adjusted by art to the sound and
measure OF musical instrument or of the
human voice. All nations have danced.
The ancients thought that Castor and
Pollux taught the art to the Lacedamo-
mans. But whoever started it all chimes
have adopted It. In anciant timaa thav
had the festal dance, the military
dance. the mediatorlal dance, the bac-
chanalian dance, and queens and lords
swayed to and fro In the gardens, and the
rough backwoodsman with this exercise
awakened the echo of the forest. There
Is something In the sound OF lively music
to evoke the movement of the hand
and foot, whether cultured or un-
80 aSWh kho blICCl We
unconsciously keep step to the sound of the
brass band. while the Christian in churas
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
tue exercise was so utterly and completely
depraved that the church anthematizsd 1t.
The old Christian fathers expressed them
selves most vehemently against II. St.
Chrysostum says 1.-THE feet were not given
Tor dancing, but to walk modestly not to
leap impudently, like camels." One of the
dogma's OF the ancient church reads (:
"A dance Is the devils possession, and he
Tint entereth into q dance entereth into his
possession. As many PAGES as a man makes
IN dancing, 50 many passes does he make to
nell" Elsewhere the old dogmas declared
TINS; "The woman that slngeth in the
dance is the princess of the devil, and those
thai answer are her clerks, and the beholders
era his friends, and the music is his bellows,
and tine f1ddlefs are the ministers OF the
devil. For. as when hogs are strayed, II 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 in
sfruments, presently all the dancers gather
together" This indiscriminate and univer-
sal denunciation OF the exercise came from
the TACT that it was utterly aud completely
depraved.
Social dissipation is the abettor OF pride.
1t Is the instigator OF jealousy. 1t is the sac
riaciai altar of health. 1t is the defiler of the
soul. 1t Is the avenue of lust, and 1t is the
curse OF every tow on both sides OF the sea.
Social dissipation! 1t may be hard to draw
the line and say that this is right on the one
side and that Is wrong on the other side. 1t
is not necessary that we do that. for God has
put a throne In every n soul, and I ap-
peal 10 hat throne to-day. When a man does
wrong, he knows he does wrong, and when
he does right he knows he does right, and to
that throne, which Almighty God lifted in
he heart Of every man and M 1 appeal
As to the physical ruin wrought ~ the
~dissipations OF social life there can be no
doubt. What may we expect OF people wno
work all day and dance all nightf Ater
awhile they will DO thrown on socfstY ner-
vous, exhausted imbeciles. These PeoPIe
who indulge in the suppers andthem ianigne
revels and then go home in the cola un,
wrapped Of limbs will after awhile be tound
to have been written down In Gods eterna,
records as suicIdes-as much suicides Us II
they mad taken their life with a pistol OF .
knife or strychDtne.