John F. Mesick

“ Look, also, at the style and character of those modern dances, which are most admired and most fashionable; and you will perceive at a glance that their movements, attitudes and evolutions are repugnant to a natural sense of propriety, and inconsistent with that unsullied purity of mind which we consider inseparable from the individual to whom we would yield the homage of our hearts. The soul that commands the love of the virtuous, must be spotless as the unfallen snow. Genuine attachment can be based only on esteem. ”

“ And it is no uncommon thing in these resorts of worldly pleasure, to find the utmost gayety of manner in unnatural union with sadness of soul, produced by the discovery of the selfish passions, covertly working beneath the surface in all minds present; or by the sudden and irresistible conviction of its folly as an occupation for an immortal being. Especially on the return of the votaries of pleasure to the solitude of their chamber, have they been overwhelmed with remorse and the keen upbraidings of conscience. ”

“ Then, too, mayest thou ascend at death, to that bright and better world, where the Saints forever reign, and where from before the light of God's countenance, sin, darkness and sorrow, flee away, and where the soul is filled with a joy unspeakable and full of glory. ”

“ True Christians, the heirs of glory, are separated from the world, not only by profession, not only by external badges, but what is of higher moment, by their character and spirit. They are essentially a peculiar people; singular in their opinions and practices, and created unto good works. They are distinguished by a conversation in Heaven. They move through society as pilgrims and strangers on the earth. They keep themselves unspotted from the world, as temples of the Holy Ghost. ”

“ No one ever yet expected that a revival of religion would commence in a ball room; or that thoughtless sinners would be converted by going to a cotillion. These significant facts plainly show on which side of the dividing line, between the church and the world it is to be placed. They forbid mistake.
Dancing, so far from being a means of Grace, is a part of a counter system of means; devised by the God-forgetting, pleasure-seeking multitude, to exclude their Maker from their minds and from his own world. Their chief desire is to banish all serious thoughts of their sinfulness, guilt and danger ”

“ A wide and unalterable distinction exists, therefore, between the servants of God and the people of the world, a distinction as perceptible as that which divides the night from the day, and the darkness from the light. "The one are born from above, the other from beneath. The one are quickened by Divine grace; the other are dead in trespasses and sins. The one are governed by [5] the Spirit of God, and the other are under the dominion of Satan. The one consult the glory of God, and cheerfully resign all for Christ; the other make self the centre around which they move." ”

“ In our large cities, where this insane contempt of health and life is sanctioned by the uniform practice of the God-forgetting multitude, this fell destroyer snatches his prey from the ranks of fashion by scores, and scourges them more fatally than the pestilence. ”

“ How then can they with any claim to the feelings of common humanity, cast their children into the vortex of worldly pleasures, where they are momentarily exposed to the infinitely greater evil of having body and soul dashed to pieces on the rocks of eternal damnation? ”

“ They spend several hours together under the excitement of lively strains of music, and of the glittering array of beauty and fashion, in a chamber brilliant with a multitude of dazzling lights, and crowded with guests to the destruction of the vital properties of the atmosphere ”

“ It cannot be denied, that the people of the world are often strongly tempted to skepticism by the conduct of the Dancing professor of religion. They are led to inquire—is there any reality in the work of the Holy Spirit? Here is a man that asserts that he has been born again, but where is the evidence? What does he do more than others? With his lips he declares that God is his portion; that religion is his chief concern, and that Heaven is his home. ”

“ THE EVILS OF DANCING. ROMANS, XII. 3.—"BE NOT CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD."
The Bible is the only rule for all who wish to be saved. The professed Christian, not only, but every unconverted man, must bow to its precepts, if he would gain the favor of God. There is but one way, and but one gate of entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven, for saint and for sinner. Whatever, therefore, shall be acknowledged to be the duty of the covenanted follower of the Lamb, is equally the duty of every individual who stands disconnected with the visible Church. ”

“ Persons on whose judgment we rely with great confidence in matters of this sort, have abandoned the idea which they, in common with others, once entertained, that Dancing, if properly regulated, might be harmless. It is their settled opinion, founded on considerable personal experience and on observation, "that the nature of the amusement itself, even in its least exceptionable forms [7] and in limited exercise, is such—that it has a tendency to inflame passion, to poison virtue, to endanger purity, and to lead on to gross and deadly evils." ”

“ It is the entering wedge of luxury and licentiousness, the fatal antagonists to the purity and simplicity of our republican institutions and manners.
Look again at the tutors of this art, to whom fond parents entrust their beloved children, to enable them to acquire this agreeable indulgence, and you will generally find that they are the very refuse of foreign cities; men destitute of either stability or principle; who, on account of their profession, are not esteemed worthy of an introduction into the social circle of the families by whom they are employed. ”

“ The Dancing professor of religion, not only destroys himself but does immense injury to the souls of unconverted men. He encourages all who live without hope and without God in the world to persevere in their neglect of religion, and to go on securely in the entire round of fashionable amusements. ”

“ Such a professor of religion is a contrast to the prevailing spirit of the age, which is characterized by efforts to enlarge the borders of the Kingdom of God in the conversion of sinners. He lives devoid of spiritual consolation himself, and by exciting prejudices against vital piety, keeps others away from the fountain of life. He leads thoughtless sinners down to Hell, whilst he tells them that he is conducting them to Heaven. With one hand he pulls down the kingdom of Christ, and with the other he builds up the kingdom of Satan. ”

“ They allow no compromise with this social evil. And in cases which admit of doubt, and where it is hard to draw the line, because the impropriety is not so manifest, they utter their interdict. It is wrong, therefore, for Christian families, among themselves or with a few friends, to practice dancing as an amusement. It is their duty to refrain from it, if for no other reason, because it is one of the distinctive badges of the ungodly world; and because they are bound to make the line of demarcation between the Church and the world plain and visible. ”

“ It is part and parcel of an education for the world. Its object is the acquisition of a graceful carriage, an easy movement, and elegant manners. Its aim is to prepare an individual for introduction into society with advantage. And its design does not extend beyond the success of his worldly prospects.
No one has ever had the hardihood to maintain that fashionable dancing is a medium of Divine blessings to the soul ”

“ They may applaud their beauty, they may admire their wit, they may emulate their accomplishments, they may envy their wealth, they may copy their manners, and they may imitate their style of dress—but they never speak respectfully of their religion. Not unfrequently they make their inconsistencies a subject of satirical remark. "See, that Church member!" say they, "to-day he is the star of fashion, and the leader of the midnight dance—to-morrow he occupies the chief seat in the sanctuary, and is in appearance a most devout and humble worshipper." ”

“ These commandments of our Heavenly Father, are not hard sayings to the soul that has been delivered from this present evil world through faith in Jesus; for it has acquired through the work of the Spirit, a holy resignation to every intimation of the Divine will, and supreme delight in God as infinitely lovely, which causes every other source of pleasure or of happiness to become tasteless and insipid. To carnal minds, we admit, that they will sound like tyrannical edicts, because they seem to them to take away their natural liberty ”

“ They contend that it unfits them for prayer and for communion with God; and that they cannot pass from the dissipating excitement of the crowded and noisy ball-room to the throne of grace, and do their duty there with comfort or profit. They say that they cannot ask God's blessing on the employments of an evening so spent; and that the next time they attempt to warn unconverted men of the dangers to which they are exposed in the world, that they feel rebuked by the remembrance of their own conduct to that degree that they are afraid and ashamed to open their mouths on the subject. ”

“ He is far worse than an open enemy, for he strews the path that leads to perdition with tempting flowers, and he whispers peace in the ears of sinners who are walking in the ways of death. He is a traitor among the soldiers of the cross. He is an Achan in the camp of Israel.
And the same inconsistency and guilt which are chargeable on the dancing professor of religion, rest in a great measure on those members of the Church, who, although they do not indulge in this gay pleasure themselves, yet grant permission to their children to attend this kind of assemblies. ”

“ It encourages extravagance in dress; inflating the mind with intolerable vanity and pride, and training up our sons and daughters to become reckless spendthrifts, despising honest industry and commendable economy. It is ordinarily connected with the use of wine and of strong drinks, casting down unwary youth from the path of sobriety, into the depth of poverty and drunkenness. Finally, it indisposes the soul to religion, exciting folly, levity, and kindred corruptions of the human heart, and begetting disgust for the worship and service of God. ”

“ The sentiment of the text is not the voice of a solitary passage, but is amply sustained by other portions of the word of God. There are many similar precepts addressed to believers: "Arise ye and depart, for this is not your rest; because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction;" "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing." "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world; if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." ”

“ Modern dancing, as generally practised, is a gay and guilty pleasure. It receives no warrant from the Bible. The only kind of Dances recorded in the Sacred Scriptures, are religious Dances, forming part of the worship of God: "with the exception of that of the vain fellows devoid of shame, of the irreligious families described by Job, and of Herodias"—which are no more an example for us because they are recorded in the sacred narrative, than the treachery of Judas Iscariot, in betraying his master with a kiss. ”

“ We are taught that, what Divine justice shall demand from the one, it will demand from the other; and that there is no respect of persons with God. The human race, as dependent and accountable agents, are placed on the same moral level in his sight. ”

“ But as employed among the ceremonies of idolatry in Southern Asia, it has been changed from the slow measured movements, practised by the ancient Greeks and Romans, to a style, which one Missionary remarks, "would not be tolerated on the boards of the lowest theatre in Europe, or in America." Dancing girls, arrayed in the most costly ornaments of dress, and quite equal in skill to some of the modern exhibitors of that art in the theatres of civilized lands, are invariably connected with heathen temples in the East Indies, as their constant attendants. ”

“ The danger, whatever it is, certainly is as great for the members of the household, as for its head. And the word of God lays down the principle, that it is the duty of Parents, to use their authority to prevent their offspring from following any amusement in which they think it would be wrong to engage themselves. ”

“ There is no need of further exposition, to show that the injunction of the text is deep-laid in the very constitution of things—and is the natural result of the incompatible differences between submission to the will of God and rebellion against his moral government. The followers of Christ can never consent to a compromise involving these principles, unless they are willing to sacrifice his cause. Allegiance to Heaven demands that true Christians should never shrink in the hour of trial from the ignominy or suffering of the cross. ”

“ But a higher consideration, why dancing should be discountenanced, and that indeed which decides the course of duty, is, that it is an amusement by which the world is distinguished from the kingdom of Jesus Christ. ”