A DANCING Christian! What an anomaly! At a ball last night and at church this morning? In the giddy waltz and at the Lord’s Supper within the space of a few hours! What! Is this Christianity? Does Christian liberty allow this sudden transition from the gay to the grave? Does it allow it at all? Does it justify indulgence in the pleasures of the world under any circumstances? As a minister of the Christian religion, I distinctly and unhesitatingly say No. Ah! dancing Christians, either give up your profession or your practice; for be assured, as it is, you are a laughing stock to infidels and to devils; the one detect your glaring inconsistency, the other chuckle over your delusion. Haply you think my views are melancholy; but, let me ask, who that knows anything of the terrors of sin—or of the blessings of a Saviour God as taught by the Holy Ghost—could for a moment feel happy in a ballroom, or in frivolous, worldly “dancing” company? Those, and those alone, who know what “plucking out of the burning” is, and what “the balm of Gilead” is—will answer this question.
Perhaps some of you fancy you have Scripture to refute me at once, and to warrant your proceedings. Already the saying of Solomon occurs to you, “There is a time to mourn and a time to dance” (Eccles. iii. 4); but let me tell you that such dancing as Solomon alludes to is not the dancing of the ballroom—is not the movement taught by an artist—is not the figuring in a waltz, or a quadrille, or a polka, or a schottische, learnt with care and exhibited with pride; but the exuberant thankfulness of the heart, for blessings bestowed and grace made manifest. But more of this just now.
I assert that dancing, as it is practised, is sinful. One Scripture alone proves it to be so, viz., “Do all to the glory of God,” for who in a dance ever thinks of giving glory to God? Who in a dance ever thinks of God at all? Will it be said, “Oh, this is stretching the cord too tight; would you have us always to be thinking about God? Shall we have no relaxation from serious employments?” Ah! my objecting friend, your very objection plainly manifests the state of your heart. You want pastime, do you? And you confess it is a pastime to be relieved from thoughts of God? I read this character of the wicked in the tenth Psalm—God is not in “all his thoughts.” But, again: Perhaps you will say that it does not necessarily follow that because you dance, you cannot do it to God’s glory. In refutation of this objection, I would ask and answer the four following questions, viz. :—
- What sort of company do you meet at dances?
- For what purpose do you dance?
- What preparations do you make for the dance?
- What are your thoughts and feelings after the dance?
* The above is from the pen of the late Rev. William Parks, B.A., Incumbent of Openshaw, Manchester, a faithful preacher of the truth in his day. The article, in this slightly abbreviated form, appeared recently in the Gospel Magazine.
In reply to the first question, I say (and I know it)—the gay, the frivolous, the empty-headed, the vain, the silly, the dissipated, and the dissolute of both man and woman kind: those, in short, whose hearts, souls, and affections are wrapped up in the world and its amusements, its vanities and joys. And I read in my Bible an awful and terrific assertion with regard to connection or association with such parties: “The friendship of the world is enmity against God; whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God!” (James iv. 4). Oh! my young friends, pause over this tremendous declaration—you who have been led away by worldly companions, and induced to rank yourselves, even for a single night, amongst the antagonists of God! Think upon your terrific step! In your association with your worldly partners in the dance you have avowed yourselves the friends of the enemies of the living God! Oh! may you be taken—torn from “the world,” and constrained to see that there is no possibility of keeping friends with Him and it! Does God get glory in the dance, think you? But I proceed to answer the second question, viz., “For what purpose do you dance?” Is it for health? No; for if you required exercise for health you would take it in the open air, and not in a close hot room. Is it to exhibit your joy for God’s blessings? No! for if this were your motive you would choose other company to manifest your joy in than that of a ball or dancing-room. Is it for the purpose of exhilarating your spirits? No! for those in low spirits cannot dance. But I will tell you what you dance for. You dance for the purpose of exhibiting your skill, or of letting people observe your fine figure, your graceful movements, or your handsome dress. You dance for SENSE—for mere sensual enjoyment. The real motive may be concealed beneath a very modest appearance; to some it may be altogether unknown, but that it is not for the glory of God you dance is abundantly evident. We come to our third question, “What preparation do you make for the dance?” There are divers articles of dress got together—there are the handsome robe, the flaunting ribbon, the pretty frill, the becoming wreath, the satin shoe, the silk stocking, the nice gloves, and that scandal and disgrace to a virtuous woman, the low-bodied dress, all arrayed and gazed upon long before the time of assembling arrives. And then there is staring in the mirror—there are such smiles and sometimes courtesies made before the glass, in order to see how you will look or what you will be thought of in the ballroom—a sort of rehearsal of the vanity show that is to take place by-and-by. And at last there are such questions asked of fond mothers and foolish fathers, and elderly brothers and antiquated sisters, as—Does my hair become me; do I look nice? Each and all betokening the condition of the heart within, that it is impossible to mistake how matters are in that quarter.
Those of the opposite sex are quite as bad, quite as vain-glorious. Young men call to their aid the fashions of the day to clothe them. They spend considerable sums on gay apparel; they bedizen themselves with jewellery to make them more attrac-
tive, and often run into the most reckless expenses in gratifying their passions for the dance. In short, the preparation made for the dance tends to anything but “the glory of God,” but everything to the glory of self, the vanity of the world, “the lust of the eye,” and the “pride of life!”
One other question remains to be answered, viz., “What are your thoughts and feelings after the dance?” Are they such as you might fancy those of a Christian to be who was about to retire for the night? Are they placid, calm, unruffled, holy? Are they fixed upon God and occupied in communion with God? Has the veil of night shut out all objects from view but God and Christ and the Holy Ghost? Ah, no. I know it well. The feelings are excited, the pulse beats quick, the brain throbs; the world has just had its revel in the heart, and all is crazed, confused, and revolutionized! There is the remembrance of the glaring lights, the many figures, the various groups, the complicated motions, the winning smile, the agreeable small talk, the flattering compliment all floating in the head, all glorifying SELF; but not a thought, not a feeling enlisted on the side of God! No! No relish for prayer, no prostration of spirit before the throne, not a knee bent (except in formalism or mockery or delusion), not a sincere breath wafted on high by any soul engaged in the dance.
And, oh! tell me, how can such amusements be innocent? How can any practice tending to such omission and commission be countenanced, much less encouraged, by any converted child of God or minister of God? Surely the whole proceeding, from first to last, has the stamp of Satan upon it, the arch-antagonist of God and of Christ! Yes, I unhesitatingly declare that the ball and the dance, their consequences and concomitants, are devices and amusements of the devil, by which he effects his purposes against many thousands of his incredulous victims! I should like to ask the fashionable young devotee of the ballroom such a question as the following:—”When your presence graces the gay circle, when one of earth’s fair daughters hangs upon your arm, or you whirl through the maze of worldly loungers, or sink exhausted on the voluptuous couch, or wander forth in the cool passages to calm your excited mind, how could you then give an account of your stewardship? Were Christ to speak to you there, could you answer Him? Were death to summon you, could you calmly follow him from the ballroom to the grave—from the worldling’s gaze to the presence of your Maker?” Awful, terrible thought! Yet, believe me, such things have been. Many is the victim who has been launched into eternity whilst his heart has been throbbing with delight in worship of what God has cursed!
I shall now proceed to notice a few commonplace attempts at argument in justification of the practice of dancing.
It has been asserted that “we have Scripture examples to warrant our engaging in the dance.” The devil (as somebody has quaintly said) never goes out without his Bible under his arm! Satan has Scripture at his fingers’ ends, but he sometimes mutilates and mangles it. Ah, my dear young friends, let me warn
you against the sophistical practice of falling back upon Scripture for examples to justify ungodly and worldly actions! It is by such a practice that the gay and frivolous clergyman justifies himself in his association with “the world.” It is the constant plea of such a one, in defence of his inconsistent conduct, that Jesus Christ never shrank from dining and supping and feasting with the Pharisees and unbelieving Jews; but he thinks proper to forget the purpose and design which Jesus had in view under such circumstances, and that He never failed to teach, to exhort, to rebuke, and to argue with His host and fellow-guests, whoever they were. Jesus Christ never forgot His mission, and, although meek and unobtrusive, He never suffered the rank, the hospitality, or peculiar views or crotchets of any man to interfere with or deter Him from His grand purpose of “doing good” and maintaining truth inviolate. If those who quote Scripture in support of their adopted errors and sinful courses would but bring submission of mind to the Word of God as a whole, they would soon cease to make such uses of the inspired volume.
But I digress; let me examine the alleged Scripture arguments in favour or justification of dancing. It is said that David danced, and that Miriam danced, and that the daughter of Jephtha danced, and that, consequently, you may dance. It is true—quite true—that David and Miriam and Jephtha’s daughter danced; but let us see why they danced and how they danced. I read in 2 Sam., second chapter, twelfth verse to the end, that David employed himself in bringing the ark into Zion, and that David was so overjoyed at the successful issue of the work that he actually flung aside his dignity for a time—forgot himself, in a manner—despised appearances, and danced and leaped again before the Lord. It is very evident, from a closer view of the passage, that dancing (at least such movements and conduct as David’s) was practised by “vain fellows” or “lewd fellows of the baser sort,” for Michal alludes to the fact in sarcastic terms, and that, consequently, it was in no very good repute in those days; but the good David, overflowing with delight and thankfulness for the blessed privilege he was enjoying, cared not whom he resembled or how despicable he made himself in the eyes of even his regal mistress. He was overpowered by religious joy on this occasion, which broke out in boisterous, ungainly, and even ridiculous movements. But, mark you, all this was “before the Lord” (verse 21), and, further, he avows his intention of doing so again and again, of even being more ridiculous than ever (verse 22), of being more contemptible in Michal’s and more vile in his own sight. David’s dancing, then, was a sinking of self—a lowering of the creature; he danced for the sheer purpose of giving glory to God. And, mark you, the Bible tells us that when David danced he took off his imperial robe and clothed himself in a plain linen ephod. What David put off young men put on; what David danced for, they never think of. And now, with this plain and unrestrained interpretation of this oft-quoted and oft-mutilated passage, will any young man or woman, any lady or gentleman, aver that there is a justification here for their
dancing? Will any member of a ball or dance, in modern times, tell me that he or she has a warrant to dance because David danced? Is your motive religious joy? Is your design to make yourself vile and base and contemptible in your own sight, or in the sight of others, when you dance? I trow not; so there is an end to any hope or prospect of justification for your practice from the case of David. Let me now examine the case of Miriam: Miriam danced, and therefore you say you may dance. Just meditate a moment upon the passage in which the fact of Miriam’s dancing is alluded to: “And Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand: and all the women went out after her, with timbrels and with dances. And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea” (Exod. xv. 20, 21). Look at it again and again. Do you read that Miriam led off the dance with a handsome young Jew or a naturalized Egyptian? Is there any mention of male partners, hand and glove with the damsels, who followed her? No. Here was a company of godly women praising Jehovah, in the best way they could, for His late wonderful deliverance of them from the power of Pharaoh. The men were otherwise engaged. The women only danced, and danced alone too.
Now, tell me, when you dance, is the name of the Lord upon your lips? Is He influencing your hearts? Is it for the purpose of glorifying Jesus that you dance? Ah! my friends, is it not a fact that if the word “Jesus” were to escape the lips of any of you, in praise or commendation of Him, in the ball or in the dance, you would be sneered upon? Would not the Name, “which is above every name” (Phil. ii. 9), be the signal for mockery? If, during the dance, you were to sing out unto the Lord, and say, “Praise Him in His name Jah”—”Praise Him in the dance”—would you not be laughed to scorn? If you object and say, “Oh, there is a time for all things,” what have we to do with Jesus in the ball or in the dance? I reply in the words already quoted, “Whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God”; and, further, the individual who has nothing to do with Jesus in the ball or in the dance has nothing to do with Him at all. But may the Lord have pity upon such, so that Jesus may be enthroned, and have His name magnified and glorified, in whatsoever company they may be!
There is no parallel, then, between you and Miriam—no warrant whatever for your sort of dancing from her mode. The two are as essentially different as a loose immoral song is from a hymn of praise to Jehovah. Will you consider the case of Jephtha’s daughter? She danced, certainly, but, then, it was a dance of filial love—love which induced her to come and congratulate her father upon his victory over the enemies of God. There is no analogy whatever between this case and the dancing of a modern ballroom. I may express a wish in passing that daughters who are devoted to the sinful practice of modern dancing, and who are ever ready to seize upon the instance of Jephtha’s beloved child’s dancing as a warrant for theirs, were as amiable and dutiful and
religious as she! Suffice it to say, that the dancing noticed in Scripture, from which you profess to take your warrant for the modern practice, was invariably the ebullition of religious joy, and was totally different and distinct from modern dancing, and, consequently, can afford you no authority whatever for your present tastes and practices.
I am free to admit there is dancing of another sort than that I have just been noticing mentioned in Scripture; but, then, I take it for granted that you would not for a moment acknowledge you copied from it; I allude to the dancing which accompanied the horrible sin of idolatry (Exod. xxxii. 6, 19), and to the dancing in which “the world” and the profigate amongst the Jews indulged (Job xx. 11; Matt. xiv. 6, 8). You will not confess that you take your warrant for dancing from the voluptuous performances of Herodias’s daughter, which evoked the sensual delight of the adulterous monarch of Judea? Nor are you willing to trace back your practice to the libidinous pastimes of the East? The Scriptures leave you totally unsupported and unequivocally condemned. Remember, it is written, “Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”
I would now notice two or three commonplace objections in this connection, and reply to them.
Objection.—”People might do a deal worse than dance.”
Answer.—True; people might be profligates; but does the possibility of deeper degradation warrant any degradation? If dancing is sinful, objectors do a great deal worse than dance, for they lessen the sin or extenuate it.
Objection.—But Solomon has said, “There is a time to dance.”
Answer.—Dancing here and elsewhere in Scripture is put as a general expression for joy and gladness. “Thou hast turned my mourning into dancing” (Psa. xxx. 18), exclaimed the Psalmist, evidently meaning joy of heart, not physical play of the limbs.
Objection.—”It is better to dance than to join a coterie in scandalising one’s neighbours.”
Answer.—This is begging the question. We have no right to do either. The gossip and the dancer are on a par. I am certain that much unprofitable and sinful conversation takes place amongst religious professors; but surely a man is not justified in sinning because he knows of the existence of hypocrites or of the abuse of privileges.
Objection.—”Young people will dance, and to prevent their going to objectionable places to learn, it is better to countenance the thing and provide them with the means of learning in a quiet way.”
Answer.—This is advocating the principle that we may “do evil that good may come,” a maxim abhorrent to the Apostle Paul, and which ought to be repudiated by all moralists, though they never made a profession of the Christian religion.
By this time I fear I have quite tired my readers, but I must say two or three words more.
You who feel yourselves condemned will come to the conclusion
that my religion extinguishes all amusements, but you wrong me. My religion teaches me to give up “the world” with its “poms and vanities, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh.” My religion teaches me to avoid the ballroom, the concert-room, and the theatre. My religion teaches me that if I do ought over which I cannot ask God’s blessing, it is SIN—it is forbidden! My religion teaches me that “the world’s” practices and God’s requirements are totally at variance—that it is impossible to “serve two masters” (Matt. vi. 24). I thank God for having enabled me to come out from “the world.” I never do mix, and I hope I never shall associate, with any but decided Christians. My hopes, my desires, my longings, are all centred in Christ; and though I feel and know that I am a “miserable sinner,” I have the happiness to possess Scriptural evidence of my call of God. Yea, I am convinced that no one can have sound and satisfactory reason to believe in his or her personal interest in Christ’s atonement until such repudiation of “the world,” its joys and its amusements, has been accomplished—not, mind you, by self-power, but by supernatural power. Yet, notwithstanding all, I feel that I am not debarred from innocent games and harmless amusements, and that I am compelled to be of a sorrowful countenance. Those games and amusements are, however, few. Modern dancing is most indubitably not one of them; neither is any pastime which brings the opposite sexes into too close contact reckoned amongst the number.
Dancing by adults has been proved by experience and by Scripture to be injurious to the soul, and against the command of God. I shall never cease to warn both rich and poor against the folly of it. Let serious readers look out for and meditate upon the following texts of Scripture, viz.:—Psa. i. 1; xc. 12; cxix. 37; Prov. iv. 14, 15; Matt. vi. 13, 24; xvi. 24; Rom. xii. 1, 2; 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20; x. 31; xv. 33; Eph. v. 8, 16; 1 Thes. v. 22; 1 John ii. 15.