"Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness."
"Praise him with the timbrel and dance." [4]
I fancy you did not expect this, secretly believing that the Bible was all against dancing. I fancy most people would start back and say it cannot be done. If it cannot, or if by you it cannot, then—for you—the dancing question should be settled once and for all. The Lord has given you "the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness," [5] and you are not at liberty to lay it off for any dancing gear whatever.
"Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." [6]
The condition is absolute; and all doubts upon the dancing question are at an end for you. But for those who like to inquire into possibilities, let us search a little further. "Praise him in the dance."—Has it ever been done? Never,—in such dances as you are accustomed to. But a great while ago, on the shores of the Red Sea, while the men were chanting the praises of that God who had brought them safe out of Egypt, the women banded together "with timbrels and with dances" [7] (no mixed dances, observe), and so, dancing for joy at the great deliverance, answered the men, chorus like:
"Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously." [8]
So after Jephthah's victory,[9] came out his daughter to meet him "with timbrels and with dances."
So after the rout of the Philistines,
"The women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul." [10]
And though praise of the human agents mingled in, yet only Divine power had won the day, and well they knew it. And again you remember how when the ark was brought home to Jerusalem,