A Discourse on the Evils of Dancing

by John F. Mesick

But in all this sadness there is no religion; for it is only the sorrow of the world. It has no higher claim to approbation than the regrets of the wilful and deliberate murderer. It cannot atone for the wrong which it has committed; and it does not terminate in the purpose to renounce the sin in which it originates. Hence if any spiritual good grows out of these melancholy emotions it is by accident.

In vain, therefore, will the advocates of Dancing attempt to escape the dilemma in which they are involved. The practice of this amusement is altogether a worldly matter. Its obvious tendency is to keep dying sinners from thinking of the salvation of their souls; by pre-occupying their time and attention with earthly delights, and by tempting them to cast off fear and to restrain prayer. Its natural result is to incite infatuated youth to ridicule serious Christians and faithful Ministers of the Gospel, as fanatical, gloomy and righteous over much. It confirms them in a spirit of levity and thoughtlessness, emboldening them to mock at sin, to trifle with the most awful truths, and to go down gaily to the gates of eternal death.

No other measure is needed on the part of the God of this world, than to keep the votaries of pleasure engaged in such vain amusements, to insure their destruction in Hell. The more alluring this tempting bait is to their carnal taste, the more certainly will they become a prey to the great enemy of souls. They are condemned already because they believe not; and they need commit no other sin than to neglect the great salvation to perish under the withering curse of the Almighty. There is but a step between them and death. The next hour spent by them in such frivolous enjoyments may be their last. For aught that they know the very ground on which they revel, may cleave beneath their feet, and entomb their immortal spirits in eternal woe. To run the giddy round of the amusements of the fashionable world, under these hazardous circumstances, is as great a madness as to sport with arrows, fire-brands and death.

To each individual, therefore, I must say by Divine authority, in reference to this particular pleasure, see to it, that you "Be not conformed to this world." In opposing this message, you do not quarrel with the speaker, but with God. Your Sovereign commands; and at the judgment seat He will exact obedience at your hands.

To every professing Christian, who has joined in the Dance, I am in duty bound to say, without qualification or reserve, that he has broken his covenant with God; by which he pledged himself to withdraw his affections from the world and to renounce its pomp and vanities forever. That act is a violation of the promise, as obligatory as an oath, because uttered before high Heaven; to be governed by the example of Christ, to live for the salvation of souls, and to labor for the Glory of God. It is an infraction of the vow of self-consecration, voluntarily, deliberately, and prayerfully assumed; under all the circumstances which could impart sacredness to the verbal declarations of dying men, to forsake all for Christ, and to be crucified to sin and to the world. It would be just, it would be no more than you might expect, that God would do unto you as you have done unto Him; that as you have broken the contract between yourself and Him by neglecting your engagements, that He should decline to perform those stipulations which are dependent on its conditions, leaving you to perish in the paths of transgression in which you have delighted to wander.

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. They will naturally suppose that if it is consistent with preparation for Heaven, for him to venture so far within the enchanted circle of worldly gratifications, that there can be no harm in their proceeding a few steps further.

It is true, all of the unconverted may not reason in this manner, because their own consciences will testify that the misconduct of others is not the rule of duty, but there are many who will—the young, the ignorant, and the inexperienced, the weak in moral principle, the vacillating in purpose, and the strongly tempted; all of whom, will be led by the ignis fatuus light of your inconsistent and pernicious example, away from the path of piety and peace, into the slippery and downward course of sin, remorse, and eternal death. And at the judgment-seat of Christ, you will appear with the blood of lost souls on the skirts of your garments.

The Dancing professor of religion gives offence to his brethren in the Church. The fact that among this number, some of the weaker members may be found is no excuse for the deed. At the same time we think it a point of great moment, that the most eminent and exemplary Christians, and the most zealous and intelligent ministers of the Gospel, of all denominations, have put on it their seal of condemnation. They maintain that they cannot discover any sanction for this art, in the example of the blessed Saviour or of his holy Apostles. 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.

For these obvious reasons the Ecclesiastical bodies of several religious denominations in our country, have expressed their deliberate opinion of its inconsistency; and have recorded their protest against it by a formal vote. And for the same reasons, the most active, self-denying and benevolent friends of the Redeemer in every community, never give their presence to the ball-room, and are deeply grieved with those nominal Church-members who do.

Under these circumstances what is duty? What would Paul do? Such was his anxiety for the salvation of others, that on this account, things lawful, and therefore much more unlawful he would resign. The tenderness of his concern for the spiritual welfare of others exceeded so far all selfish considerations that he declared—"If meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no meat while the world standeth; lest I make my brother to offend." "It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak." This is the Bible rule. And against those who disregard it, a fearful malediction has been uttered by the Great Head of the Church. "Whoso shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a mill-stone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."