Tired Church Members | Page 8

anger waxed hot." [15]
You think I am very hard upon dancing; and I have reason. "Two years
ago," said a young girl to me, "you told me that if I went on doing these
things I should myself change; that I could not do them, and keep
myself. I was almost angry then, but do you know it has come true? I
have changed. Things that I minded and shrank from then, I never
notice now. I have got used to them, as you said. It frightens me when I
think of it." Poor child!--neither fright nor warning have stayed her
course since then. A ceaseless thirst for excitement, an endless round of
unsatisfying pleasure--so called,--a weary, old, disappointed look on
the young face; broken engagements, forgotten promises, a wasted
life,--this is what it has all come to. "Hard upon dancing"? yes, I

certainly have reason. Do I not find it right in the way of some of my
Bible Class who might else become Christians? do I not know how it
tarnishes the Christian profession of others? Do not the careless young
men in the class boast that they can get the Church members to go with
them anywhere--for a dance? Or how would you like to have a young
girl come to you, frightened at things she had permitted at a ball the
night before, entreating to know if you thought them "very bad"?
Examine it, test it for yourself; only be honest. Can you dance "in
armour"? crowned and shielded and shining with "the hope of
salvation," with "righteousness" and "faith"? Are your shoes "peace"?
peace of heart, of conscience. Is your belt the girdle of "truth"? Can you
"shew your colours" in the throng? Dare you? Are they not rather
trailing in the dust, or quietly pocketed, or left at home? Think honestly,
and answer to yourself how it is. As in feasting, so here: you cannot
dance all night with people, and next day warn them against "the world,
and the things of the world," and even hope to be listened to. "I am as
good as most Church members,"--ah how often we teachers and talkers
meet that rebuff! And how well the Lord knew when he said:
"He that is not with me, is against me."
"Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?"
[16]
"A time to dance."--Yes: whenever, and wherever, you can do it as the
whole-souled servant of Christ. And how about dancing at home,
among ourselves, as people say?--Without going any further, one thing
forbids it all. If you dance anywhere,--you, a professing Christian,--in
the eyes of the world you dance everywhere. The world allows no
middle ground for Christians. "I saw her dancing,"--and nobody stops
to inquire when, or with whom, or how. So that there is nothing for you
but this:
"Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away." [17]

[1] Eccle. iii. 1.
[2] Eccle. iii. 4.
[3] Ps. cxlix. 3.
[4] Ps. cl. 2, 4.
[5] Isa. lxi. 3.
[6] I Pet. ii. 9.
[7] Ex. xv. 20.
[8] Ex. xv. 20.
[9] Judges xi. 3.
[10] I Sam. xviii. 6
[11] II Sam. vi. 14.
[12] Luke xv. 11.
[13] Ps. xxx. 11.
[14] Ex. xxxii. 6
[15] Ex. xv. 19.
[16] James iii. 11.
[17] Prov. iv. 15.

Theatres.
If I say that it degrades oneself to find pleasure in degrading things or
degraded people, you will perhaps admit the fact but deny that it has

any application to theatre-going. Is it not a fashionable, intellectual, and
what not, amusement? Let us see.
Many of you who yet are theatre-goers, know well that you would feel
yourselves degraded if even a dear friend went on the stage.
"She has trailed an honoured name in the dust,"--so have I heard the
comment, from one who was not even a personal friend. "She might at
least have taken another name!"--And the speaker was not brought up
among Puritans, and belonged to a Church which--as a Church--has no
fear of the theatre. I think occasional indulgence was common enough
in the family. And the young actress had done nothing but become an
actress, keeping her own name. Friends are mortified,--and yet friends
go to see, and to help along.
"But what shall actors do?" you say; "it is their way of getting a
livelihood." No, not if support were given only to other ways. A man
may make a round sum at a rowing match which cripples his strength
for life; or by leaping across Passaic Falls, till he breaks his neck; he
may set up for a wizard or a conjuror or a quack doctor,--he may pick
your pocket or fire your house,--all in the way of business.