g 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] Jam