Dancing, so far from being a means of Grace, is a part of a counter system of means; devised by the God-forgetting, pleasure-seeking multitude, to exclude their Maker from their minds and from his own world. Their chief desire is to banish all serious thoughts of their sinfulness, guilt and danger; of their obligations and duties to their Creator; and of death, judgment and eternity. To escape reflection they flee to the excitements of the dance and of the revel; where art exhausts its skill and music lavishes its power to divert and engross the attention. Amid scenes of delusive splendor, which, to the youthful imagination, appear as enchanting as the creations of poetic fancy, they contrive for a brief season to lose the pang of remorse, and to snatch a draught of feverish and unsatisfactory joy. True happiness and solid peace are perpetual strangers in the artificial gayeties, and gaudy splendors of fashionable circles; where too often the honied words of flattery disguise a hollow heart; and the studied smile, and merry laugh, are assumed to conceal the sting of envy, jealousy and chagrin. The bright illusions by which the young are spell-bound, gradually fade away before the light of experience. And it is no uncommon thing in these resorts of worldly pleasure, to find the utmost gayety of manner in unnatural union with sadness of soul, produced by the discovery of the selfish passions, covertly working beneath the surface in all minds present; or by the sudden and irresistible conviction of its folly as an occupation for an immortal being. Especially on the return of the votaries of pleasure to the solitude of their chamber, have they been overwhelmed with remorse and the keen upbraidings of conscience. 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.