Such a professor of religion is a contrast to the prevailing spirit of the age, which is characterized by efforts to enlarge the borders of the Kingdom of God in the conversion of sinners. He lives devoid of spiritual consolation himself, and by exciting prejudices against vital piety, keeps others away from the fountain of life. He leads thoughtless sinners down to Hell, whilst he tells them that he is conducting them to Heaven. With one hand he pulls down the kingdom of Christ, and with the other he builds up the kingdom of Satan. He betrays his Master with a kiss. He grieves the souls of all the well wishers of Zion. He brings down the displeasure of a righteous God on his holy heritage. He is far worse than an open enemy, for he strews the path that leads to perdition with tempting flowers, and he whispers peace in the ears of sinners who are walking in the ways of death. He is a traitor among the soldiers of the cross. He is an Achan in the camp of Israel. And the same inconsistency and guilt which are chargeable on the dancing professor of religion, rest in a great measure on those members of the Church, who, although they do not indulge in this gay pleasure themselves, yet grant permission to their children to attend this kind of assemblies. The danger, whatever it is, certainly is as great for the members of the household, as for its head. And the word of God lays down the principle, that it is the duty of Parents, to use their authority to prevent their offspring from following any amusement in which they think it would be wrong to engage themselves. Fathers and Mothers, therefore, who consent that their children shall learn and practice this art, are sadly neglecting their parental duties, and are to no inconsiderable extent partakers of this sin of their sons and daughters. It is an act of cold blooded cruelty to the souls of those whom they ought to love most tenderly. And we would ask, how can they approach the Mercy Seat for prayer in faith, with the petition on their lips, "lead us not into temptation,"--whilst they have thrown the tender lambs of their little flock into the very jaws of the lion? They certainly are not so destitute of sensibility or understanding, that they would tempt their poor confiding little ones to dance, amid the rocking of an earthquake, or the roaring of a thunder storm, or whilst standing on the edge of a slippery precipice. How then can they with any claim to the feelings of common humanity, cast their children into the vortex of worldly pleasures, where they are momentarily exposed to the infinitely greater evil of having body and soul dashed to pieces on the rocks of eternal damnation? In view of such considerations, every Christian parent ought to come to the unalterable determination of bringing up his family with the understanding that they are neither to know nor practice this fashionable amusement.