Persons on whose judgment we rely with great confidence in matters of this sort, have abandoned the idea which they, in common with others, once entertained, that Dancing, if properly regulated, might be harmless. It is their settled opinion, founded on considerable personal experience and on observation, "that the nature of the amusement itself, even in its least exceptionable forms and in limited exercise, is such--that it has a tendency to inflame passion, to poison virtue, to endanger purity, and to lead on to gross and deadly evils." Modern dancing, as generally practised, is a gay and guilty pleasure. It receives no warrant from the Bible. The only kind of Dances recorded in the Sacred Scriptures, are religious Dances, forming part of the worship of God: "with the exception of that of the vain fellows devoid of shame, of the irreligious families described by Job, and of Herodias"--which are no more an example for us because they are recorded in the sacred narrative, than the treachery of Judas Iscariot, in betraying his master with a kiss. But then we must remember the fact that the Religious Dance was practised only on joyful occasions; that it was performed in the day time, in the open air, and only by one of the sexes at a time. There is not a historical notice in the word of God, of _promiscuous dancing_ either as an act of worship or amusement. And those persons were reckoned among the vilest of mankind who perverted Dancing from a sacred use to mere purposes of amusement. At the present time, as we cast our eyes over the map of the world, we discover that dancing is still practised as an important part of religious worship by the inhabitants of all heathen countries; by the Indians of our own Western forests; by the superstitious natives of Africa, and by the effeminate and luxurious Asiatics. But as employed among the ceremonies of idolatry in Southern Asia, it has been changed from the slow measured movements, practised by the ancient Greeks and Romans, to a style, which one Missionary remarks, "would not be tolerated on the boards of the lowest theatre in Europe, or in America." Dancing girls, arrayed in the most costly ornaments of dress, and quite equal in skill to some of the modern exhibitors of that art in the theatres of civilized lands, are invariably connected with heathen temples in the East Indies, as their constant attendants.