While this circular letter has an existence upon earth, let all _so-called_ Protestants and their friends, who say "_There is no harm in dancing_," and who participate in dancing of _any kind at any time or place_, or who simply attend such places, or who remain at a place after it has been turned into a dance, (for the aiders and abettors of crime are just as guilty as their principals), hang their heads for very shame, as poor old dog Tray hangeth his head when caught in company with sheep-killing dogs, and especially when some wool is found in his teeth. Paul was present when Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was put to death; he only held the clothes of those who cast the stones, but he was just as guilty of murder as though he had cast the fatal missile, _by his presence, and making no objection he was consenting to the crime_. To have relieved himself of the blood of Stephen, he should not have gone to the place where the murder was committed, if he knew, or had good reason to know, that a crime was to be committed. If he had gone there with the belief that it was an _innocent, harmless_ gathering, and after getting there he saw their murderous intent, he should at least have left immediately and thus have withdrawn all his influence and supposed sympathy with the criminals. The holding of their clothes did not make him guilty, but was only _cumulative_ evidence of the murderous intent in his heart. Reader, if you go to a ball or dance, knowing it to be such, you are a participant in all the sins and crimes which would not have been committed, if such ball or dance had never been. So if the gathering be for a _sinless, harmless_ purpose, and you find, after arriving at the place, that there is to be a dance, and you do not leave immediately, you will be just as guilty as though you had gone with full knowledge of what was to be. The encouragement and endorsement of your presence makes you just as guilty as those who join in the dance. There is no difference, except in degree, between the select parlor dance and the masquerade ball, because the one is the stepping stone to the other. Not one in ten thousand have done their first dancing at the masquerade ball, just as not one in ten thousand ever took their first drink of whiskey in a drinking saloon. But let it be remembered that hundreds of thousands have taken their first drink of wine or whiskey at a ball or dance.