"
Tertullian, from whom some of the above opinions are taken, gives an
invitation to those who were fond of public spectacles, in nearly the
following terms.
Are you fond, says he, of the scenic doctrine, or of theatrical sights
and compositions? We have plenty of books for you to read. We can give
you works in prose and in verse. We can give you apothegms and hymns. We
cannot to besure, give you fictitious plots or fables, but we can give
you truths. We cannot give you strophies, or the winding dances of the
chorus, but we can give you simplicities, or plain and straightforward
paths. Are you fond of seeing contests or trials for victory? You shall
see these also, and such as are not trivial, but important. You may see,
in our christian example, chastity overcoming immodesty. You may see
faithfulness giving a death-wound to perfidy. You may see mercy getting
the better of cruelty. You may see modesty and delicacy of sentiment
overcoming impurity and impudence. These are the contests in which it
becomes us christians to be concerned, and where we ought to endeavour
to receive the prize.
CHAP. V.... SECT. I.
_Dancing forbidden--Greeks and Romans differed on this subject--motive
on which the Greeks encouraged dancing--motive on which the moderns
encouraged it--way in which the Quakers view it--the arguments which
they use against it.
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