The question of expression through the spirit or through the
senses--through the soul or the body--has been the pivotal point of all
philosophies and the inspiration of all religions. Asceticism in our day
finds an interesting manifestation in the Trappists, who live on a
mountain, nearly inaccessible, and deprive themselves of almost every
vestige of bodily comfort; going without food for days, wearing
uncomfortable garments, suffering severe cold. So here we find the extreme
instance of men repressing the faculties of the body in order that the
spirit may find ample time and opportunity for exercise.

Between this extreme repression and the license of the sensualist lies the
truth. But just where, is the great question; and the desire of one
person, who thinks he has discovered the norm, to compel all other men to
stop there, has led to war and strife untold. All law centers around this
point--what shall men be allowed to do? And so we find statutes to punish
"strolling play-actors," "players on fiddles," "disturbers of the public
conscience," "persons who dance wantonly," "blasphemers," etc. In England
there were, in the year Eighteen Hundred, sixty-seven offenses punishable
with death.

What expression is right and what is not is largely a matter of opinion.
Instrumental music has been to some a rock of offense, exciting the
spirit, through the sense of hearing, to wrong thoughts--through "the
lascivious pleasing of a lute." Others think dancing wicked, while a few
allow square dances, but condemn the waltz. Some sects allow pipe-organ
music, but draw the line at the violin; while others, still, employ a
whole orchestra in their religious service. Some there may be who regard
pictures as implements of idolatry, while the Hook-and-Eye Baptists look
upon buttons as immoral.