The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-07-27
MODERN SOCIETY.
The Extravagances of the Pres
ent Age.
Much of the Crime, Wretchedness and
Debt Brought on by Fashionable Pre-
tences and Fast Living.
1T. Dewitt Talmage.l
T-"ExTRAvAGANCE ANCIENT AND
MODERN"

TEXT: Isaiah ill.,, 16, IS, 90: Moreover
the Lord saith because the daughters of
Zion are naughty and walk with stretch
ed forth neck and wantOn eyes, walking
and mincing as they go, and making a
tinkling with their feet. In that day
the Lord will take away the bravery of
the tinkling ornaments about their feet,
and their curls, and their round tires
like the moon, the chains, and the brace
lets, and the mufflels, the bOnnets, and
the ornaments of the legs, and the head
bands, and the tablets, and the earrings,
the rings, and nOse-jewels, the change
able suits of apparel, and the mantles,
and the wimples, and the crisping-pins,
the glasses, and the fine linen, and the
hoods, and the veils."
Through this window of the text we
look in upon the vOluptuOusness of an
ancient city-the description, with a
very little variation, as appropriate to
New York and Brooklyn as to Jerusalem
and Tyre. One might think that Isaiah
had before him the fashiOn-plates, and
the head-dresses, and the jewel caskets,
and the dancing schools, and the draw
ing room parlOrs of the present day, and
that he fOresaw Saratoga, and Brighton,
and Long Branch. Through the same
window of the text we also see the mas
culine extravaganza and dissipation
which always correspond with the fem
mime. Woman may have greater vari-
ties of apparel, but she lives quieter
life, and therefore may have the great
varieties and luXurieS of dress without
impediment. Men would wear as much
if they knew how without interfering
with their worldly occupations. The
rough jOstling of life is inimical to a
mans dragging a dress trail two
yards in length or pending from his ear
a diamond cluster In the time of the
text, as well as in all ages of the world,
the two sexes were alike in mOralities
OF immOralities.
While in parIOr sentimentalities it is
well that men defer to women and wO-
men defer to men, in the presence of
God and in the light of eternal response
bilities the sexes are equal.
Our text takes us two thousand years
back and sets us down in an ancient
city. 1t is bright day, and the ladies
are all out. The procession of men and
women is moving up and down the gay
streets. 1t is the height OF the fashion
able season. The sensible people move
with so much mOdesty that they do not
attract our attention. But here come
the naughty daughters of Jerusalem.
They lean fOrward-they lean very much
for Ward so far forward as to be un-
misunderstanding wObbling, wriggl-
ing, flirting; or, as my text describes it,
they walk with stretched forth necks,
walking and mincing as they CO." They
have spent hours before the mirror ere
starting from home, and have in most
astounding style arranged their bOnnets
and their Veils and their entire apparel,
and now go through the streets, taking
more of the pavement than they are en-
titled to, sweeping alone with skirts that
the text describes as "rOund tires like
the moon" See, that is a Princess!
Look, that is Damascus sword maker
Look, that is Syrian merchant The
jingling of the chains and the flashing
of the head bands and the exhibitions of
universal swagger attract the attention
of the prophet Isaiah, and he brings his
camera to bear upon the scene, and takes
picture for all the ages. But where is
that scene? Vanished. Where are those
gay streets? Vermin covered pOpula-
tiOn pass through them. Where are the
hands and the necks and the fOreheads
and the feet that spOrted all that mag
nificenceP Ashes! AshesL.
Taking my text as starting point, |
come out to talk to you about the God
defying extravaganza of modern society.
For the reinements, and the elegance
and adOrnments of life, cast my vote.
In the snow of the camelia, in the fire.
dye of the roses, in the sky-blue of the
English violet, l learn that God loves
adOrnment. He might have made this
OoA bh oO 90 W o1blo1y BlOSO
of sense, but left it without adOTnment
or attraction. Instead of the variegated
cOlOrs of the seasons, the earth might
have worn dress of unchanging dull
brown. The trees might have yet brought
forth their fruit without the prophecy
of leaf in blossom. Niagara might have
let down its waters by gradual descent,
without thunder and winged spray. But
no. Look out on some summer morning,
after heavy night-dew, and see whether
or not God loves jewels. Put a snow
flake under microscope and see wheth-
er God does not love exquisite architec-
ture. He decreed that the breast-plate
of the priest in Olden times should have
a wreath of gold, and that the hem of
his garments should be worked into
figures of pOmegranate. When the world
sleeps God blankets it with the brilli-
ants of the night-sky, and when it wakes
he washes it in the FURNISHED ldY.r of
the sunrise.
But it is absolutely necessary that we
draw a line between that which is the
lawful use of beautiful adornment and
that extravaganza which is the source
OF so much crime, WretchedneSs and
abominatiOn in our day. That is sinful
extravaganza when you go into any
thing beyond your means. That which
Is right for one may be wrong for anOth-
er. That which is lawful expense for a
queen may be sinful outlay for Duchess.
That which may be economy for you
with larger income may be squandering
for me with smaller income. But when
men and women cross over the line
which separates what they can paw for
and still keep a Sufficiency to meet
moral obligation on the one hand and
on the other hand that extravaganza
which ones means cannot compass, they
have passed from the innocent into the
culpable. Across that line have gone
"a multitude that no man can number"
We Judge of what we ought to have by
what other people have. If they have
sumptuous table and fine residence, and
gay turnout, and exquisite apparel, and
brilliant surroundings, we must have
then, irrespective of our capacity to
stand the expense. We throw ourselves
down in despair because other people
have sealskin coat and we have an or