St. Landry democrat., 1886-02-27
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Sixth Discourse of the Series On
"The Marriage Ring"
Dress as Related to Morals-Evn &Aects
of Improper Attire-The Responsibility
of the Stage for Its Undress U@6e
form Parades.

Rev. r. Dewitt Talmage took for dhe
subject of his sixth discourse Of the series
on "The Marriage Ring" "Costume and
Morals" taking for his text:
Moreover the Lord said: Because the
daughters OF Zion are naughty and walk
with stretched. forth necks and wanton
eyes, walking and mncing as they go. and
making tinkling with their feet, in that
day the Lord will take away the bravery of
their tinkling ornaments aboHt their feet,
and their cauis, and their round tires like
the moon, the chains, and the bracelets and
the mufflers, the bonners, and the ornaments
OF the legs, and the headbands, and the tab
let's, and she.suts OF apparel, and the man
ties and the wimples, and the crisping pins,
che glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods,
and the vals.-Isaiah ill.,, is. 1873.
This is a Jerusalem fashion plate. 1t
puts us $500 years back, and sets us down
in an ancient city. The procession of men
and women is moving up and down the
p gay streets. 1t 10 the height of the fash
ionable season. The sensible men and
women move with so much modesty thnt
they do not attract our attention. But
here come the naughty daughters of Jeru-
salem! They lean forward they lean very
much forward; so far forward as to be un-
misunderstanding, wobbling, wriggling,
flirting, or as my text describes it, they
''walk with stretched forth necks, walking
and mincing as they 60" They have in
most astounding style arranged their bon
nets and their walls and their entire ap
parel, and now 60 through the streets TAX
ing more of the pavement than they
are entitled to, sweeping along with skirts
that the text describes as s'round tires like
the moon" SeeI That is a princess!
Look! That is a Damascus sword
maker Look! That is Syrian mer-
chant! The jingling of the chains and
the clashing of the headbands, 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 a picture for all the
ages. But where is that scene? Van
ished. Where are those gay streets? Ver-
min-covered population pass through
them. Where are the hands, and the
necks, and the foreheads, and the shoul-
ders, and the feet that sported all that
magniicence? Ashes, ashes!
That we should ell be clad is proved by
the opening Of the first wardrobe in
Paradise, with It's apparel of dark green.
That we should all as far as our means
allow us be beautifully and gracefully
appareled, is proved by the fact that God
never made a wave but he gilded it with
golden sunbeams, or 8 tree but he gar
landed it with blossoms, or a sky but he
studded it with stars, Or allowed even the
smoke of a furnace to ascend but he
columned and turreted, and doled and
scrolled it into outlines OF indescribable
gracefulness. When / see the apple
orchards of the spring and the pageantry
of the autumnal forests, I come to the
conclusion that il nature ever does join
the Church, while she may be a Quaker
in the silence of her worship, she
never will be Quaker in the style of
her dress. Why the notches of fern
leaf or the staman of a water lily? Why,
when the day departs, does it let the fold
ing doors Of Heaven stay open so long,
when it might go in so quickly. One sum-
mer morning saw an army of million
spears, each one adorned with diamond
of the first water-I mean the grass with
the dew on it. When the prodigal came
home his father not only put coat on his
back, but jewelry on his hand. Christ
not afflicted with any sentimentality, ad-
mired the arrangement Of woman's hair
when he said in his epistle:
If woman have long hair it is glory
unto her.
There will be fashion in Heaven as on
nth hut ho rsr@ ~
fashion. It will decide the color of the |
dress, and the population Of that country,
by beautiful law, will wear white.
! say these things as background to
my sermon to show you that ] have no |
prin, precise, prudish or cast-iron theories |
on the subject OF human apparel; but the |
goddess of fashion has setup her throne in |
this country, and at the sound of the tim |
brels we are all expected to fall down and |
worship. Her affairs smoke with the sacra- |
fee of the bodies and souls of 10000 |
victims. In her temple four people stand |
in the organ-loft, and from there comes |
down cold drizzle Of music, freezing on |
the ears of her worshippers. This god
Lord of Heaven and earth, and it is high
time we unIimbered our batteries against
this idolatry.
Men are as much idolaters of fashion as
but they sacrifice on different
part of the altar. With men the fashion
goes to cigars and club-rooms and parties
and wine suppers. In the United States
the men chew up and smoke one hundred
millions of dollars worth of tobacco every
year. That is their fashion.
But men do not abstain from millinery
and elaboration of skirt through any SUI
periority of simplicity. It is only because
such appendages would be blockade to
business. What would sashes and trains
,hree and half yards long do in stock