The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-02-21
The IDOLATRY OF FASHION.
DR.. Talmage Discusses Costume and Nor
alsin Connection with Marriage.
The Beauty in Natures Garb Shows the Or
namental in Dress Not To Be Despised
Tyres Warming to the World.

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The opening doxology was sung with an effect
that cannot be imagined except by those who
have heard it in this church, led on by organ
and cornet precentor. DIR. Talmage expounded
chapter in Isaiah, descriptive of the social and
commercial spiendor Of tho city of Tyre. The
hymn sung was:
Before Jehovah's awful throne,
Ye nations bow with sincere joy
The text was from Isaiah ILL 16, Is, %: More
over the Lord said: Because the daughters Of
Zion are naughty and walk with stretched-forth
neeks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as
$hey 90, and making tinkling with their feet,
In that day the Lord will take away the bravery
of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and
E1sir cauls, and their round tires like the moon
the chains, and the bracelets, and the mufiers
the bonnets, and the ornaments Of the legs. and
the headbands, and the tablets. and the ear
rings. the rings and nose jewels, the changeable
suits of apparel and the mantles. and the vim
pies. and the crisping-pins, the glasses. and the
fine linen, and the hoods, and the wells" The
following is the sermon in full:
This is Jerusalem fashion plate. It puts us
1850 years back and sets us down in an ancient
city. The procession Of men and women is NOV
Ing up and down the gay streets. 1t is the
height of the fashionable season. The sensible
men and women move with so much modesty
Shat they do not attract our attention. But here
come the naughty daughters of Jerusalem. They
They lean forward; they lean very much for
ward; 80 far forward as to be unnstural-teeter-
Ing. webbing, wriggling. flirting. or, as my text
describes it, they walk with stretched-forth
necks, walking and mincing az they 60. !"
They have in most astounding style ar
ranged their bonnets. and their wells, and
sheir entire apparel. and now go through
he streets taking more of the payment than they
are entitled TO. sweeping along with skirts that
the text describes as round tires like the moon"
See! That is the princess! Look! That is
a Damascus sword maker! Look! That Syr-
ian merchant! The jingling of the chains. and
the flashing Of the headbands, and the exhibitions
OF universal swagger, attract the attention of the
prophet Isaiah. and he brings his camera to bear
npon the scene and takes a picture for all the
ages. But where is that scene? Vanished
Where are those gay Streets Vermin covered
population pass through them. Where are the
hands, and the necks, and the foreheads, and
the shoulders, and the feet that sported all that
magnifcsnce2 Ashes Ashes!
That we shoul9 all be clad is proved by the
opening of the first wardrobe in Paradise with
Its 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
golden sunbeams; tree, but He garlanded it
with blossoms q sky. but He studded it with
stars; or allowed even the smoke of 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. come to the conclusion
that If nature ever does join the church. while
she may be Quaker in the silence of her wor
ship she never will be Quaker in the style of
har IA un nf Loaf orx ha
stamen of water lilya Why, when the day de-
parts, does it let the folding doors of heaven stay
open so long, when it might 60 in SO quickly9
One summer morning saw an army of million
first water-I mean the grass with the dew on
1t When the prodigal came home his father
not only put coat his back, but
jewelry on his hand. Christ wore
a beard. Paul, the bachelor apostle
not afflicted with any sentimentality. admired
the arrangement of 8 womAn's hair when he
said in his epistle, IF woman have long hair,
il is glory unto her." There will be fashion in
heaven as on earth. but it will be different
kind of fashion. 1t will decide the color of the
dress; and the population of that country, by q
beautiful law. will wear white.
/ say these things as background to my SER
mon to show you that have no prim. precise,
prudish or cast-iron theories on the subject Of
set up her throne in this country. and at the
sound OF the timorels we are all ex-
pected to fall down and worship Her
affairs smoke with the sacrifice of the
bodies and souls Of ten thousand
ietims. In her temple four people stand in the
-.ssan loft. and from them there comes down a
Did drizzle Of music freezing on the ears of her
orshipers. This goddess of fashion has be-
eome a rival of the Lord Of heaven and EARTH
and it is high time we unlimbered our batteries
against this idolatry. When I come to count
che victims of fashion iud as many masculine
as feminine Men make an easy TRADE against
women as though she were the chief worshiper
at this idolatrous shrine, and no doubt some
have already cast glances at the more retired
part of the pew, their look a prophecy of a gen.
serous distribution. My sermon shall be as ap-
propriate for one end of the pew as for the
other
Men are as much the idolaters of fashion as
women. but they sacrifice on a different part of
the altar. With men, the fashion goes to cigars
and ub-rooms, and yachting parties, and wine
suppers. In the United States the men chew up
and smoke 500 900. 900 worth Of tobacco every
year. That is their fashion. In London not
long ago, a man died who started in life with
$780, 000 But he ate it all up in gluttonies, send
ing his agents to all parts of the earth for some
rare delicacy OF the palate, sometimes one plate
of food costing him three or four hundred dollars
He ate up his whole fortune, and had only one
guinea left With that he bought a woodcock
and had it dressed in the very best style ate it,
gave two hours for digestion, then walked out
on westminster bridge and threw himself into
the Thames and died, doing on large scale what
you and have often seen done on small scale
But men do not abstain from millinery and
elaboration Of skirts through any superiority of
simplicity. 1t is only because such appendages
would be q blockade to business. What would
sashes and trains three and half yards long do
In stock marketi And yet men are the dis
ciples of custom just as much as women. Some
of them wear boots so tight that they can hardly
walk in the path of righteousness, and there are
men who buy expensive suits of clothes and
never pay for them, and who 60 through the
streets IN great stripes Of color like animated
checker boards | say these things because I
want to show that l am impartial in my DISCOURSE
that both sexes in the language of the surro-
gates Office. 'share and share alike"
AS God may help me, am going to set forth
the evil effects Of improper Dress or an excessive
discipieship OF costume 1t is a simple truth
that you all know. although the pulpit has NOT
yet uttered it, that much of the womanly cos
tune of our time is the cause of the temporal