Connecticut western news., 1889-12-04
CHARITIES OF THE NEEDLE.
Dr. Talmage Breaches Tn Joppa on the
 Sewing Society.
Christians of Various Denominations Listen to the Eminent Divine's Discourse on Charity That Had It's Birth in Sacred Joppa-A Record of Female Benevo- fence.

Charity That Had Its Birth in Sacred
 Joppa-A Record of Female Benevo-
 fence.
 Special dispatch 70 the Boston Herald.]
 JopPA, Dec. ], 1ss9.--To-day is memorable in the sacred history of Joppa, Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.. preaching here to company of Christian people of various de- nominations on 1.-The Birthplace of Sewing Societies" He took for his text Acts iN., 39; "And all the widows stood by him weeping, and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas made while she was with them." The preacher said:
 Christians of Joppa: Impressed as I am with your mosque, the first l ever saw, and stirred as l am with the fact that your har- Dor once f1oated the great rafts of Lebanon cedar from which the temples at Jel usaiem were buiided, Solomon's oxen drawing the logs through this very town on the way to this Joppa was the birthplace of the sewing society that has blessed the poor of all sue ceedns ages in all lands. The disasters to your town when Judas Maccabeus set it on fire. and Napoleon had 300 prisoners massa- cred in your neighborhood, cannot make me forget that one of the most magnificent char ities of the centuries Was started in this sea- port by Dorcas, q woman with her needle embroidering her name inefiaceably into the beneticence of the world. I see her sitting in NOuUGI iOUlt. LII tue uOOTWuy, dnu around about the building, and in the room where she sits are the pale faces of the poor. She listens to their paint, she pities their woe, she makes garments for them, she adjusts the manufactured articles to suit the bent form of this invalid woman, and to the cripple that comes crawling on his hands and knees. She gives coat to this one, she gives sandals to that one. With the gifts she uiingles prayers and tears and Christian encouragement. Then she goes rk hn n.l hn cfn hV those whom she has blessed. and all through the streets the cry is heard: "Dorcas is com ingv The sick look up gratefully in her face as she puts her hand on. the burning brow, and the lost and the abandoned start up with hope HIS they hear her gentle voice, as though an angel had addressed them; and as she goes out the lane, eyes half put out with sin think they q halo of light about | her brow and a trai! of glory in her pathway. That night a half-paid shipwright climbs the we'll clad, and says: ''Where did these | clothes come from?" And they tell him, ''Dorcas has been here." In another place, | a family that had not been at table for many | a week are gathered now for DOrcas has | brought bread.
 But there is a sudden pause in that wo- mars ministry. They say: "Where is Dor cas?' Why, we haven't seen her for many a day. Where is Dorcas" And one of these poor people goes up and knocks at the l through the haunts of wretchedness the news comes, ''Dorcas is sck!" No bulletin flashing from the palace gate, telling the stages of Kings disease, Is more anxiously benefactress. Alas for Joppa! there is wail- ing, wailing. That voice which has uttered so many cheerful words is hushed, that hand which had made so many garments for the poor is cold and still, the star which had poured light into the midnight of wretched- ness is dimmed by the binding mists that go up from the river of death. In every God forsaken place in this town, wherever there is sick child and no balm, wherever there is hunger and no bread, wherever there there is broken heart and no comfort, there are despairing looks and streaming eyes and frantic gesticulations as they cry "Dorcas is dead!"
 They send for the apostle Peter, who hap pened to be in the suburbs of this place, stop- Peter urges his way through the crowd l around the door. and stands in the presence of the dead. What approximation and griet all about him! Here stand some of the poor people, who show the garments which this poor woman had made for them. Their grief cannot be appeased. The apostle Peter wants to perform miracle. He will not do it amidst the excited crowd, so he kindly orders that the whole room be cleared. The door is shut against the populace. The apos- t'e stands now with the dead. Oh, it is | serious moment, you know, when you arc alone with lifeless body! The apostle gets down on his knees and prays, and then he Comes to the ]ifeless form of this one al ready for the sepulchre, and in the strength of him who Is the resurrection, he exclaims ''Tabitha, arise!" There is a stir in the foun tains of life; the heart flutters; the nerves thrill the cheek flushes; the eye opens; she sits up!
 We see in this subject Dorcas the disciple Dorcas the benefactress, Dorcas the lamented | Dorcas the resurrected.
 If had not seen that word disciple in my text would have known this woman was [ | Christian. Such music as that never came from heart which was not chorded ant strung by divine grace. Before 1 show you the need!ework of this woman I want to show you her regenerated heart, the source of { pure life and of all Christian charities. wish and sisters of all the earth would initiate Dorcas in her discipleship. Before you cross the threshold of the hospital, before you enter upon the temptations and trials of to- and by the turmoil and tumult of the judg ment day, women !! that you attend to the first, last and greatest duty of your life-the seeking for God and being at peace with him
 When the trumpet shall sound, there vii be an upI oar, aud wreck of mountain arc continent. and no human arm can help you Amidst the rising of the dead, and amidst the boiling of wonder sea, and amidst the live leaping thunders of the flying heavens calm and placid will be every wOman's heart who hath put her trust i'll Christ; calm, not withstanding all the tumult, as though tho fire in the heavens were only the gildings o, an autumnal sunset, as though the peal of tho trumpet were only the harmony of an orches tra, as though the awful voices of the sky were but group of friends bursting througf gateway ut eventime, with laughter, ant shouting "Dorcas, the discipe!' Would God that every Mary and every Martha would this day sit down at the feet of Jesus!
 Further, we see Dorcas the benefactress History has told the story of the crown; tn, epic poet has sung of the sword? the pastora poet, with bis verses full of the redolence O clover tops, and a-rustle with the silk of tht corn, has sung the praises of the plough. tell you the praises of the needle. From tn, fig eat robe prepared in the garden of Eder to the last stitch taken on the garment for th' poor, the needle has wrought wonders O kindness, generosity and benefacton. l adorned the girdie of the high priest; i fashioned the curtains in the ancient taber nacle; it cushioned the chariots of King Solomon; it provided the robes of Queer Elizabeth; and in high places and in low places, by the fire of the pioneers back lot and under the flash of the chandelier, every where, it has clothed nakedness, 1t ha preached the gospel, it has overcome host of penury and want with the war cry O '.Stitch, stitch, stitch!' ) The operatives have found livelihood b, it, and through it the mansions of the em ptoyer have been constructed. Amidst th' greatest triumphs in all ages and lands SC down the conquests of the needle. l admi , its crimes; admit it's cruelties. It has hat more martyrs than the fire; it has puncturet the eye; it has pierced the side; it has strucl weakness into the lungs; it has sent madness into the brain; it has filled the potter's field it has pitched whole armies of the sutferin; , into crime and wretchedness and woe. Bu t1,,%I f.,I1- -Ss,r~ l,o