Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-12-11
JUST FROM JOppA.
THE BIRTHPLACE OF SEWING So
ClETIES.
DIR. TALMAGE ASKS THE JOPPA-
MANS sWHERE is DORCAS !!
GRAND WORDS ABOUT WOMEN.
cdr. TALMAGE AT JOPPA.

JoPPA, December To-day is memora-
BILE in the sacred history of Joppa, the Kew.
r. De Witt Talmage, DID,, preaching here
to company of Christian people of various
denominations on ''The Birthplace of Sew
ing Societies. He took for his text Acts
tx, 80: "And all the widows stood by him
weeping, and showing the coats and gar |
ments which Dorcas made while she was
with them.' The preacher said:
Christians of Joppa! Impressed as am
with your mosque, the first l ever saw, and
stirred as am with the fact that your har-
Dor once hoated the great RATS of Lebanon
cedar from which the temples at Jerusalem
were builded, Solomon's oxen drawing the
logs through this very town on the way to
Jerusalem, nothing can make me forget
that this Joppa was the birthplace of the
sewing society that has blessed the poor of
all succeeding ages in all the lands. The
disasters to your town when Judas Macca-
bssus set it on fire, and Napoleon had five
hundred prisoners massacred in your neigh
borhood, cannot make me forget that one
of the most magnificent charities OF the
centuries was started in this seaport by
Dorcas, woman with her needle embroid-
ering her name ineffaceably into the bene-
ficence of the world. l see her sitting IN
wonder home. In the doorway, and around
dDOub tAo OuA1OlhSt ohN III ohO AOOAAA 1890
she sits, are the pale faces of the poor. She
listens to their plant, 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 Grip
pie that comes crawling on his hands and
knees. She gives coat to this one, she
gives sandals to that one. With the gifts
she mingles prayers and tears and Chris
tan encouragement. Then she goes out to
be greeted on the street corners by those
whom she has blessed, and all through the
street the cry is heard: "Dorcas is COM
ingW The sick look mp gratefully in her
face as she puts her hand on the burning
brow, and the lost and the abandoned start
UP with hope as 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 see halo of light
about he1 brow, and trait of glory in her
pathway. That night half paid ship
and sees his little boy we'll clad, and says:
f'Where did these clothes come from?'
And they tell them, 'tDorcas has been here"
In another place woman is trimming
lamp; Dorcas bought the oil. In another
place, family that had not been at table
for many week are gathered now, for
Dorcas has brought bread.
But there is sudden pause in that wo-
mans ministry. They say: "Where is
Dorcas? Why, we haven't seen her for
many day. Where is Dorcas" And one
of these poor people goes up and knocks at
the door and finds the mystery solved. All
through the haunts of wretchedness, the
news comes, "Dorcas is sickP' No bulletin
flashing from the palace gate telling the
stages of kings disease is more anxiously
awaited for than the news from this sick
benefactress. Alas! for Joppal there is
wailing. wailing. That voice which has
uttered so many cheerful words is hushed ;
that hand which had made SO many gar
ments for the poor is cold and still; the star
which had poured light into the midnight
of wretchedness 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 q sick child and no balm
wherever there is hunger and no bread;
wherever there is guilt and no commisera-
ton; wherever there is broken heart and
no comfort, there are despairing looks and
streaming eyes, and frantic gesticulations
as they cry: 'tDorcas is deadp' They send
for the apostle Peter, who happened to be
in the suburbs of this place stopping with g
tanner by the name of Simon. Peter urges
his way through the crowd around the
door, and stands in the presence of the dead.
What expostulation and grief all about
himl Here stand some of the poor people,
who show the garments which this poor wo-
man had made for them. Their grief can
not be appeased. The apostle Peter wants
TO perform miracle. He will not do it
amidst the excited crowd, so he kindly Or
ders that the whole room be cleared. The
door is shut against the populace. TIE
apostle stands now with the dead. Oh, it
is serious moment, you know, when you
are alone with lifeless body! The apostle
gets down on bis knees aud prays, and then
be comes to the lifeless form of this one all
ready for the sepulcher, and in the strength
of Him who is the resurrection he exclaims,
s'Tabitha, arisep' There is stir in the
fountains of life; the heart hutters, the
nerves thrill; the cheek hushes; the eye
pens; she sits up
We see in this subject Dorcas the disciple;
Dorcas the benefactress; Dorcas the lament
ed; Dorcas the resurrected.
If had not seen that word disciple in my
text, l would have known this woman was
a Christian. Such music as that never came
from q heart which is not chorded and
strung by divine grace. Before show you
the peedlework of this woman, / want to
show you her Iegenerated heart, the source
of pure life and of all Christian charities.
I wish that the wives and mothers and
daughters and sisters of all the earth would
initiate Dorcas in her diseipeship. Before
you cross the threshold of the hospital, be-
fore you enter upon the temptations and
trials OF tomorrow, charge you, in the
name of God and by the turmoila and tumult
of the Judgment day, oh women! that you
attend to the first, last and greatest duty of
your life-the seeking for God and being at
A. 81, u
sound there will be an uproar, and wreck
of mountain and continent, and no human
arm can help you. Amidst the raising OF
the dead, and amidst the boiling of yondel
z sea- End amidst the live, leaping thundere
of the flying heavens, calm and placid will
be every woman's heart who hath put her
trust in Christ; calm, Notwithstanding all
the tumult, as though the fire in the heav-
eds were only the gildings of an autumn al
sunset, as though the peal Of the trumpet
were only the harmony of an orchestra, as
though the awful voices of the sky were but
group of friends bursting through gate
way at eventime with laughter. and shout
ing "Dorcas, the disciple !'- Would Gcd
that every Mary and every Martha would
his day sit down at the feet Of Jssusl
Further, we see Dorcas, the benefactress
History has told the story Of the crown; the
toral poet, with his verses full of the red
olence of clover tops, and rustic with the
silk of the corn, has sung the praises of the
plow. tell you the praises of the needle.
From the fig leaf robe prepared in the gar
den Of Eden to the last stitch taken on the
garment for the poor, the needle has
wrought wonders of kindness, gcnerosi Y
and benefactio0. 1t adorned the ei4dla II
the high priest; it fashioned the curtains in
the ancient tabernacle; it cushioned the
chariots of King Solomon; it provided sbs
robes of Queen Elzabetb; aud in high
places aud in low places, by the fire of tie
pioneers back log and under the fash IF
The chandelier, everywhere, it has clothed
nakedness, it has preached the Gospel, it
has overcome hosts Of penury and want
with the war-cry of 'Stitch, stitch, sfitch!"
Tic operatives have found livelihood by
it, and through it the mansions of the EN-