The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-02-06
THE HOME OF DORCAS.
Sermon Delivered by Rev. T. De-
Witt Talmage at Joppa.
Che Life and Work of the Pioneer in IN
ostentatiOus Eleemosynary Work
Reviewed-Her Influence
Perennial One.

there he delivered the following ser
mon, taking for his text:
And all the widows stood by him weeping
and showing the coats and garments which
Dorcas made while she was with them.-Acts
tx, 80.
Christians of Joppa! Impressed as
am with your mosque, the first I ever
saw, and stirred as l am with the fact
that your harbor once fioated 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 in all
lands. The disasters to your town when
Judas Maccab8us set it on fire, and Ma
poleon had five hundred prisoners mas
sacred in your neighborhood, can OF
make me forget that one of the most
magnificent charities of the centuries
was started in this seaport by Dorcas, a
woman with her needle embroidering
her name ineffaceably into the benefi-
cence of the world. l see her sitting in
yonder home. In the doorway, and around
about the building, and in the room
where 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 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 mingles prayers and
tears and Christian 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 comingI" 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 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 a halo
of light about her brow and trail of
glory in her pathway. That night a
half-paid shipwright climbs the hill
and reaches home, and sees his little
boy well clad and says: ''Where did
these clothes come from?" And they
tell him, ''Dorcas has been here In
another place a woman is trimming a
lamp; Dorcas bought the oil. In
another place, family that had not
been at table for many a week are
gathered now, for Dorcas has brought
bread.
But there is sudden pause in that
woman's ministry. They say: "Where
is Dorcas? Why, we haven't seen her
for many day. Where is Dorcas?"
And ono Of these poor people goes up
and knocks at the door and finds the
mystery solved. All through the
haunts of Indebtedness the news comes.
s'Dorcas is sick!' No bulletin flashing
from the palace gate, telling the stages
OF Kings disease, is more anxiously
waited for than the news from this sick
benefactress. Alas for Joppa! there is
wailing. That voice which
has uttered so many cheerful words is
hushed; that hand which has made so
many garments for the poor is cold and
still; the stars which had poured light
into the midnight of Indebtedness is
by the binding mists that go
up from the river of death. In every
God-forsaken place in this town; wher-
ever there is sick child and no balm:
wherever there is guilt and no com
wherever there is a broken
heart and no comfort, there are despair
ing looks and streaming eyes and fran
tic gesticulations as they cry:
''Dorcas is dead!"
They send for the apostle Peter. who
happens to be in the suburbs of this
place, stopping with tanner-Simon
Oy name. Peter urges his way through
the crowd around the door and stands in
the presence of the dead. What expos-
bulation and grief all about him! Here |
stand some of the poor people, who show
The garments which this poor woman
had made for them. Their grief can not |
be appeased. The apostle Peter wants |
70 perform a miracle. He will not do il |
amidst the excited crowd, so he kindly |
orders that the whole room be cleared |
The door is shut against the populaee. |
The apostle stands now with the dead. |
Oh, 1T is serious moment, you know.
when you are alone with lifeless bodvi
The apostle gets down on his knees and
1rays, and then he comes to the lifeless
orm of this one all ready for the sepul-
her, and in the strength of Him who is
he resurrection he exclaims: 'sTabitba.
lriseF There is stir in the fountains
# life; the heart flutters: the nerves
brill; the cheek Pushes; the eye opens:
he sits up!
We see in this subject Dorcas the
lsciple, Dorcas the benefactress, Dor
as the lamented, Dorcas the resur-
ected.
II had not seen that word disciple in
~ text, would have known this wom-
n was a Christian. Such music as that
ever came from a heart which is not
horded and strung by Divine grace.
'efore show you the needlework of
his woman want to show YOU her re-
enerated heart, the source of a pure
Lfe and all Christian charities. wish
hat the wives and mothers and dauph-
srs and sisters of all the earth would
initiate Dorcas in her discipleship. Be-
IRE you cross the threshold of the hos
ltal, before you enter upon the tempta-