Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-08-10
TABERNACLE PULPIT.
DIR. TALMAGE'oN THE TRAGEDY
OF DRESS.
Crimes Innumerable Have Their Origin
In the Cravings OF Men and Women
for Fine Dress-Arnold betrayed His
Country for His wIfe's Attire.

being !. Pet, iii; ga: Whose adorn-
ing let it not be that outward adorn-
ing of plating the hair, and the wear
ing of gold or OF putting on of APP
parel but let it be the hidden man of
the heart"
That we should 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 God never made
wave but he gilded it with golden
sunbeams, or tree but he garlanded
it with blossoms, or a sky but he
studded it with stars, or allowed even
the smoke of furnace to ascend but
columned and turreted and domed and
scrclled it into outlines of indescrib-
able gracefulness. When / see the
apple orchards of the spring and the
pGgeantry of the autumnal forests l
come to the conclusion that If 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 stamen
of a water lily? Why, when the day
departs, does it let the folding doors
of heaven stay open so long when it
might go in so quickly? One summer
morning saw an army of a million
spears, each one adorned with dia-
mond of the first water-I mean the
grass with the dew on it. When the
prodigal came home his father not
only put a coat on his back but jew
elry on his hand Christ wore
beard Paul, the bachelor
apostle, not afflicted with any
sentimentality, admired the arrange
ment of a woman's hair when he
said, in his epistle, IF woman have
long hair, it is a glory unto her."
There will be fashion in heaven as
on earth, but it will be a different
kind of fashion. 1t will decide the
color of the dress; and the population
of that country, by a beautiful law,
will wear white. say these things
as background to my sermon, to
show you that have no prim precise,
prudish or cast iron theories on the
subject of human apparel But the
goddess of fashion has set up her
throne in this world, and at the sound
of the timbrels we are all expected to
fall down and worship The old and
new testament of her Bible are the
fashion plates. Her affairs smoke
with the sacrifice of the bodies, minds
and souls of ten thousand victims. In
her temple four people stand in the
organ loft, and from them there comes
down a cold drizzle of music, freezing
on the ears of her worshipers This
goddess of fashion has become a rival
of the Lord of heaven and earth, and
it is high time that we unlimbered our
batteries against this idolatry. When
! come to count the victims of fash
ion, l find as many masculine as femi-
nine. Men make an easy TRADE against
woman, as though she were the chief
wolshiper at this idolatrous shrine,
and no doubt some men in the more
conspicuous part of the pew have al
ready cast glances at the more retired
part of the pew, their look prophecy
of generous distribution. Ny SER
mon shall be as appropriate for one
end of the pew as for the other.
Men are as much the idolators of
fashion as women, but they sacrifice
on different part of the altar With
me n the fashion goes to cigars and
club rooms and yachting parties and
wine suppers. In the United States
the men chew up and smoke one hun
dred millions of dollars worth of to-
bacco every year That is their fash
ion. In London, not long ago, a man
died who started in life with seven
hundred and fifty thousand dollars,
but he ate it all up in gluttonies,
sending his agents to all parts of the
earth for some rare delieacy for the
| palate, sometimes one plate of food
| costing him three or four hundred
dollars lie ate up his whole fortune
and only one guinea left; with that he
| bought woodcock, and had il
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 a small
scale. But men do not abstain from
millinery and elaboration of skirt
through any superiority of humility.
1t is only because such apendages
would be a blockade to business.
! What would sashes and trains three
and half yards long do in stock
market? And yet men are the disci-
piles of fashion just as much as
women. Some of them wear boots so
tight they can hardly walk in the
paths of righteousness And there
are men who buy expensive suits OF
clothes and never pay for them, and
who go through the streets in great
! stripes of color like animated checker.
boards sag these things because
want to show you that am impartial
m my discourse, and that both sexes,
In the language of the surrogate's of
fee. shall share and share alike" As
God may help me, i shall show you
what are the destroying and beautiful
| influences of inordinate fashion