The Penn's Grove record., 1894-08-10
REV. DIR. TALMAGB.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON.


TEXT: "Whose adorning LET it not bethat
outward adjoining of plating the hair II
the wearing OF gold or of putting on of APP
parel, but let it be the hidden man Of the
heart. II Peter ill.,, 8, 4.
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, he
beautifully and gracefully appareted is
proved by the fact that God never made a
wave but He gilded 1t with golden sunbeams,
or a tree but He garlanded it with blossoms,
or a sky but He studded it with stars, or al
lowed even the smoke of a furnace 10 ascend
but He columned and turreted n domed
and scrolled it into outlines OF indescribable
gracefulness. When I see the apple or
chards of the spring and the pageantry Of
the autumnal forests, l come to the conclu-
sion that, if nature does ever Join the church,
while she may be a Quaker in the silence of
her worship, she never will be a Quaker in
the style OF her dress. Why the notches of
q fern leaf or the stamen of a water hly3
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 a
diamond of the first water-I mean the
grass, with the dew on it. When the
prodlgal came home, his father not only
put a coat on his back, but iewelry on his
hand. Christ wore n beard. Paul, the
bachelor apostle, not afflicted with any
sentimentality, admired the arrangement OF
a woman's hair when he said in his epistle,
'tIf a woman have long hair, 1t Is a glory
unto her."
There will be a fashion in heaven as on
earth, but 1t 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. l say these
things as a background to my sermon to
show you that l have no prlm, precise,
prudish or east 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 10000 victims. In her temple four
people stand in the organ ioft. and from
them there comes down a cold drizzle oil
muse, 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 l come to
count the victims of fashion, 1 find as many
masculine as feminine, Men max an easy
TRADE against woman, as though she were
the chief worshiper at this idolatrous
shrine. and no doubt some men in the more
conspicuous part of the pew have already
cast glances at the more retired part of the
pew, their look a prophecy of generous dis
tribution. My sermon shall be as appropriate
for one end of the pew as forthe other
Men are as much the idolators of fashion
as women, but they sacrifice on a different
part OF the altar, With men the fashion
goes TO cigars and clubrooms and yachting
parties and wine suppers. In the United
States the men chew up and smoke 500,
600, 900 worth of tobacco every year. That
is their fashion. In London not long g a
man died who started in life with $3.50, 900,
but he ate it all up in gluttonies, sending his
agents to all parts OF the earth for some rare
delicacy for the palate. sometimes one plate
of food costing him $500 or $500. He ate
up his whole fortune and had only a guinea
left. With hat he bought a woodcock and
had it dressed in the very best style, a.. it,
gave two hours for digestion, then val ked
out on Westminster bridge and threw himself
into the Thames and died, doing on a large
scale what you and l have often seen don't
on n small scale. But men do not abstain
from millinery and elaboration of skirt
through any superiority of humility. 1t is
only because such appendages would be @
blockade to business. What would sashes
and trains three and a half yards long do IL
a stock market? And yet men are the dis
cipies 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 suit!
of clothes and never pay tor them, and who
go through the streets in great stripes o
color like animated checkerboards. L say
these things because l want to show you thai
/ am impartial in my discourse, and tina
both sexes, In the language of the surro
gates office, shall "share and share alike
As God may help me-, ! shall show you what
are the destroying n beautiful influences
OF inordinate fashion.
The first baneful influence l notice is II
fraud, illimitRble and ghastly. Do you know
that Arnold of the revolution proposed &c
sell his country in oS'ieE to get money tC
| support his wife's wardrobe? l declare here
before God and this people that the Atost Il
keep up expensive establishments IN 'hi'
country is sending more business men tt
temporal perdition than all other causes
combined. What was it that sent Gilman Il
the penitentiary and Philadelphia Morton tc
the watering Of stock, and the life Insurance
| presidents to perjured statements aboui
their assets, and has completely upset oul
American finances? h was It that over
threw the United States secretary at Wash
ington. the crash of whose fall shook the
| contlutntE HUI why Snuli. | go 10 these Ia
| nous deiauitings to show what men will dc
in order TO keep up great home style and ex-
pensive wardrobe when you amt l know
| scores of men who are put 10 their wits end
\ and are dashed from January to December
in the attempt Our politicians may theot
ize until the expiration OF their terms OF o.
fee as to the best way Of improving our
monetary condition in this country 1t vii
- - -., nVI tkfnVa will F4 no hHffnl
| until we can learn TO put on our heads an
| backs and feet and hands no more than We
can pay for.
There are clerks in stores and banks on
| limited salaries who, In the vain attempt to
| keep the wardrobe OF their family as SNOWY
as other folks wArdrohes, are dying OF nuns
and diamonds and shawls and high hats, and
| they have nothing left except what they give
TO cigars and wine suppers, and they die be-
| fore their time, and they will expect us min
listers to preach about them as though they
were the victims OF early piety, and after a
| high class funeral, with silver handles at the
side of the coffin of extraordinary bright
| ness, It will b. found out that the under
taker is cheated out of his legitimate ex'
penses. Do not send to me to preach the
funeral sermon Of a man who dies ike that
| l will blurt out the whole trutn and tell that
he was strangled 10 death by his wife's RIB
| bons. Our countries are dressed TO death.
You are not surprised TO find that tine put
ting up one public building in New lorS
cost millions OF dollars more than II ought
| to have cost when you find that the man
who gave out the contracts paid more than
$4,000 for his daughters wedding uress,
Cashmeres of a THOUSAND dollars each ar,
not rare on Broadway. 1t Is estimated that
there are 10, 900 women in these two cittet
who nave expended on their personal array
$4,000 a year.
What are men to do in order TO keep ur
such home wardrobes2 Steal2 That is thC
only respectable thing they can dol During
the last fifteen years there have been in
Vulnerable fine businesses shipwreeked on
the wardrobe. The temptation comes 10
this way A man thinks more OF his family
than OF all the world outside, and II they
spend the evening in describing to him tx
superior wardrobe OF the family across "a
street that they cannot bear the sight OF ~
man Is thrown on his callantry and on ms
pEide OF family, and without tran9latins MS
feelings into plain language he goes into eN,
.ortion and issuing false stock and skilltul
penmanship in writing somebody else:
name at the foot Ola promissory note, and
they all go down together-the husband "a
the prison, the wife to the sewing machine,
the children to be taken care OF by thosa who
were called poor relations. or. for somenew
Shakespeare to arise and write the tragedy
Of human clothes!
Will you forgive me II l say in terses
49, -1.alII1 eE.k nlraa 81 Tho man hm va "