The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1894-08-10
THE IDOL OF FASHION
REV. DR.. TALMAGE DEPlCT3 THE
TRAGEDY OF DRESS.

EIFlAS Va bASos'
BROOKLYN, Aug. 5.-Rev. Dr. Tai
mage who is now in Melbourne on his
round the world tour, has chosen as the
subject of his sermon today through the
press THE Tragedy of Dress, the text
selected being Peter ill., 3, 4, "Whose
adjoining let it not be that outward
adjoining of plating the haiS and the
wearing 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 sunbeanls, or a tree but he gar
landed it with blossoms, or sky but he
studded it with stars, OF allowed even the
smoke Of furnace to ascend but he
oolumned and turreted and domed and
scrolled it into outlines Of understandable
gracefulness. When l see the apple or
chards Of the spring and the pageantry
of the autumnal forests, l come to the
conclusion that, if nature does ever join
the church, while she may be Quaker
in the silence Of her worship, she never
will be a Quaker in the style Of her
dress. Why the notches Of a fern leaf
or the stamen of 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 I saw an army
of million spears, each one adorned
with a diamond of the first water-I
mean the grass, with the dew on it.
When the prodigal came home, his IA
ther not only put coat on his back,
but jewelry on his hand. Christ wore
a beard Paul, the bachelor apostle, not
afflicted with any sentimentality, adj
mired the arrangement of @ woman s
hair when he said in his epistle, ''If a
woman have long hair, it is a glory I'M
to her. "
There will be a fashion in heaven as
on earth, but it will be q different kind
of fashion. 1t will decide the color of
the dress, and the population of that
country, by beautiful law, will wear
white. l say these things as back
ground to my sermon to show you that
l 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 ex
pected 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 10, 900 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 rival of the
Lord of heaven and earth, and it is high
time that we unlimbered our batteries
against this jdolatry. When l come to
count the victims of fashion, l find as
many masculine as feminine Men make
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 a generous distribution.
My sermon shall be as appropriate for
one end Of the pew as for the other.
Men are as much the idolators of fash
ion as women, but they sacrifice on
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 800, 900, 900 worth of to-
bacco every year. That is their fashion
In London not long ago 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
$400 He ate up his whole fortune and
had only guinea left. With that he
bought a woodcock and had it 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 small scale. But men do
not abstain from millinery and elabora-
ton of skirt through any superiority of
humility. 1t is only because such ap-
pendages would be a blockade to bust
ness. What would sashes and trains 3 a
yards long do in stock market? And
yet men are the disciples 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. say these things because l
want to show you that am impartial
in my discourse, and that both sexes
in the language of the surrogate's Office,
shall "share and share alike" As God
may help me, shall show you what are
the destroying and beautiful influences
of inordinate fashion.
The first baleful influence / notice is