Democratic messenger., 1894-08-11

train skirt. long enough to drag up tho
church aisle. the husbands store, Office,
shop. factory. fortune and the admira
tion of half the people i'll the buildingl
Men and women come late To church 10
show their clothes. People sitting down
in pew or taking up IA hymnbook. all
absorbed at the same time i'll personal
array. 10 sing:
Rise, my soul. and stretch thy wings:
Thy better portion trace.
Rise from transiory things
Tow&rI heaven. Thy native place.
adopt the Episcopaliam prayer and
say, Good Lord. deliver u.s.
Insatiatc fashion also bclittles the in
tellect Our minds are enlarged or they
dwindle just i'll proportion 10 the i'm
por;ancc of the subject on which we
constantly dwell. Can you imagine any
thing morc dwarfing To the human in
tellect than the study of fashion: | see
men on the street who. Judging from
their elaboration. think must have
taken two hourS to arrange their ap-
parel. After few years of that kind
of absorption. which one of McAllister's
magnifying glasses will be powerful
enough To make the mans character
visible? They all land i'll idiocy
have seen men AT the summer wa
tering places. through fashion, the mere
wreck of what they once Were. Sallow
of check. Meager of limb Hollow at
the chest Showing no animation save
i'll rushing across a room To pick up u
lady's fam. Simpering along the corri-
dors the same compliments they SIM
pered 90 years ago \ New York law
yer at United States hotel, Saratoga.
within our hearing. rushed across Il room
10 say 10 Il sensible woman. "iou are
rs sweet as paaches!" The fools of fash
ion are myriad. Fashion not only de-
stroys the body. but it makes idiotic the
intellect.
Yet. my friends. have given you
only the mildcr phase of this evil IL
shuts great multitude ont of heaven.
The first peal Of thunder that shook 81
mai declared Thou shalt have no other
God before iac. and you will have To
choose between the goddess of fashion
and the Christian God There are Il great
many seats i'll heaven, and they are all
easy seats. hut not one seat for the dew
otee of fashion. Heaven is for meek and
quiet spirits Heaven is for those who
think more of their souls than of their
bodies. Heaven is for those who have
more joy in Christian charity than i'll
dry goods religion. Why. if you. with
your idolatry of fashion, should some
how get into heaven. you would he for
putting a French rocf OH the ''house of
many mansions. Give up this idolatiy
of fashion or give up heaven. What
would You do standing beside the Count
ess of Huntington, whose joy il was To
build chapcls for the poor. or with that
Christian woman of Boston who fed
/, 500 children of the street ut Faneuil
hall on New Years day. giving out as u
sort of doxology ut the end of the meet
ing u pair of shoes TO each one of them.
or those Decreases of modern society who
have consecratcd their needles to the
Lord. and who will get eternal reward
for every stitch they take.
Oh, men and women. give mp the
idolatry of fashion. The rivalries and
the competitions of such life are Il
stupendous wrctchedncSs. You will al
ways find some one with brighter array
and with more palatial residence, and
with lavender kid gloves that make !.
tighter fit. And if You buy this thing
and wear it you will wish yon had
bought something else and worn it,
And the frcts of such life will bring
the crows feet 10 your temples before
they are due. and when You come to die
you will have Il miserable time. have
seen men and women of fashion die,
and never saw one of them die we'll
The trappings off, there they lay on thu
tumbled pillow. and there We're just
two things that bothered them-a vast
ed life AMI IA coming eternity. could
not pacify them. for their body, mind
and soul had been exhausted in the wor-
ship of fashion, and they could not ap-
preciate the gospel. When / knelt by
their bedside, they We're mumbling out
their regrets and saying: 20 God!
o God!' Their garments hung up i'll
the wardrobe. never again TO be seen by
them. Without any exception. so far a
my memory serves me. they died with
out hope and went into eternity unpre-
pared.
The most ghastly dcathbeds on earth
are the one where Il man dies of delir-
ium tremcns and the other where a
woman dies after having sacrificed all
her faculties of body, mind and soul in
the worship of fashion My friends. we
must appear i'll Judgment to answer for
what we have Worn on our bodies as
well as for what repcntances we have
exercised with our souls.
On that day | see coming i'll Bean
Brummcl of the last century, without
his CLOAK. like which all England got II
cloak, and without his cane, like which
snuffbox, like which all England got a
snuffbox-hc. the fop of the ages, par
ticular about everything but his morals,
and Aaron Burr without the letters
that down To old age he showed in pride
TO prove his early wicked gallantrics,
and Absalom without his hair, and
Marchioness Pompadour without her
titles, and Mrs. Arnold. the belle of
Wall street, when that was the center
of fashion. without her fripperies of
vesturc.
And III great hagSardness they shall
go away into eternal expatriation, while
among the queens of heavenly society
will be found Nasnti, who wore the
modest veil before the palatial bacchana-
lians. and Hannah, who annually made
little coat for Samuel at the temple,
and grandmother Lois, the ancestress
of Timothy, who initiated her virtue,
and Mary. who gave Jesus Christ 10 the
world. and many of you, the wives and
mothers and sisters and daughters of the
present Christian church. who, through
great tribulation. are entering into the
Kingdom of God. Chrissannounced who
would make up the royal family of
heaven when he said. whatsoever do
eth the will of Cod the same is my
brother. ay sister, my mother.