DRY-GOODS RELIGION.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 156, 29 June 1878, Page 4

DRY-GOODS RELIGION.

BY THE REV. T. DE WITT TALMAGE, D.D. "Whose adorning, let it not be . . . • putting on of apparrel." — I Peter, iii., S. My subject is dry goods religion. That we should all ba 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 apparelled, ia proved by the fact that God never made a wave but be gilded it with golden sunbeams, or a tree, but he garlanded it with blo3soms. or a sky but he studded it with starts, or allowed even the smoke of a furnace to ascend, but he columned and turreted and domed, and scrolled it into outlines of indescribable gracefulness. When I see the apple-orchards of the spring, and the pageantry of the autumnjal forests, I come to the conclusion that lif Nature ever doeß join the Church, while she mny be a Quaker in the silence of her worship, she never will be a Quaker in the style of her dreis. Why the notches of a fern leaf, or tpe Stamen of a water-lily ? Why, wh&n the day departs, does it let the foldingdoors of heaven stay open so lon'g, when it might go in so quickly ? One summer morning I saw AN ARMY OF A MILLION SPEARS, ; each one adorned with a diamond tof the first water, — I mean the grass with the dew on it. When the prodigal came home, his father not only putjn coat on his back, but jewellery on his band. Christ wore a benrd. Paul, the batchelor apostle, not afflicted with any sentimentality, admired the arrangement of a woman's bair, when he said in his epistle "if a woman have long hair it is a glory unto her." There will be fashion in heaven as upon earth, but it will be a different kind of fashion. It will decide the color of the dress; and the population of that country, by a beautiful -law, will wear white. I say these things ss a background to my sermon, to show you that I have bo prim, precise, prudish, or cast-iron theories on the subject of human apparel. But the goddess of fashion hW set up her throne in this country, ahd at the sound of the timbrels we are all expected to fall down and worship. The old and new testament of hJsr bible are u Madame Dmorest's Magazine," and "Harper's Bazaar." Her altars smoke with the sacrifice of the bodies 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 worshippers. The goddessFashion has becomea rival of the Lord of heaven and earth, and it is high time that we unlimbered our batteries against this idolatry. When I come to count the victims of fashion I find as many masculine as feminine. Men make an easy tirade, against woman, as though she were the chief worshipper at this idolatrous shrine, and no doubt some men in the more conspicuous part ofthe pew have already cast glances at the more retired part of the pew, their look a prophecy of a generous distribution to others of the more cogent parts of my discourse. My eermon shall be as appropriate for one end of the pew as. for the other. MEN ABE AB MUCH THE IDOLATERS OF FASHION AS WOMEN, but: they sacrifice on a different part! of the alter. With men, the fashion goes to cigars and club-rooms and yachting parties and wine suppers. In the United States of America the men chew up and smoke one hundred -millions bf dollars' worth of tobacco every year. That is their peculiar fashion. In London, not long ago, a man died who started in life with seven hundred and fifty dollars, but he ate it all up ;in gluttonies, sending his agents to all parts of (be earth for some rare deli. cacy for the palate, sometimes one plate of food costing him three or four hundred dollars. He ate up his whole fortune, and had only one guinea left : with that he bought a woodcock, and had it dressed in the very beat style, ate it, gave two hours for digestion, then walked out on Westminster Bridge and threw himself into the Thames, and died, doing on a large scale what you and I bave often Been done bn a small scale. But men do not abstain from millinery and elaboration of skirt through any superiority of humility. It is only because such appendages would be a blockade to business. What would sashes and trains three and a half yards long do in a stock market ? And yet men are the desoiples of fashion just as mueh as the women. Some of them wear boots so tight that they can hardly walk ia paths of righteousness. And there are men who BUT EXPENSIVE SUITS OF CLOTHES AND NKYBB FAT FOK THEM, and who go through the street in great stripes of colour like ! animajLed_checkerboards. Then there are multitudes of men who, not satisfied with the bodies the Lord gave them, are padded so that tbeir shoulders shall be square, carrying round a small cotton plantation. And I understand a great many of them now paint thoir eyebrows and their lips, and I have heard from good authority that there are multitudes of men in Brooklyn and New York — men— things have got to such an awful pass— multitudes of men wearing corsets ! I say these things beoause I want to show you that lam impartial in my discourse, anil that both sexes, in the language of the Surrogate's office, shall "share and share alike." As God may help me, I shall show you what are the destroying and dreadful influences of inordinate «

fashion. Ttie first baneful influence! I notice is in fraud, illimitable aid ghaßtly. Do you know that Arnold of the Revolution proposed to sell bis country in order to get money to support his wife's wardrobe? I declare here l^efore God and tbis people that the effort to keep up expfn* sive establishments in thia country is sending more business men to temporal perdition than ail other causes combined. What was it that sent Gilman to the penitentiary, and Philadelphia Morton to the watering pf stocks, and the life insurance presidents to perjured statements about their assets, and has completely upset otir American finances ? What was it that overthrew Belknap, the United States Secretary at Washington, the crash 'of whose fall6hook the Continent ? But why should I go to these famous deffiultings to show what men will do in order to keep up great home style and expensive wardrobe, when you ahd I know Bcores of men who are put 'to their wit's end, and are lashed frdm January to December in the attempt. Our Washing politicians may theorise until the expiration of their terms of office as to the best way of improving our monetary condition of this country; it will be be of no use, and things will be no better until we learn to put bn our heads, and backs, and feet, and hands. NO MORE THAN WE CAN PAT FOB. There are clerks in stores and banks on limited salaries, who, in the vain attempt to keep the wardrobe of their family as showy as other folk's wardrobes, ar9 dyingiof muffs, Bnd diamonds and camel's hair shawls, and high hats, and they have nothing left except what tbey give to cigars and wine suppers, and they die before their time, and tbey will expect us ministers to preach about them as though they were the victims of early piety, ahd after a high-class funeral, with' 'silver handles »t the side of their coffin, of extraordinary brightness, it will, be found out that the. undertaker is cheated out his of legitimate expenses ! • Danot sent me to preach the funeral sermon of a than who dies like tbat. I will blurt out the whole truth and tell that he was strangled to death by his wife's ribbons ! The country is dressed lo death. You are not surprised to find that the putting up of one publio building in New York cost millions of dollars more than it ought to have cost when you find that the man who gave out the contracts paid more than five thousand dollars for his daughters wedding-dress. Cashmeres of a thousand dollars each are not rare on Broadway. Itis estimated that there are five thousand women in these two cities who have expended on their personal array. TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS A- YEAR. What are men to do in order to keep up such home wardrobes? Steal— that is the only respectable thing tbey can do ! During the last fifteen 'years tbere been innumerable fine businesses shipwrecked on the wardrobe. The temptation comes this way : A man thinks more of his family that he does of all the world outside, and if tbey spend the evening in describing to him the' superior wardrobe of the family across the street, that they cannot hear the sight of, the man is thrown on his gallantry and his pride of family, and, without translating his feelings into plain language, he goes into extortion and issuing of' false stock, : and skilful penmanship in writing somebody else's name, at the foot of a promissory note ; and tbey all go down together — the husband to the prison, the wife to the sewing-machine, the children to be taken care of by those who were called poor relations. O ! for some new Shakespeare to arise and write the tragedy of human clothes. Act the first ofthe tragedy.— -A plain but beautiful home. Enter, the newlymarried pair. Enter, simplicity of manner and behaviour. "Enter, as much happiness as is ever found in one home. Act the second. — Discontent with the humble home. Enter, envy. Enter, jealously. Enter, desire of display. Act the third. — Enlargement of expenses. Enter, all the queenly dressmakers. Enter, the Erench milliners. Act the fourth. — The tip top of society. Enter, princes and princesses of New York life. Enter, magnificent plate and equipage. Enter, everything splendid. Act the fifth, and last— Wind up of the scene. Enter, the assignee. Enter, the sheriff. Enter, the creditors. Enter, humiliation. Enter, the wrath of God. Enter, the contempt of society. Enter, death. Now, let the silk curtain drop on the stage. The farce is ended, and the lights are out. Will you forgive me if I say iu tersest shape possible that some of the men in this conntry have to forge and to perjure and to swindle to pay for their wives' dresses? I will say lit, whether you forgive me or not ! ( To be continued.)