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Testimonies for the Church Volume 1
I was shown that the people of God should not imitate the fashions
of the world. Some have done this, and are fast losing the peculiar,
holy character which should distinguish them as God’s people. I was
pointed back to God’s ancient people, and was led to compare their
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apparel with the mode of dress in these last days. What a difference!
what a change! Then the women were not so bold as now. When
they went in public, they covered their faces with a veil. In these
last days, fashions are shameful and immodest. They are noticed in
prophecy. They were first brought in by a class over whom Satan has
entire control, who, “being past feeling [without any conviction of the
Spirit of God] have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work
all uncleanness with greediness.” If God’s professed people had not
greatly departed from Him, there would now be a marked difference
between their dress and that of the world. The small bonnets, exposing
the face and head, show a lack of modesty. The hoops are a shame. The
inhabitants of earth are growing more and more corrupt, and the line
of distinction between them and the Israel of God must be more plain,
or the curse which falls upon worldlings will fall on God’s professed
people.
I was directed to the following scriptures. Said the angel: “They
are to instruct God’s people.”
1 Timothy 2:9, 10
: “In like manner also,
that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness
and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;
but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.”
1 Peter 3:3-5
: “Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of
plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;
but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible,
even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight
of God of great price. For after this manner in the old time the holy
women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves.”
Young and old, God is now testing you. You are deciding your
own eternal destiny. Your pride, your love to follow the fashions of
the world, your vain and empty conversation, your selfishness, are all
put in the scale, and the weight of evil is fearfully against you. You
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are poor, and miserable, and blind, and naked. While evil is increasing
and taking deep root, it is choking the good seed which has been sown
in the heart; and soon the word that was given concerning Eli’s house
will be spoken to the angels of God concerning you: Your sins “shall