78
Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene
cross too heavy. Christ requires none of his followers to lift so heavy
a burden as that to which they subject themselves as slaves of fashion.
If Christian women would lead out in the good work, and set the
example of dressing with neatness and simplicity, and with regard
to health, there would be a universal reform. If they would work
from an elevated standpoint, they could bring their habits of life into
conformity with the laws of their being, and live in obedience to both
the physical and the moral requirements of God. Then there would
be less money, less nerve force, less physical strength, squandered
for artificial decorations, to the sacrifice of natural beauty. We should
have more practical wives and mothers, and in many families that are
now wretched because of their incorrect ideas of life, there would be a
happy change.
The human heart has never been in harmony with the requirements
of God. Human reasoning has ever sought to evade or set aside the
simple, direct instructions of his word. Those precepts which en-
join self-denial and humility, which require modesty and simplicity in
conversation, deportment, and apparel, have, in every age, been disre-
garded, even by the majority of those who professed to be followers
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of Christ. The result has ever been the same,—the adoption of the
fashions, customs, and principles of the world.
There are few who understand their own hearts. The vain, trifling
lovers of fashion may claim to be followers of Christ, but their dress
and conversation show what occupies the mind and engages the affec-
tions. The outside appearance is an index to the heart. True refinement
does not find satisfaction in the adorning of the body for display. A
modest, godly woman will dress modestly. Simplicity of apparel al-
ways makes a sensible woman appear to the best advantage. A refined,
cultured mind will be revealed in the choice of simple and appropriate
attire. In the sanctified heart there is no place for thoughts of needless
adornment.
Study the fashions less, and the character of Jesus more. The
greatest and holiest of men was also the meekest. In his character,
majesty and humility were blended. He could summon the hosts of
heaven at will; the command of worlds was in his power; yet for our
sake he became poor, that we, through his poverty, might be made rich.
The attractions of this world, its glory and its pride, had no fascination
for him. In the cluster of Christian graces, he made meekness and