“Mary.” Your second communication has come to hand. We specially note what you say in your postscript, “Dress is, I fear, a snare to me.” Alas! dear friend, it is a snare to many as well as to you. We confess we are, at times, alarmed to see the strong tendency in Christians to get away from true Christian simplicity in their style of dress. It is not that we desire to see Christians adopting a certain livery, or falling into habits of slovenliness or eccentricity. Quite the reverse. We believe that true spirituality would ever suggest and secure habits of neatness, cleanliness, and order. Moreover, a spiritual mind will keep clear of the glaring inconsistency of shabbiness in dress, and splendor in the house and furnishings. Worldliness is multiform. It varies in individuals. In some it shows itself in the wardrobe; in some, in the table; in some, in the furniture; in some, in the library; in some, in the furnishings. You may sometimes see a man with his clothes threadbare, and yet his table laden with plate, and vice versa. Now, we believe that true Christianity would regulate all these things. If I am walking habitually in the presence of God, my dress and habits will be duly ordered as in His sight. This is the true method of settling all these questions. If the heart is full of Christ, the habits will be Christian. The kingdom of God is not in dress any more than in meat or drink; but then meat, and drink, and dress, will all be regulated by the spirit and principles of the kingdom. The less is always included in the greater. We cannot suppose, for a moment, the existence of true spirituality in connection with an extravagant style of dress. “Modest apparel” is strictly enjoined. “Costly array” is expressly forbidden. Why should we neglect these things? Will not an obedient child attend to every precept of his father? May the Lord make us attentive to His Word, in all things! May He enable us to watch against the earliest buildings of worldliness in all its varied and delusive forms!