IT is surely matter of lamentation that, among many Christian women, there is apparently so little exercise of conscience in reference to worldly conformity in dress. With too many the question is not, what saith the Scriptures? What saith the claims of the gospel? or What saith conscience? but simply, What saith the world of fashion? and by that they seem governed. If they do their own will without regard to God’s will, this is the very essence of sin. When the Spirit of God enlightens the conscience, and the commandment is seen to be “exceeding broad,” then do we discover that even “the thought of foolishness is sin;” that “whatsoever is not of faith is sin;” that “he that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin;” and that much that is “highly esteemed among men, is abomination in the sight of God.” The Bible is not so much a book of rules as of principles, and to act contrary to any one of these divine principles, is to transgress God’s law, or in other words to commit sin, for “Sin is the transgression of the law or lawlessness.” It is written, “Be not conformed to this world;” but in respect to dress, how many act as if the command had been directly opposite. Line of separation between themselves and the world there is very little, if any! now, thus to act is to sin against God. We are commanded to “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” But too many give undeniable evidence by the sacrifices they make to obtain the world’s gaudy trappings, that they do indeed love these things, and this is to sin against God. We are told to deny ourselves, and all “worldly lusts,” to walk as strangers and pilgrims, as delivered out of this present evil world, to do all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the glory of God. Now, not to regulate our lives by these holy principles, is to sin against God.
But not only have we these and other plain general distinctions, God our heavenly Father has condescended to give us special and particular instructions on this point. He expressly commands, “that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broidered hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but (which becometh women professing godliness), with good works.” (1 Timothy 2:99In 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; (1 Timothy 2:9).) Again, by the apostle Peter, in language no less clear and emphatic: “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. “What an easy and what a reasonable requirement, and yet by many professing Christians totally disregarded! and to do this is most plainly to sin against God. But it is when viewed in connection with the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ that this forbidden “costly array” is seen to be “exceeding sinful.” “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us; we ought to lay down our lives (not only our childish vanities, but even our lives) for the brethren. But whoso hath this world’s goods, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?” Viewed in this light, how obviously is it sinful to spend money, and that not our own, but the Lord’s, (for we are only his stewards) on so unworthy an object as that of winning the admiring gaze of a Christ-rejecting world, while Jesus, bearing in his body the marks of the bitter agony he endured for us pleads the cause of his poor sorrowing and afflicted members. Have we tasted that the Lord is gracious, and can we thus requite His love? “The fashion of this world passeth away:” soon, and we shall have done forever with earth’s vanities. In view of heaven and eternity, we see the folly of the “gold, and pearls, and costly array:” in view of the cross and the glory, we see their exceeding sinfulness.
“Oh! from the world’s vile slavery,
Almighty Saviour set us free;
And as our treasure is above,
Be there our thoughts, be there our love.”