Because it would be quite contrary to the character of our dispensation, which is that " the body is dead," and that we have died together with Jesus; and therefore it would be quite contrary to the nature of the dispensation, if we took the adornment of these things according to the flesh and the world, to which we wish to show that we are dead.
In the next place we must remember that we are set in the midst of a groaning creation; and more than that in the midst of a ruined Church. And do those adornments which befit the house of joy and the house of the Bride seem suited to such a condition as this? Could Jeremiah have adorned himself with the adornment of the world when he was entering into the ruined and fallen state of Jerusalem? No. When he was feeling the call for his head to be waters, and his eyes to be fountains of tears he would find no temptation ever to take up these adornments.
In the third place the necessity of the time should urge us to give all our adornments to the need of others, both of that of the Church and the world.
Lastly, the Lord Jesus took the place of uncomeliness in this world, which is sufficient to mark it as our right path.