Note 62 — Chapter XI

Those Christians whose experience enters most deeply into the spiritual nature of the gospel dispensation, will find that it leads them into simplicity as regards their outward appearance. The practice in the primitive church, as regards “outward adorning,” is thus spoken of by Coleman, in his Antiquities of the Christian Church:—

“Nothing may appear more purely a matter of indifference than the fashion and colour of dress; and yet, in the circumstances of the primitive Christians, articles of that nature did acquire such an importance that they gradually fell into a style of clothing peculiar to themselves. Not that they affected any singularities in their personal appearance, for their habiliments were made and worn in the ordinary fashion of the time and place: and Christians, whether found in the high, the middle, or the lower ranks, were accustomed to equip themselves in a manner suited to the decencies of the state or profession to which they belonged; but, looking to the moral influence of dress, and desirous of avoiding everything that might minister to vanity, or lead the wearer to forget, in attending to the outward man, the ornament of a ‘meek and quiet spirit,’ they studiously rejected all finery as unbecoming the humility of their character, and confined themselves to a suit of apparel, remarkable not so much for the plainness of the material as for the absence of all superfluous ornament. Everything gaudy or sumptuous, that partook of the costly stuffs or the crimson dyes that suited the luxurious taste of the times, was discountenanced by the spiritually-minded followers of Christ. The same simplicity reigned throughout their domestic establishments; and even those of their number who were persons of rank and opulence, chose to content themselves with such things as were recommended by their utility rather than their elegance, and calculated to answer the purposes of necessity and comfort, rather than to gratify ‘the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.’ And however refined or exquisiteexquisite the taste, which, through education and the habits of society, any of them had acquired, they learned to subject it to the higher principle of denying themselves to everything that tended too much to captivate the senses, and increase their love to a world, the fashion whereof, they thought, was soon to pass away.”

The remarks of John Wesley on simplicity in dress are excellent, but too long to be quoted here. He says that “following the fashions of the world is directly at war with the spirit of the gospel.” See Select Miscellanies, vol. v., p. 288, for Wesley’s views on this subject; also of T. à Kempis, and others.