Adornments by Mary E. Guilford

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 2, 1872

Adornments.

By Mary E. Guilford

In this degenerate age, the professed church and the world seem to vie with each other in trying to make the finest display. We see not only the gay, thoughtless worldling, whose only aim is to lead a life of dissipation and folly, but also the “professor” who has named the name of Christ, decked in all the gaudy tinsel of fashionable drapery.

The downward, destructive tendency of this “love of display” is plainly apparent to any reflective mind.

“But to the law and to the testimony.” What says the inspired word in regard to adornments? 1 Pet. 3: 3, 4, reads: “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.” Outward adornments, which consist in broidered hair, and gold, and pearls, and costly array, are wholly inconsistent with the “hidden man of the heart,” “the meek and quiet spirit,” which God requires his people to adorn themselves with.

Let me here reiterate the language of another: “There is no possibility of evading the plain, literal construction of these inspired words. And, if inspired, they mean something.” Yes, reader, they mean that if we would be followers of Jesus, owned and accepted of him, we must discard the entire use of all ornaments worn for display, and seek earnestly those heavenly adornments which so well become the child of God. Nothing has a more direct tendency to

heathenism and degradation of mind and soul than this yielding one's self to the fashions and follies of life. Gradually the mind becomes absorbed in these things, until God is well-nigh forgotten, his word neglected, and spirituality dies out of the heart.

The times in which we live demand the most constant watchfulness and earnest effort on our part, to withdraw our minds and affections wholly from the vanities of life, that we be not led to drink in the spirit of the world. We shall need great firmness and decision of character, in order to maintain a Godly walk and holy conversation amid the corrupting influences of society in these last days.

The love of display is a fearfully increasing evil. Satan clothes it with various attractions, and beguiles thoughtless souls to regard it as harmless and innocent. Oh! that they might awaken from the delusive dream before it is too late! Its whole tendency is evil—only evil. It fosters pride in the human heart, which is an abomination in the sight of God. It diverts the mind from God and from the study of the Holy Scriptures, “which are able to make us wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” It takes means which should be put into the treasury of God to speed on the cause of truth; and, thereby, God is robbed—his name dishonored, and the progress of truth crippled. And this is not all; a fearful retribution awaits those who thus yield themselves captives to the tyrant fashion. The misused talents, the wasted hours, the dwarfing of God-given faculties of mind and soul, all, all will be brought into the account in that great day.

I hope none upon whom the light of truth is now shining will remain in ignorance of God's prohibition in regard to outward adornments, but carefully study his holy word to learn the mind of the Spirit, and strive to walk in the light. May God help us who profess the truth for these last days to so live it out before the world that we may be clear in the day of judgment, and stand accepted before God.

MARY E. GUILFORD.

Castalia, Ohio.