God has permitted the light of health reform to shine upon us in these last days, that by walking in the light we may escape many of the dangers to which we shall be exposed. Satan is working with great power to lead men to indulge appetite, gratify inclination, and spend their days in heedless folly. He presents attractions in a life of selfish enjoyment and of sensual indulgence. Intemperance saps the energies of both mind and body. He who is thus overcome has placed himself upon Satan’s ground, where he will be tempted and annoyed, and finally controlled at pleasure by the enemy of all righteousness.
Parents need to be impressed with their obligation to give to the world children having well-developed character,—children who will have moral power to resist temptation, and whose life will be an honor to God and a blessing to their fellow-men. Those who enter upon active life with firm principles, will be prepared to stand unsullied amid the moral pollutions of this corrupt age. Let mothers improve every opportunity to educate their children for usefulness.
The work of the mother is sacred and important. She should teach her children, from the cradle up, habits of self-denial and self-control. Her time, in a special sense, belongs to her children. But if it is mostly occupied with the follies of this degenerate age, if society, dress, and amusements absorb her attention, her children will fail to be suitably educated.
Many mothers who deplore the intemperance that exists everywhere, do not look deep enough to see the cause. Too often it may be traced to the home table. Many a mother, even among those who profess to be Christians, is daily setting before her household rich and highly seasoned food, which tempts the appetite and encourages76overeating. In some families, flesh-meats constitute the principal article of diet, and in consequence, the blood is filled with cancerous and scrofulous humors. Then when suffering and disease follow, Providence is charged with that which is the result of a wrong course. I repeat: intemperance begins at the table, and, with the majority, appetite is indulged until indulgence becomes second nature.
Whoever eats too much, or of food which is not healthful, is weakening his power to resist the clamors of other appetites and passions. Many parents, to avoid the task of patiently educating their children to habits of self-denial, indulge them in eating and drinking whenever they please. The desire to satisfy the taste and to gratify inclination does not lessen with the increase of years; and these indulged youth, as they grow up, are governed by impulse, slaves to appetite. When they take their place in society, and begin life for themselves, they are powerless to resist temptation. In the glutton, the tobacco-devotee, the wine-bibber, and the inebriate, we see the evil results of erroneous education and of self-indulgence.
When we hear the sad lamentation of Christian men and women over the terrible evils of intemperance, the questions at once arise: Who have educated the youth? who have fostered in them these unruly appetites? who have neglected the solemn responsibility of forming their character for usefulness in this life, and for the society of heavenly angels in the next?
When parents and children meet at the final reckoning, what a scene will be presented! Thousands of children who have been slaves to appetite and debasing vice, whose lives are moral wrecks, will stand face to face with the parents who made them what they are. Who but the parents must bear this fearful responsibility? Did the Lord make these youth corrupt?—Oh, no! Who, then, has done this fearful work? Were not the sins of the parents transmitted to the children in perverted appetites and passions? and was not the work completed by those77who neglected to train them according to the pattern which God has given? Just as surely as they exist, all these parents will pass in review before God.
Satan is ready to do his work; he will not neglect to present allurements which the children have no will or moral power to resist. I saw that, through his temptations, he is instituting ever-changing fashions, and attractive parties and amusements, that mothers may be led to devote their time to frivolous matters, instead of to the education and training of their children. Our youth need mothers who will teach them from the cradle to control passion, to deny appetite, and to overcome selfishness. They need line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little.
The Hebrews were taught how to train their children so that they might avoid the idolatry and wickedness of the heathen nations: “Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart, and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”
Woman should fill the position which God originally designed for her, as her husband’s equal. The world needs mothers who are mothers not merely in name, but in every sense of the word. We may safely say that the distinctive duties of woman are more sacred, more holy, than those of man. Let woman realize the sacredness of her work, and in the strength and fear of God take up her life mission. Let her educate her children for usefulness in this world, and for a home in the better world.
The position of a woman in her family is more sacred than that of the king upon his throne. Her great work is to make her life an example such as she would wish her children to copy. And by precept as well as example, she is to store their minds with useful knowledge, and lead them to self-sacrificing labor for the good of others. The78great stimulus to the toiling, burdened mother should be that every child who is trained aright, and who has the inward adorning, the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, will shine in the courts of the Lord.
I entreat Christian mothers to realize their responsibility, and to live, not to please themselves, but to glorify God. Christ pleased not himself, but took upon him the form of a servant. He left the royal courts, and clothed his divinity with humanity, that by his own example he might teach us how we may be exalted to the position of sons and daughters in the royal family, children of the heavenly King. But what are the conditions upon which we may obtain this great blessing?—“Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean; and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters.”
Christ humbled himself from the position of one equal with God to that of a servant. His home was in Nazareth, a place proverbial for its wickedness. His parents were among the lowly poor. His trade was that of a carpenter, and he labored with his hands to do his part in sustaining the family. For thirty years he was subject to his parents. The life of Christ points out our duty to be diligent in labor, and to provide for those intrusted to our care.
In his lessons of instruction to his disciples, Jesus taught them that his kingdom is not a worldly kingdom, where all are striving for the highest position; but he gave them lessons in humility and self-sacrifice for the good of others. His humility did not consist in a low estimate of his own character and qualifications, but in adapting himself to fallen humanity, in order to raise them up with him to a higher life. Yet how few see anything attractive in the humility of Christ! Worldlings are constantly striving to exalt themselves one above another; but Jesus, the Son of God, humbled himself in order to uplift man. The true disciple of Christ will follow his example.
Would that the mothers of this generation might feel the sacredness of their mission, not trying to vie with their wealthy neighbors in appearance, but seeking to honor God by the faithful performance of duty. If right principles in regard to temperance were implanted in the youth who are to form and mould society, there would be little necessity for temperance crusades. Firmness of character, moral control, would prevail, and in the strength of Jesus the temptations of these last days would be resisted.
It is a most difficult matter to unlearn the habits which have been indulged through life. The demon of intemperance is of giant strength, and is not easily conquered. But let parents begin the crusade against it at their own firesides, in their own families, in the principles they teach their children from their very infancy, and then they may hope for success. It will pay you, mothers, to use the precious hours which are given you by God in forming the character of your children, and in teaching them to adhere strictly to the principles of temperance in eating and drinking.
A sacred trust is committed to parents, to guard the physical and moral constitution of their children, so that the nervous system may be well balanced, and the soul not endangered. Fathers and mothers should understand the laws of life, that they may not, through ignorance, allow wrong tendencies to develop in their children. The diet affects both physical and moral health. How carefully, then, should mothers study to supply the table with the most simple, healthful food, in order that the digestive organs may not be weakened, the nerves unbalanced, or the instruction which they give their children counteracted.
Satan sees that he cannot have so great power over minds when the appetite is kept under control as when it is indulged, and he is constantly working to lead men to indulgence. Under the influence of unhealthful food, the conscience becomes stupefied, the mind is darkened, and its susceptibility to impressions is impaired. But the80guilt of the transgressor is not lessened because the conscience has been violated till it has become insensible.
Since a healthy state of mind depends upon the normal condition of the vital forces, what care should be exercised that neither stimulants nor narcotics be used! Yet we see that a large number of those who profess to be Christians are using tobacco. They deplore the evils of intemperance; yet while speaking against the use of liquors, these very men will reject the juice of tobacco. There must be a change of sentiment with reference to tobacco-using before the root of the evil will be reached. We press the subject still closer. Tea and coffee are fostering the appetite for stronger stimulants. And then we come still closer home, to the preparation of food, and ask, Is temperance practiced in all things? are the reforms which are essential to health and happiness carried out here?
Every true Christian will have control of his appetites and passions. Unless he is free from the bondage of appetite, he cannot be a true, obedient servant of Christ. The indulgence of appetite and passion blunts the effect of truth upon the heart. It is impossible for the spirit and power of the truth to sanctify a man, soul, body, and spirit, when he is controlled by sensual desires.
EDUCATION AND HEALTH.
For generations the prevailing system of education has been destructive to health, and even to life itself. Many parents and teachers fail to understand that in the child’s early years the greatest attention needs to be given to the physical constitution, that a healthy condition of body and brain may be secured. It has been the custom to encourage sending children to school when they were mere babies, needing a mother’s care. In many instances the little ones are crowded into ill-ventilated school-rooms, where they sit in improper positions, upon poorly constructed benches, and as the result the young and tender frames often become deformed. Little children, whose limbs and muscles are not strong, and whose brains are undeveloped, are kept confined, to their injury. Many have but a slight hold on life to begin with, and confinement in school from day to day makes them nervous, and they become diseased. Their bodies are dwarfed in consequence of the exhausted condition of the nervous system. Yet when the lamp of life goes out, parents and teachers do not realize that they were in any way responsible for quenching the vital spark. Standing by the grave of their child, the afflicted parents look upon their bereavement as a special dispensation of Providence, when it was their own inexcusably ignorant course that destroyed the young life. Under such circumstances, to charge the death to Providence savors of blasphemy. God wants the little ones to live, and receive a right education, that they may develop a beautiful character, glorify him in this world, and praise him in the better world.
Parents and teachers take the responsibility of training these children, yet how few of them realize their duty before God to become acquainted with the physical organism,82that they may know how to preserve the life and health of those who are placed in their charge. Thousands of children die because of the ignorance of those who care for them.
Many children have been ruined for life, and some have died, as the result of the injudicious course of parents and teachers, in forcing the young intellect while neglecting the physical nature. The children were too young to be in a school-room. Their minds were taxed with lessons when they should have been left untasked until the physical strength was sufficient to support mental effort. Small children should be as free as lambs to run out-of-doors. They should be allowed the most favorable opportunity to lay the foundation for a sound constitution.
Youth who are kept in school, and confined to close study, cannot have sound health. Mental effort without corresponding physical exercise, calls an undue proportion of blood to the brain, and thus the circulation is unbalanced. The brain has too much blood, while the extremities have too little. The hours of study and recreation should be carefully regulated, and a portion of the time should be spent in physical labor. When the habits of students in eating and drinking, dressing and sleeping, are in accordance with physical law, they can obtain an education without sacrificing health. The lesson must be often repeated, and pressed home to the conscience, that education will be of little value if there is no physical strength to use it after it is gained.
Students should not be permitted to take so many studies that they will have no time for physical training. The health cannot be preserved unless some portion of each day is given to muscular exertion in the open air. Stated hours should be devoted to manual labor of some kind, anything which will call into action all parts of the body. Equalize the taxation of the mental and the physical powers, and the mind of the student will be refreshed.83If he is diseased, physical exercise will often help the system to recover its normal condition. When students leave college, they should have better health and a better understanding of the laws of life than when they entered it. The health should be as sacredly guarded as the character.
Many students are deplorably ignorant of the fact that diet exerts a powerful influence upon the health. Some have never made a determined effort to control the appetite, or to observe proper rules in regard to diet. They eat too much, even at their meals, and some eat between meals whenever the temptation is presented. If those who profess to be Christians desire to solve the questions so perplexing to them, why their minds are so dull, why their religious aspirations are so feeble, they need not, in many instances, go farther than the table; here is cause enough, if there were no other.
Many separate themselves from God by their indulgence of appetite. He who notices the fall of a sparrow, who numbers the very hairs of the head, marks the sin of those who indulge perverted appetite at the expense of weakening the physical powers, benumbing the intellect, and deadening the moral perceptions.
The teachers themselves should give proper attention to the laws of health, that they may preserve their own powers in the best possible condition, and by example as well as by precept may exert a right influence upon their pupils. The teacher whose physical powers are already enfeebled by disease or overwork, should pay especial attention to the laws of life. He should take time for recreation. He should not take upon himself responsibilities outside of his school-work, which will so tax him, physically or mentally, that his nervous system will be unbalanced; for in this case he will be unfitted to deal with minds, and cannot do justice to himself or to his pupils.
Our institutions of learning should be provided with84every facility for instruction regarding the mechanism of the human system. Students should be taught how to breathe, how to read and speak so that the strain will not come on the throat and lungs, but on the abdominal muscles. Teachers need to educate themselves in this direction. Our students should have a thorough training, that they may enter upon active life with an intelligent knowledge of the habitation which God has given them. Teach them that they must be learners as long as they live. And while you are teaching them, remember that they will teach others. Your lessons will be repeated for the benefit of many more than sit before you day by day.
DRESS.
FASHION rules the world; and she is a tyrannical mistress, often compelling her devotees to submit to the greatest inconvenience and discomfort. Fashion taxes without reason, and collects without mercy. She has a fascinating power, and stands ready to criticise and ridicule all who do not follow in her wake.
Satan, the instigator and prime mover in the ever-changing, never-satisfying decrees of fashion, is always busy devising something new that shall prove an injury to physical and moral health; and he triumphs that his devices succeed so well. Death laughs that the health-destroying folly and blind zeal of the worshipers at fashion’s shrine bring them so easily under his dominion. Happiness and the favor of God are laid upon her altar.
We see the world absorbed in vain amusements. The first and best thoughts of the larger portion are given to dress, and the culture of mind and heart is neglected. Even among those who profess to love and keep the commandments of God, there are some who ape this class as nearly as they possibly can and retain the name of Christian. Some of the young are so eager for display that they are willing to give up even the Christian name if they can only indulge their vanity in dress.
On Sunday many of the popular churches appear more like a theater than like a place for the worship of God. Every style of fashionable dress is displayed there. Many of the poor have not courage to enter such houses of worship. Their plain dress, though it may be neat, is in marked contrast with that of their more wealthy sisters, and this difference causes them to feel embarrassed. Some try to appear like the wealthy by trimming goods of an inferior quality in imitation of more costly apparel. Poor girls, receiving but small wages, often spend their86last cent in order to dress like those who are not obliged to earn their own living. In consequence, they have nothing laid by for sickness, nothing to put into the treasury of God, no time to improve the mind or to study God’s word, no time for secret prayer or the prayer-meeting.
It is a lamentable fact that many professed Christian women take the lead in patronizing the fashions; and those who make no pretensions to religion, follow in their steps. Some who are in humble circumstances, in their efforts to keep pace with the ever-changing styles of dress, endure privation, and work far beyond their strength, in order to retain their place in fashionable society. This temptation is so strong that some, in trying to gain their object, are guilty of dishonesty and theft. Many are led to ruin by the desire for self-adornment. Professed Christians who have, by their example, opened a door of temptation to their weak sisters, will have a fearful account to meet in the day of final reckoning. Inexperienced ones, charmed with the respect paid to those who dress stylishly, become so infatuated that nothing is too precious to exchange for artificial decorations.
While superfluous trimming and ornaments are to be avoided, as opposed to our profession as followers of the meek and lowly Jesus, we would not discourage the exercise of correct taste, neatness, and order in dress. There are those who are careless of their apparel, and are always harping on pride in dress. They think it a virtue to be untidy, and to dress without order or taste. They class decency and neatness with pride, and excuse themselves for their neglect of apparel, even upon the Sabbath, under pretense of carrying out that separation from the world which the word of God requires of his people. If these persons had an engagement to meet a friend honored by the world, and they wished to be especially favored by him, they would exert themselves to appear in his presence with the best and neatest apparel they could obtain. Yet when they meet upon the Sabbath to worship the great God, they think it is of no consequence87in what dress they appear, or what is the condition of their person. In His house, which is as the audience-chamber of the Most High, where heavenly angels are in attendance, they assemble with but little respect or reverence. All who meet upon the Sabbath to worship God, should, if possible, have neat, well-fitting, comely garments to wear in the house of worship. It is a dishonor to the Sabbath, to God, and to his house, for those who profess to believe that the Sabbath is the holy of the Lord, and honorable, to wear upon that day the soiled clothing which they have worn through the labors of the week, if they can obtain anything more suitable.
The followers of Christ are represented by him as the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Without the saving influence of Christians, the world would perish in its own corruption. Look upon the class of professed Christians described, who are careless of their dress and person, and loose in business transactions. Think you if our Saviour were upon earth he would point to them as the salt of the earth and the light of the world?—No, never. True Christians are elevated in their conversation; and while they believe it to be a sin to condescend to foolish flattery, they are courteous, kind, and benevolent. Their words are those of sincerity and truth. They are faithful in their dealings with their brethren and with the world. In their dress they avoid superfluity and display; but their clothing is modest, and arranged upon the person with order and taste. They are more anxious for their bodies to be in a condition to glorify God, than they are to be clothed according to the latest dictates of fashion.
The suffering caused among women by unhealthful dress cannot be estimated. Many have become life-long invalids through their compliance with the demands of fashion. Health and life have been sacrificed to the insatiable goddess. Many seem to think they have a right to treat their bodies as they please; but they forget that their bodies are not their own. The Creator who formed88them has claims upon them that they cannot lightly throw off. Every needless transgression of the laws of our being is virtually a transgression of the law of God, and is sin in the sight of Heaven. The Creator knew how to form the human body. He did not need to consult the mantua-makers in regard to their ideas of beauty. God, who created everything that is lovely and glorious in nature, understood how to make the human form beautiful and healthy. The modern improvements upon his plan are insulting to the Creator. They deform that which he made perfect.
It is Satan’s design so to pervert every function of our being that life may be made miserable, and God may be dishonored in the creatures he has made. If women make the customs of the world their criterion, they will become unfitted, both physically and mentally, for the duties of life. Many have done themselves untold injury by compressing the waist. Their power to do good in the family and in society is greatly lessened; and if they are mothers, their children are robbed of vitality. When the waist is compressed, the circulation of the blood is impeded, and the internal organs, cramped and crowded out of place, cannot perform their work properly. It is impossible, under such circumstances, to take a full inspiration. Thus the pernicious habit of breathing only with the upper part of the lungs is formed, and feebleness and disease are often the result.
The dangers resulting from compression of the waist are not realized by the majority of women, though many able pens have treated upon the subject. Many claim that tight-lacing is now nearly or quite abandoned, and such may think these remarks are uncalled-for; but it is true to-day that the clothing of most women is worn too tight for the proper action of the vital organs. Every article of dress upon the person should be worn so loose that in raising the arms the clothing will be correspondingly lifted.
Another error in the dress of women of the present89day is that of wearing their skirts so that the weight is sustained by the hips alone. This heavy weight, pressing upon the bowels, drags them downward, and causes weakness of the stomach and a feeling of lassitude, which leads the sufferer to incline forward. This tends further to cramp the lungs, and prevent their proper action. The blood becomes impure, the pores of the skin fail in their office, sallowness and disease result, and beauty and health are gone. Ladies may resort to cosmetics to restore the tint of the complexion, but they cannot thus bring back the glow of health. That which renders the skin dark and dingy, also clouds the spirits, and destroys cheerfulness and peace of mind. Every woman who values health should avoid hanging any weight upon the hips. The shoulders should sustain the weight of every article of clothing worn upon the person. This will go far to prevent the weaknesses which prevail among women to such an alarming extent.
The limbs, which should have even more covering than any other portion of the body, because farthest from the center of circulation, are often not suitably protected; while over the vital organs, where there is naturally more warmth than in other portions of the body, there is an undue proportion of covering. The heavy draperies often worn upon the back, induce heat and congestion in the sensitive organs which lie beneath. This fashionable attire is one of the greatest causes of disease among women. Perfect health depends upon perfect circulation. If the limbs are properly clothed, fewer skirts are needed. These should not be so heavy as to impede the motion of the limbs, nor so long as to gather the dampness and filth of the ground, and their weight should be suspended from the shoulders. The dress should fit easily, obstructing neither the circulation of the blood, nor a free, full, natural respiration. The feet should be suitably protected from cold and damp. Clad in this way, we can take exercise in the open air, even in the dew of morning or evening, or after a fall of snow or rain, without90fear of taking cold. Exercise in the invigorating air of heaven is necessary to a healthy circulation of the blood. It is the best safeguard against colds, coughs, and the internal congestions which lay the foundation of so many diseases. True dress reform regulates every article of clothing. If those ladies who are failing in health would lay off their fashionable robes, clothe themselves suitably for out-door enjoyment, and exercise in the open air, carefully at first, increasing the amount as they can endure it, many of them might recover health, and live to bless the world with their example and the work of their hands.
It is not the will of God that men and women should die prematurely, leaving their work unfinished. He would have us live out the full measure of our days, with every organ free to do its allotted work. Many complain of the providences of God when disease and death remove members of the household; but it is unjust to charge God with what is but the sure result of their own transgression of natural laws.
Fashionable mothers clothe their little girls as unhealthfully as they do themselves. Their waists are compressed at an early age, and the limbs are left with but slight protection, when the forces of nature need every advantage to enable them to perfect the physical frame. The limbs were not formed to endure exposure, as was the face. Children who are clothed according to fashion cannot be out-doors much, unless the weather is mild. Therefore they are kept in ill-ventilated rooms, for fear of the cold; and well they may be, with their fashionable style of clothing. But if they were comfortably clothed, it would not harm them to exercise freely in the open air summer or winter. Unhealthful dress brings many a child to a state of invalidism, or, which in many cases may be preferable, to an early death. Thus fashion fills the homes of its slaves with invalids, and our cemeteries with little graves.
Mother, do you want your child to live and wear the bloom of health? Then teach her to dress healthfully. If you love her and desire her good, why do you teach her by your example that it is no sin to mar the human form divine? What reason can you render to the Creator for deforming his handiwork? Turn away from the fashion plates, and study the human organism. We are fearfully and wonderfully made, and we are to present our bodies a living sacrifice to God. How can Christian mothers be worshipers at the shrine of fashion, and yet preserve their loyalty to the God of heaven? It is impossible; “ye cannot serve God and mammon.” You cannot devote your time and talents to the world, and yet keep your mind and body in a condition to do the work committed to you, of training your children for God, and aiding them in a physical development that shall be a blessing to them to the end of life.
Little boys also are dressed so as to leave the lower limbs with far less protection than the upper part of the body. The limbs, being remote from the center of circulation, demand greater protection, instead of less. The veins which convey the blood to the extremities are large, providing for the flow of a sufficient quantity of blood to afford warmth and nutrition. But when the blood is chilled from these parts, the veins contract, and the circulation is retarded. Not only do the extremities suffer from cold, but through lack of nutrition the limbs do not attain their natural development. A good circulation purifies the blood, and secures health; while a poor circulation renders the blood impure, and induces congestion of the vital organs.
Mothers, why not clothe your boys and girls comfortably and properly? Let their dress be simple, loose, and comfortable; clothe their limbs, and especially the ankles, warmly and evenly; then let them go out and exercise in the open air, and live to enjoy health and happiness. It will take moral courage to break away92from the chains of fashion, and dress and educate your children with reference to health; but the result will abundantly repay all the self-denial and inconvenience occasioned.
Mothers sacrifice to fashion the God-given time which should be devoted to forming the character of their children. Health is impaired by bending over sewing, within doors, shut away from the sunshine and pure air. Opportunities are lost that should be improved in educating the mind, and storing it with useful knowledge. Thus they are not qualified to instruct and train their children for usefulness in this world, or to fit them for the better world. Women are bending their shoulders to a heavy cross. Should Christ demand of them, as his disciples, so great a sacrifice, they would feel that it was indeed too great, and the cross too heavy. Christ requires none of his followers to lift so heavy a burden as that to which they subject themselves as slaves of fashion.
If Christian women would lead out in the good work, and set the example of dressing with neatness and simplicity, and with regard to health, there would be a universal reform. If they would work from an elevated standpoint, they could bring their habits of life into conformity with the laws of their being, and live in obedience to both the physical and the moral requirements of God. Then there would be less money, less nerve force, less physical strength, squandered for artificial decorations, to the sacrifice of natural beauty. We should have more practical wives and mothers, and in many families that are now wretched because of their incorrect ideas of life, there would be a happy change.
The human heart has never been in harmony with the requirements of God. Human reasoning has ever sought to evade or set aside the simple, direct instructions of his word. Those precepts which enjoin self-denial and humility, which require modesty and simplicity in conversation, deportment, and apparel, have, in every age, been disregarded, even by the majority of those who professed to be followers of Christ.93The result has ever been the same,—the adoption of the fashions, customs, and principles of the world.
There are few who understand their own hearts. The vain, trifling lovers of fashion may claim to be followers of Christ, but their dress and conversation show what occupies the mind and engages the affections. The outside appearance is an index to the heart. True refinement does not find satisfaction in the adorning of the body for display. A modest, godly woman will dress modestly. Simplicity of apparel always makes a sensible woman appear to the best advantage. A refined, cultured mind will be revealed in the choice of simple and appropriate attire. In the sanctified heart there is no place for thoughts of needless adornment.
Study the fashions less, and the character of Jesus more. The greatest and holiest of men was also the meekest. In his character, majesty and humility were blended. He could summon the hosts of heaven at will; the command of worlds was in his power; yet for our sake he became poor, that we, through his poverty, might be made rich. The attractions of this world, its glory and its pride, had no fascination for him. In the cluster of Christian graces, he made meekness and humility prominent. Christ noticed the devotion to dress, and he cautioned, yea, he commanded, his followers not to bestow too much thought upon it. “Why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”
The apostles thus describe the adornment that should be sought by Christians: “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.” “In like manner,94also, 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.” Pride and extravagance in dress are sins to which woman is especially prone; hence these injunctions relate directly to her.
Of how little value are gold or pearls or costly array, when compared with the meekness and loveliness of Christ! Physical loveliness consists in symmetry—the harmonious proportion of parts; but spiritual loveliness consists in harmony with Christ—the likeness of our souls to him. The grace of Christ is indeed a priceless adornment. It elevates and ennobles the possessor; and it also has an influence upon others, attracting them to the Source of light and blessing.
Christian sisters, labor far less to grow into the ever-changing fashions of this age. Study rather the great pattern, Jesus Christ, that you may not grow apart from him. Manifest a determined purpose to abide in the Vine. If you abide in Christ, you will bear much fruit. But as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, “No more can ye,” says Christ, “except ye abide in me.”
The growth of the soul in grace, in purity, in comeliness, is little by little—a progressive work; but it must go forward unceasingly. The fruit is ever approaching perfection; the Christian is constantly assimilating the ways and will of Christ. But with many who claim to be Christians there is a painful certainty that they are not progressing heavenward, but are swayed by the customs and practices of the world. Fashions the most unlovely and unhealthful, the most contradictory to the laws of nature, are readily accepted by them. By eagerly beholding these fashions, they become changed to the likeness of what they so much admire. Thus they hasten to adopt the world’s standard, where pride and fashion complete in them the transformation which Satan95delights to see accomplished, and they become unstable as water. The steadfast, silent working of true piety loses its vitality and consistency; “faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”
There is a dress which every child and youth may innocently seek to obtain. It is the righteousness of the saints. If they will only be as willing and persevering in obtaining this as they are in fashioning their garments after the standard of worldly society, they will very soon be clothed with the righteousness of Christ, and their names will not be blotted out of the book of life. Mothers, as well as youth and children, need to pray, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” This purity of heart and loveliness of spirit are more precious than gold, both for time and for eternity. Only the pure in heart shall see God.
Then, mothers, teach your children, line upon line and precept upon precept, that the righteousness of Christ is the only dress in which they can be admitted into heaven, and that robed in this apparel they will be constantly doing duties in this life which will glorify God.