Wesley Corpus

17. It is true, great allowance is to be made for those who have never been warned of these things, and perhaps do not know that there is a word in the Bible which forbids costly apparel. But what is that to you You have been warned over and over, yea, in the plainest manner possible. And what have you profited thereby Do not you still dress like other people of the same fortune Is not your dress as gay, as expensive as theirs who never had any such warning as expensive as it would have been, if you had never heard a word said about it O how will you answer this, when you and I stand together at the judgment-seat of Christ Nay, have not many of you grown finer as fast as you have grown richer As you increased in substance, have you not increased in dress Witness the profusion of ribands, gauze, or linen about your heads! What have you profited then by bearing the reproach of Christ by being called Methodists Are you not as fashionably dressed as others of your rank that are no Methodists Do you ask, "But may we not as well buy fashionable things as unfashionable" I answer, Not if they give you a bold, immodest look, as those huge hats, bonnets, head-dresses do. And not if they cost more. "But I can afford it." O lay aside for ever that idle, nonsensical word! No Christian can afford to waste any part of the substance which God has entrusted him with. How long are you to stay here May not you to-morrow, perhaps to-night, be summoned to arise and go hence, in order to give an account of this and all your talents to the Judge of quick and dead