Wesley Corpus

10. Do you then take my advice (I ask in the presence of God and all the world) with regard to dress I published that advice above thirty years ago; I have repeated it a thousand times since. I have advised you not to be conformable to the world herein, to lay aside all needless ornaments, to avoid all needless expense, to be patterns of plainness to all that are round about you. Have you taken this advice Have you all, men and women, young and old, rich and poor, laid aside all those needless ornaments which I particularly objected to Are you all exemplarily plain in your apparel; as plain as Quakers (so called,) or Moravians If not, if you are still dressed like the generality of people of your own rank and fortune, you declare hereby to all the world that you will not obey them that are over you in the Lord. You declare, in open defiance of God and man, that you will not submit yourselves to them. Many of you carry your sins on your forehead, openly and in the face of the sun. You harden your hearts against instruction and against conviction. You harden one another; especially those of you that were once convinced, and have now stifled your convictions. You encourage one another to stop your ears against the truth, and shut your eyes against the light, lest haply you should see that you are fighting against God and against your own souls. If I were now called to give an account of you, it would be "with groans, and not with joy." And sure that would be "unprofitable for you:" The loss would fall upon your own head.