This simplicity, once
acquired, will be your guarantee, later on, against the examples and
seductions of the fashionable world, which shows as little deference
for the laws of good taste as for those of Christian modesty.
The beautiful and good are never in contradiction with each other.
The same is true of what are perverse and depraved. And this is why
the depravity of taste is in keeping with the standard of a people's
moral life. Be assured that there is nothing beautiful except what is
true and good; and that there is neither truth nor goodness in things
devoid of simplicity. If you regulate your dress and whole exterior
bearing according to these two principles you will stand
irreproachable to your own conscience, and secure the respect and
admiration of the most exacting worldlings, for simplicity of dress
and manners possesses charms that win universal approbation.
Never lose sight of your glorious title of Christian. Remember that
on the day of your baptism you renounced the pomps and vanities of
the world, and, if you are allowed to conform to customs not contrary
to the maxims of the Gospel, you ought at the same time manifest in
your dress, as in the rest, the glorious character that God has
stamped in your soul.
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