Show Forth that Inward Quietness of Spirit

“I believe that asceticism is in a very deep sense contrary to the real Quaker spirit, which desires in all things to abstain from any interference ‘in the will of man’ with Divine discipline and guidance, and which would, I believe, regard the idea of self-chosen exercises in mortification of the flesh with the same aversion as it entertains for pre-arranged forms of worship. 

Friends, no doubt, have often believed themselves required to submit to the adoption of plain dress ‘in the cross’ to natural inclination, and have felt it a valuable exercise to do so; but the plainness was not devised for that purpose, but chosen (or rather, as Friends would say, they were led into it by the Truth) because of its inherent suitableness and rightness. 

It is an outcome of the instinctively felt necessity of subordinating everything to principle. Its chief significance is that of a protest against bondage to passing fashions, and for this reason it is a settled costume. It is also felt that our very dress should show forth that inward quietness of spirit which does not naturally tend towards outward adornment, and the Friends’ recognized dress is therefore one of extreme sobriety in colour and simplicity in form.“

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