Chap. Xv.—Of Putting Off Cloaks.
CHAP. XV.—Of PUTTING OFF CLOAKS.
But since we have touched on one special point of empty
observance,[26] it will not be irksome to set our brand likewise on the
other points against which the reproach of vanity may deservedly be
laid; if, that is, they are observed without the authority of any
precept either of the Lord, or else of the apostles. For matters of
this kind belong not to religion, but to superstition, being studied,
and forced, and of curious rather than rational ceremony;[1] deserving
of restraint, at all events, even on this ground, that they put us on a
level with Gentiles.[2] As, e.g., it is the custom of some to make
prayer with cloaks doffed, for so do the nations approach their idols;
which practice, of course, were its observance becoming, the apostles,
who teach concerning the garb of prayer.[3] would have comprehended in
their instructions, unless any think that is was in prayer that Paul
had left his cloak with Carpus![4] God, forsooth, would not hear
cloaked suppliants, who plainly heard the three saints in the
Babylonian king's furnace praying in their trousers and turbans.[5]