Newport weekly independent., 1902-09-05

man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." And when the soul comes to God with that cry, He does for it what the live coal from off Gods altar did for Isaiah. He cleanses from all sin.
 But the man without the wedding garment on, having refused to hear Gods voice in this life and prepare to meet Him, stands speechless in His presence. Isaiah was able to utter a cry for mercy, but the man without the wedding garment, having sinned away the day of grace, is face to face with judgment.
 Face to face with God means some thing. And because of it's solemn and eternal import, we come to our fourth point. We need preparation to meet Him. ''Prepare to meet thy God" There is escape even yet for the way ward children of Israel, and follow ing this solemn call of God to them as voiced by our text there comes in the fifth chapter the tender pleading:
 
 last chance of preparation before judgment falls and they come face to face with God. Tn the recent coro- nation of King Edward you could not help but be struck by the importance attaching to every one in attendance being in proper dress. Every detail of the dress of every rank and every per- sonage there was weighed with the ut most care, and failure to provide the garment designated would have ex- cluded from the brilliant crowning scene in Westminster Abbey.
 Even in unconventional America great importance is unconsciously at tached to appropriateness in dress. The laborer in silk hat and patent leather shoes would attract instant attention and become the mark for the irreverent street urchin. The bank president with overalls OF as he sat at his desk during banking hours would be adjudged insane and sent to the asylum. The lady with the party dress who would don her finery to go to the store to do her marketing would set all the gossiping tongues of the neighborhood to wagging. We do not realize how conventional we really are until some irregularity in dress forces it upon the attention. To have on the proper garment is really very essential. It is absolutely essen- tial that the soul should be clothed upon with the proper garment in prep aration for meeting God. The man who had not on the wedding garment was cast out from the feast So will you be cast out from the pres ence of God if you have not on the garment of His righteousness fur nished in Christ Jesus. All our own garments Cor righteousness, as Isaiah calls them) are as filthy rags. A re- pentant heart must strip the soul of self. David cries: "A broken and a contrite heart, oh God, Thou wilt not despise." Here is the first step in preparation for meeting God. Con- sciousness of sin and repentant heart. John the Baptist came bearing that message. Christ began His min- istry with that cry upon His lips. That is the message of the Gospel to- day. Repent, for "the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sim" And as we hear that message and believe it we become stripped of our own right eousness and become clothed in the spotless garment of Christ's righteous ness. Then we are ready to meet our God.
 Daily Preparation.-In connection with this text is beautiful thought for the followers of Jesus Christ. That of fellowship day by day with Him, which makes the heart glad at the thought of meeting God, the lov- ing Father. To the unprepared soul the words of our text come with dread and terrible sound. To the soul rest ing sweetly in the Saviour's cleansing blood and saving power, the words sound as Heaven-sent music, stirring to more Christ-likeness day by day. Dr. F. B. Meyer says: "Each morning, when we stand ready for the duties of the day. we hear the voice: Prepare to meet Me- Each Lords Day we wake with this same summons in our heart, and prepare ourselves to meet our God. Each illness, each futtering of the canvas of our mortality, each premonition of our end, takes up the same appeal: Prepare to meet God.' And as we hear the words we have no dread, no fear. Clothed in Christ's per feet righteousness, arrayed in His beauty, we know that we are accepted; that the love wherewith the Father loves the Son is waiting to greet us. "But there should be a preparedness HTz .l,N I.