The Tupelo journal., 1903-08-07

&n wears is TO a great
extent a guide to
ones station in life and to the occupa-
ton pursued for a livelihood. The
matter Of dress and fashion is of SUI
preme Importance to vast m%ultitudes Of
people, and nor time is devoted to the
subject than to any other one thing.
Styles change and the dress of to-day
has little to remind one of the garments
which were worn by our ~forefathers.
The people of the different nations may
be distinguished by their dress. 1t is
supposed that, with the multiplying of
the languages of the earth at the tower
OF Babel and the scattering of the peo-
pie, there came a change in style OF
dress, and soon each nation had adapted
to its own peculiar tastes the raimeDt
OF its people. Scripture employs the
term of garment in a fgurative sense.
The psalmist declares of God: Thou
art clothed with honor and majesty;
who coverest Thyself with light as
with a garment" In another place he
describes the wicked by saying that
violence covereth them as a garment"
and in still another place God declares
hat He will "clothe in shame" the ene-
mics OF His children. The priests of the
Lord are urged to "be clothed with
righteousness" and He gives His prom
Use that He will also clothe them with
salvation" Paul tells III that "as many
as have been baptized into Christ have
put on Christ'-that is theoretically and
by outward sign, and then begins the
practical experience of putting "off the
old man, which is corrupt according to
the deceitful lusts,'' and the putting on
"the new man, which after God is Gre
ated in righteousness and true holt
ness" The command to the one who
has put on Christ in baptism is: Put
We on the Lord Jesus Christ" by a
daily exercise of the will and heart.
And then Paul p~articularizes when he
says: Put on, therefore, as the elect of
God, holy and beloved. bowels of mer-
cies, kindness, humbleness of mind,
meekness, longsuffering, forbearing n
another, and forgiving another, II
any man have a quarrel against any;
ven as Christ forgave you, so also do
We. And above all these things put on
love. which is the bond Of perfectness."
THE raiment of the Christian is to
! be of such a character as to unmis-
takably identify him with the Lord
whom he processes. At the immigrant
station at New York it is not difficult
to distinguish the nationality OF the
men and women landed there, by their
different styles of dress. The garments
they wear are characteristic of the
countries from which they have come.
1t should be so with the Christian. He
ought to have so put on Christ as to be
easily distinguished from the people of
the world. The face should be illuminate
ed with the light and peace of the Christ
who sits enthroned within The eyes
should be quick to see the places of
need, should be channels through which
the good, and never evil, reach the soul.
The ears should be keen to hear the cry
of distress, should be open to receive
the goodly message, but deaf to the i'm
pure and vainglorious. The lips should
move under Divine Inspiration, should
speak clean and true, and never be
stained with impure, unkind or
thoughtless word. The hands should be
busy in kindly, loving ministry, for
Satan finds mischief for idle hands to
do. The feet should be ready to travel
in the pathway Of duty and not be eager
to run in the byways of sin and pleas
ure. The eyes, the ears. the lips, the
hands, the feet would thus all bear the
distinctive livery of the Divine Lord.
The "put-on" Lord would be the light
In the candlestick giving light to all
about; 1t would be the salt Of the
earth, which, not having lost its SAVIOR,
would be able to season the unsaved
and unsavory masses.
THE beautiful Transforming quality
of the raiment Of the redeemed is
that it makes of one all people. No |
matter of what nationality those who
put on Christ may be, they bear a like
ness one to the other, and each to Jesus
Christ. The Chinaman is easily dis
tinguishable from the Hindoo, and the
l1uSSldu pSd6duL I'LL lAC sui VI ouuuy
Italy, but the Chinaman and the Hin
doc, the Russian and the Italian, who
have put on Christ, who have clothed
themselves in the raiment of the re-
deemed, all possess Divine graees
which mark them as members of the
household of God. One has but to read
Capt. Cooks graphic accounts of the
savagery and RIGHTEOUSNESS which dis
tinguished the natives Of the South Sea
islands, and then to listen to the testi-
mony of the missionaries as to the
transformation which took place when
the Gospel al q garment clothed the
people, to realize how all peoples are
made one in Christ Jesus. The Chris
tian. in Asia, in Africa, Europe. in the
Americas, or in the isles Of the sea, If
he be wearing the livery Of the Lord
Jesus Christ, is easily distinguishable
from thepeople OF the world. The world
is not slower to-day to observe the fol-
lowers Of Christ and take knowledge
that they have been with Jesus" than
it was at Jerusalem when the disciples
were being accused before the san
hedrfn. Fgas9 1
A ND this raiment of the redeemed
~ is something Of whichst the world
cannot deprive the soul 1t stripe O
earthly possessions, 1t a take the gar
ments with which the body is clothed,
but it cannot touch the raiment Of the
soul. The heartless Roman soldiers
could strip Jesus Of His raiment and put
upon Him a scarlet robe and plat al
oro~vn of fhorns upon His brow .h1ft |