The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1903-07-31
The Raiment of the Redeemed
Copyright, 1908, by J. NJ. Edson.l
Every Thought, Word and Deed Should
Be Clothed in the Spirit of Christ

were being accused before the san
hedrin.
A ND this raiment OF the redeemed
n is something of which the world
cannot deprive the soul. 1t can strip of
earthly possessions, it can 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 a
crown of thorns upon His brow, but
they were utterly powerless to take
away that sublime faith, that quiet
dignity, that matchless grace and love
which clothed His presence as with a
garment and wrought its influence on
all about and made those same
soldiers declare in the dark
hour of death: Truly, this
man was the Son of God" They
could in avaricious zeal seize upon His
raiment and cast lots for His cloak, but
they could not rob Him of that mex
haustible mercy which reached out and
shortened the sufferings of the dying
thief and took him with Him into Para
disc. And that which was true of Jesus
is true of every one of His disciples. The
world may be able to take their silver
and their gold, and everything else
which they possess of this worlds
goods, but it can never lay soiling,
defiling hand upon the raiment of the
redeemed, which consists of the indwel-
ling Christ manifesting Himself in
their every thought and word and deed.
A T the entrance to some of the great
n coal mines where the fine black dust
of the coal settles upon everything with
soiling and disfguring touch, there grows
a little white flower which glistens and
glows in its spOtless purity amidst all
the blackness around it. The effect is
startling, and you wonder how it is that
the pure white of its petals is not soon
furnished and blackened by the ever-set-
thing coal dust. All else about it is dingy,
but here is this little white flower which
the coal dust seems unable to injure in
the least degree. In searching for the
reason we find that the little flower has
transparent enamel covering for its
white petals which is absolutely imper-
vious to the dust about it. The black
ness from the coal mine rolls from its
surface and leaves no tell-tale marks
behind. The flower is still possessed of
it's purity and loneliness. 1t is so with
the Christian who abides under the shell
tering presence of his Lord. His gar
ments cannot then become furnished or
defiied with the sin dust of the world.
D UT if the world may not rob the
II Christian of his raiment, or soil or
tarnish it, the Christian may soil his
own garments. In the message to the
church at Sardis we find the charge made
that there we're not many who had not
def1led their garments. Only a few there
were who had kept themselves unspotted
from the world. The majority had so
far forgotten the profession they had
made and the name they bore as to share
in the sinful pleasures and ambitions
of the world. The garments of Christian
profession had become soiled with the
filth of the world, had become torn by
it's snares and temptations. Demas, a
co-laborer with Paul and about whom
Paul sorrowingly had to write: 'Demas
hath forsaken me, having loved this
present world" was one whose gar
mentS had become SOiled and defiled
with the touch of the world. While he
stayed with Paul and labored in the Cos
pei with him he came in contact with the
sin spots OF the world; he went into the
dark and needy and foul places, but it
was not then that his garments became
defiled. Christ could touch the lepers
and not be unclean; He could feel the
81 ioI
man who was suffering with an incura-
BILE ailment and not be defiled; He could
lift the sinful woman to her feet and tell
her to go and sin no more, and still be
spotless and pure; He could eat with
publicans and sinners, and still lift up
and save, for "He came, not to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance"
And Demas could go with His Lord and
Master into the needy and dark places
and be untouched by the sin and dirt OF
the world but when he went off by him
self into the world, drawn by his own
desires and longing for its pleasures, he
at once lost that immunity, and the sin
and dirt of the world made hideous, dis
figuring marks upon the garments of his
Christian profession.
IGDUT We on the Lord Jesus" because
] the garments of the natural self
are but filthy rags. Gods Word gives
us the picture of Joshua, the high priest,
standing before the angel of the Lord.
The contrast is striking. Joshua is
clothed in filthy garments; the angel in
robes of spotless white. Joshua has
upon him the garments which he himself
has secured; the angel has those which
God has provided. And the command
goes forth: Take away the filthy gar
ments from him" And change of raj
ment was provided for Joshua. He was
clothed upon by God. Although it was
Joshua, the high priest, who had been
ministering for the people before the
Lord, still the righteousness of the ma
tural self were as but filthy rags in the
presence of God. He must receive gar
ments from the hand of God. 1t is so
with the Christian. To put on Christ
means more than mere acceptance of
Him as a Saviour. 1t is the putting away
of the natural self and allowing Christ
the supreme rule over and control in the
life. Joshua. until he came into the very
presence of God, probably did not real
ize tina. his garments were filthy rags.
1t is always in the presence of God that
the Christian comes TO realize the true