Article March 21, 1959 Issue

"CHANGE OF RAIMENT"

KATHRYN PAULSON

Cleanliness , neatness, and a reasonable conformity to accepted standards of fashion mark the well-adjusted individual. Good taste and self-respect forbid the indulgence of slovenly or unclean habits of dress. Yet, how often one's thinking is permitted to remain in the soiled, outmoded garments of false opinions, speculative hypotheses, superstitious fears, or personal prejudices! These sordid mental trappings must be cast off, for they defile whatever they touch in human experience and conceal man's true identity as the individualized expression of God's goodness and holiness.

The prophet Zechariah caught a glorious glimpse of the function of spiritual inspiration: to divest thought of the contaminating garb of materiality and reclothe it in the spotless radiance of Christ's vestures of purity and righteousness. He wrote (Zech. 3:3, 4); "Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment."

The exalting, angelic messengers of divine Truth and Love are always present to remove the dark and heavy robes of mortality and discord and to replace them with the weightless raiment of spiritual understanding. The unholy garment of iniquity cannot cling to the thought which is deeply desirous of regeneration, seeking the salvation which comes through purification of the human character.

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