9. Ninth Day.
White Garments.
"Let thy garments be always white."--Eccles. ix. 8.
"Always?" Oh, how can that be? They are soiled again directly after they have been washed clean! Yet God says, "Let them be always white;" and He would not tell you to do what was impossible. Then how are you to help soiling them? Only in one way. Last night's "little pillow" told you how Jesus washes us "whiter than snow" in His own precious blood, that cleanseth from all sin. But will He only cleanse His little one just for the moment? is that all He is able and willing to do for you?
No; if you will only keep on trusting to that precious blood, and not turn away from it, He says that it cleanseth, that is, goes on cleansing. You could not keep your garments white for five minutes; careless thoughts would come like dust upon them, and wrong words would make great dark stains and before long some naughty deed would be like a sad fall in the mud, and you would feel sad and ashamed before the kind Saviour who still stands ready to cleanse you again. But why should all this happen over and over again, till anybody but our own loving, long-suffering Saviour would be tired of us, and give up doing any more for us? Why should it be, when His precious blood is meant to "go on cleansing," so that our garments may be always white? Perhaps you never thought of this; ask Him now this morning not only to wash you in the fountain of His precious blood, but to keep you in it, to go on cleansing you all day long. Trust Him to do this, and see if it is not the happiest day you ever spent!
"And He can do all this for me,
Because in sorrow, on the tree,
He once for sinners hung;
And, having washed their sin away,
He now rejoices, day by day,
To cleanse His little one."