BATHING: A QUESTION by H. C. MILLER.

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 23, 1867

BATHING: A QUESTION.

By H. C. MILLER.

By many the duty to bathe the whole body and keep it clean, is entirely neglected. Many admit the force of the instructions to the children of Israel, in regard to bathing, so far as that people were concerned in the typical service, but have linked it with those ordinances which were abolished and taken out of the way, and so avoid a present application. And they think they see evidence that it is a non-essential in the course of our Saviour in eating at times with unwashed hands; not understanding that he was laboring to overturn the teachings of Jewish extremists, instead of teaching inattention to bodily cleanliness. But Jesus has taught us duty in this respect, it seems to me.

Now I want to ask a question: If Jesus said to Peter, when he wanted our Lord to wash the rest of his body lest he might have no part with him, “He that is washed,” or, “he that has previously bathed (other translation), needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit,” John xiii, 9, 10, what would he have said had he been talking to one whose body had been innocent of the cleansing power of soap and soft water for three, six, or twelve months, or even from some point immediately subsequent to childhood, and who thought it only necessary, before taking part in the ordinance, to wash the feet and ankles as far as they would probably be exposed?

H. C. MILLER. Monroe, Wis.