PERSONAL CLEANLINESS by Talmage

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 21, 1895

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 21, No. 46.

PERSONAL CLEANLINESS.

By Talmage

The world needs more careful ablution. Taking our nose for a witness in the case, we judge that many do not wash themselves often enough and thoroughly enough. In city houses with bath rooms and water pipes running every whither, there is no shade of excuse for lack of cleanliness. Indeed, there is no excuse anywhere for neglect of ablution. You answer that you wash your hands and face every morning. What of that? Your hands and face could get along without immersion easier than the rest of your body, for the dirt would rub off by contact with fresh air and the implements of your occupation. You need frequent application of water from the top of your head to the end of the long toe. Once a week will not do. God washes the flowers every night with dew, and you are certainly no purer than the jasmines and verbenas. Three-fourths of the world do not wash often enough either for health or decency, and could apply in a physical sense what Paul said in a spiritual: “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of dirt and death?” If only one-half of the world had been water, the divine meaning might have been doubtful, but with three-fourths of the earth water, the doctrine of frequent purification ought to be every way adopted and acted on. The tarrying of some people in your room for half an hour necessitates a fumigation.—Talmage.