Cleanliness Should Mark the Life of a Christian, April 16

And the Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. Exodus 19:10. Incorrect personal habits are among the most prolific causes of disease. Order and cleanliness are laws of heaven. The directions given to Moses when the Lord was about to declare His law upon Mount Sinai were very strict in this respect.... They were directed to do this, lest there should be impurity about them as they should come before God. He is a God of order, and He requires order and cleanliness in His people. On no occasion were the children of Israel to allow impurities to remain upon their clothing or their persons. Those who had any uncleanness were to be shut out of the camp until the evening and then were required to cleanse themselves and their clothing before they could return. They were also commanded to carry all their refuse to a distance from the camp.... The Lord requires no less of His people now than He did anciently. If cleanliness was so necessary to those journeying in the wilderness, who were in the open air nearly all the time, it is no less necessary to us, who live in close houses, where impurities are more observable and have a more unhealthful influence. The moral law, spoken from Sinai, cannot have a place in the hearts of persons of disorderly, filthy habits. If the children of Israel could not so much as listen to the proclamation of that holy law without cleanliness of person and clothing, how can its pure precepts be written upon the hearts of those who are untidy in their persons and their homes? ... Violent epidemics of fever have occurred in villages and cities that were considered perfectly healthful, and these have resulted in death or broken constitutions. In many instances the premises of the very ones who fell victims to these epidemics contained the agents of destruction, which sent forth deadly poison into the atmosphere to be inhaled by the family and the neighborhood.... When Lord Palmerston was premier of England, he was at one time petitioned by the Scottish clergy to appoint a day of fasting and prayer to avert the cholera. He replied, “Cleanse and disinfect your streets and houses, promote cleanliness and health among the poor, and see that they are plentifully supplied with good food and raiment, and employ right sanitary measures generally, and you will have no occasion to fast and pray. Nor will the Lord hear your prayers while these, His preventatives, remain unheeded.”—Manuscript 58, 1890.