Cleanness

“ There are as many kinds of accuracy as there are of cleanliness, from the cleanness of a clean-swept path, up to the absolute lifelessness and chemical purity of some tedious preparation in the laboratory. ”

“ for cleanness of body was ever esteemed to proceed from a due reverence to God, to society, and to ourselves. ”

“ Therefore Flesh is naturally the most unclean of all Food, it being of a gross phlegmatick Nature; and if Care be not taken, and Order and Temperance observed in the Eater, it generates abundance of crude and noxious Humours.
2. Cleanness in Houses, especially in Beds, is a great Preserver of Health. Now Beds for the most part stand in Corners of Chambers, and being ponderous close Substances, the refreshing Influences of the Air have no power to penetrate or destroy the gross Humidity that all such Places contract, where the Air hath not its free egress and regress. ”

“ And we must learn, by daily renewing our repentance every night for the sins of the day, to cleanse ourselves from the pollution we contract by them, that we may not lie down in our uncleanness. Even unclean animals they might touch while they were alive without contracting any ceremonial uncleanness by it, as horses and dogs, because they were allowed to use them for service; but they might not touch them when they were dead, because they might not eat their flesh ”

“ Males or females that are unclean through running issue, and a woman after childbirth, must in addition bring a sacrifice, because their uncleanness occurs less frequently than that of women in their separation. All these cases of uncleanliness, viz., running issue of males or females, menstruations, leprosy, dead bodies of human beings, carcases of beasts and creeping things, and issue of semen, are sources of dirt and filth. ”

“ The heifer and the bullocks, and the scapegoat which was sent forth, cannot of themselves render garments unclean. This is the proverb: “What makes thee unclean, cannot make me unclean, but thou canst make me unclean.”
[pg 280] 4. If one eat from the carcass of a clean bird, as it is in his throat, it renders garments unclean. The carcass itself does not render garments unclean. This is the proverb: “What makes thee unclean, cannot make me unclean, but thou canst make me unclean.”
5. Every742 secondary uncleanness does not render vessels unclean, but fluid does so. ”

“ One of the mottoes on our walls was “Cleanliness is next to Godliness,” and under it printed in large type was the remark of Sir 379B. W. Richardson: “Cleanliness covers the whole field of sanitary labor. Cleanliness, that is purity of air; cleanliness, that is purity of water; cleanliness in and around the house; cleanliness of person; cleanliness of dress; cleanliness of food and feeding; cleanliness in work; cleanliness in the habits of the individual man and woman; cleanliness of life and conversation, purity of life, temperance, all these are in man’s power.” ”

“ One may be clean superficially, that is one may scrub enough and yet vitally be very far from clean. We know, although it is of the greatest assistance to keep the skin free and vigorous so that it is able to do its part of the house-cleaning work for our systems, that vital cleanliness, clean, strong, internal organs performing their work with the vigor of well-constructed engines, uninjured [150] by foolish clothing, unharmed by impure food, keen for opportunity to grow and be vigorous—we know, I say that that cleanliness is more important than skin cleanliness. ”

“ What filth is to the body, error is to the mind; and therefore if we are to use our reason in regard to the former, we must have a standard of cleanliness as well as of truth; such a rule we can owe neither to freak nor fashion. We must look for one tested by long experience and fixed from ancient days:—this standard is THE BATH. This is no ideal one; it is at once theory and performance; he who has gone through it, knows what it is to be clean because he is cleansed. I shall use as synonymous the words, “cleanliness,” and the “bath.” ”

“ XI. CLEANLINESS. Both the health and comfort of a family depend, to a great extent, on cleanliness of the person and the family surroundings. True cleanliness of person involves the scientific treatment of the skin. This is the most complicated organ of the body, and one through which the health is affected more than through any other; and no persons can or will he be so likely to take proper care of it as those by whom its construction and functions are understood. ”

“ At any rate, the man or woman who demands cleanliness without and within, this cleanliness meaning pure air, pure water, pure food, must of necessity have a stronger body and therefore a clearer mind (both being nearer what God meant for body and mind) than the one who has cared little for law, and so lived oblivious to the consequences of breaking it. ”

“ A thorough cleanliness in your person is as necessary for your own health, as it is not to be offensive to other people. Washing yourself, and rubbing your body and limbs frequently with a fleshbrush, will conduce as much to health as to cleanliness. A particular attention to the cleanliness of your mouth, teeth, hands, and nails, is but common decency, in order not to offend people’s eyes and noses.
I send you here inclosed a letter of recommendation to the Duke of Nivernois, the French Ambassador at Rome; who is, in my opinion, one of the prettiest men I ever knew in my life. ”

“ Frequent washings with cold water, with the occasional use of warm water and soap, are absolutely necessary to cleanliness.
4. Change of Linen.
A frequent change of linen is another essential of cleanliness. It avails little to wash the body if we inclose it the next minute in soiled garments. It is not in the power of every one to wear fine and elegant clothes, but we can all, under ordinary circumstances, afford clean shirts, drawers, and stockings. Never sleep in any garment worn during the day; and your night-dress should be well aired every morning. ”

“ The signs of cleanliness are, in the first place, a clean skin. An English girl will hardly let her lover see the stale dirt between her fingers, as I have many times seen it between those of French women, and even ladies, of all ages. An English girl will have her face clean, to be sure, if there be soap and water within her reach; but, get a glance, just a glance, at her poll, if you have any doubt upon the subject; and, if you find there, or behind the ears, what the Yorkshire people call grime, the sooner you cease your visits the better. ”

“ Q. Of what use is cleanliness to man?
A. It preserves his health and virtue; it clears his understanding, and encourages him to activity; it procures him the esteem of others; and none but clean people can be really cheerful and happy. ”

“ In its absence life can only exist in lowly organised beings, and in them only in a dormant state. From a hygienic point of view, the uses of water are four-fold:— (1) It is an essential part of our food, not only serving to build up the tissues of the body, but also preserving the fluidity of the blood and aiding excretion of effete matters. (2) It is necessary for personal cleanliness, of which the importance can scarcely be exaggerated. (3) In the household it is essential for cooking, as well as for washing the house, the linen, and various utensils. ”

“ Having taken my resolution to make the COMFORT of the poor people, who were to be provided for, the primary object of my attention, I considered what circumstance in life, after the necessaries, food and raiment, contributes most to comfort, and I found it to be CLEANLINESS. And so very extensive is the influence of cleanliness, that it reaches even to the brute creation. ”

“ If half the care bestowed on hygiene were given to the study of metaphysics and the moral elevation of thought, it would usher in the millennium.
Bathing and brushing to correct the secretions, or remove unhealthy exhalations from the cuticle, receive a useful rebuke from Christian healing, that makes not clean the outside of the platter, and a hint from the Irish emigrant, whose filth has not affected his health because of the correspondence of mind and body. To the mind equally gross, dirt gives less uneasiness. ”

“ Farmers and miners, perhaps more than any other class of laborers, who are continually in contact with the earth, need the elevating influence, physical and spiritual, of a daily bath.
From a moral and hygienic standpoint the matter of cleanliness, which is next to godliness, is of great importance, and it is fine evidence of intellectual progress and spiritual growth when men use more water and soap at the end of the day’s work. ”

“ Again, it keeps the body in a state of perfect cleanliness, which is so essential to robust health; but these are not its only virtues—it promotes purity of mind and morals. The man who is accustomed to be physically clean shrinks instinctively from all contact with uncleanliness. ”

“ Dirt and impurity have till now been somewhat indefinite conceptions. We use the terms whenever our innate or cultivated sense of cleanliness is unpleasantly affected; they are generally called out by impressions on our sense of smell, taste, or sight. What we call cleanliness plays an important part in daily life, in a similar manner to that which conscience, the sense of right and wrong, partly innate, partly inculcated, plays in our moral life. ”

“ We are sorry to say, that the importance of general cleanliness does not seem to be sufficiently understood by the magistrates of most great towns in Britain; though health, pleasure, and delicacy, all conspire to recommend an attention to it. Nothing 102can be more agreeable to the senses, more to the honour of the inhabitants, or more conducive to their health, than a clean town; nor can any thing impress a stranger with a more disrespectful idea of any people than its opposite. ”

“ Doctors differ like the rest of us, but there is a broad general ground of agreement upon which we can all go, namely, that cleanliness, in its widest sense, including pure air, food, and water; plain, easily-digested, nourishing food; with rest and exercise in proper proportion, are the main essentials for right living, and so furnish the key to the problem. ”

“ From this it appears that persons attentive to the cleanliness of their bodies and habitations are, in general, more healthy, and less subject to disease, than those who live in filth and nastiness; and it is further remarked, that cleanliness carries with it, throughout all the branches of domestic administration, habits of order and arrangement, which are the chief means and first elements of happiness. ”

“ Emphasize bodily and mental purity.—All schools should teach explicitly in due season those elements of good manners and customs which have to do with health and the preservations of bodily and mental purity. They should teach habitual cleanliness of the body and particularly of the hands and face, point out the importance of this cleanliness as regards clothes, furniture and utensils, and the reasons for keeping the dwelling free from dust, dirt, insects and vermin. ”

“ I might observe further, that as cleanliness renders us agreeable to others, so it makes it easy to ourselves; that it is an excellent preservative of health; and that several vices, destructive both to mind and body, are inconsistent with the habit of it. ”

“ What do you think of a mother who keeps neither herself nor her children clean? Who likes to enter a cabin or cottage where the dirt has to be wiped off a seat before a decent man or woman can sit down upon it? A clean person will see that even the patched garments he is obliged to wear are at least free from dirt. No matter how poor the house is you live in, it should be kept clean. The Bible says, “Wash you, make you clean.” ”

“ It is your duty to keep clean. I have given the Teachers a new set of questions to ask the people. I say to them, ask the people whether they keep clean. Do you wash your bodies once in each week, when circumstances will permit? Do you keep your dwellings, outhouses, and dooryards clean? The first work of the reformation with some, should be to clean away the filth about their premises. ”

“ Cleanliness! Who does not know human beings, especially women, who make a great virtue of cleanliness? Who does not know the various phrases of this cleanliness, which have no limit whatever when it is procured by the labour of others? Who among self-made men has not experienced in his own person the pains with which he carefully accustomed himself to this cleanliness, which illustrates the saying, “White hands are fond of another's labour”?
To-day cleanliness consists in changing one's shirt daily ”

“ The importance of cleanliness, in person and dress, can never be fully realized, by persons who are ignorant of the construction of the skin, and of the influence which its treatment has on the health of the body. ”

“ Cleanliness, as well in dress as in residence, obviates the pernicious effects of the humidity, baneful odors, and contagious exhalations, proceeding from all things abandoned to putrefaction. Cleanliness, maintains free transpiration; it renews the air, refreshes the blood, and disposes even the mind to cheerfulness. ”

“ I could but think how many a lesson we may learn from the small as well as the great creations of God's hand—habits such as this little animal possessed might, in the way of cleanliness, lead to the prevention of endless diseases, if imitated by those who never dream of daily cleansings as being necessary to health and life. ”

“ We should therefore always insist upon the degree of cleanliness which we understand to promote the greatest possible prevention and dilution of filth, as our hygienic aim; and we shall furthermore do well, if we remove not only from our houses, but from the neighborhood, and keep removed, all that seems to us to be dirt, and offends our innate æsthetic feelings. ”