The Connotations of Cleanliness
January 1, 1970
There are many words whose sounds are sweet and satisfying: words such as warmth and love, home and friends, peace and quiet, comfort and kindness – and so many more that have come to mean
so much. There is another wonderful word that has much meaning: the word clean –cleanliness. All through scripture, men are reminded of cleanliness – even as our Saviour said, “be thou clean.” And Epictetus said that “cleanliness… divides [men] from the lower animals” – and then added: “Will you not cleanse yourself? Will you not come clean among us that you may give pleasure to your companions?” Think for a moment of some of the connotations of uncleanliness: dirt and darkness, and disease, smut
and filth, unwashed, impure, contaminated, soiled, and sullied. And then by contrast think of some of
the connotations of cleanliness: clean cloths, clean sheets, clean food, clean hands, clean speech, clean minds, clean motives, clean men. The honest dirt that comes with work, and the fresh smudges on a
boy’s face, have a sort of accepted virtue. But stale dirt, and dirt of mind and dirt of morals are repulsive
in the contrast to cleanliness, and especially so inside, of which Epictetus further said: “The [first] and fundamental purity is of the soul.” Some, no doubt, will be cynical on this subject. Some will say that the laws and commandments concerning chastity and personal purity are old-fashioned, and can be set
aside. But if they do say so, they deceive themselves, for there is this sure certainty: that sin, old- fashioned as it is to speak of it, is still followed by heartbreaking costs and consequences. The law of cause and effect has not been repealed – even if some would say so. How blessed is the feeling of cleanliness – of washing clean, being clean, thinking clean, living clean, keeping clean – cleanliness of person and cleanliness of soul; the chaste and moral cleanliness of a young man or woman coming to marriage. This kind of cleanliness is at the very center of man’s peace and self-respect; quietness of conscience – the cleanliness of a man inside himself.