Editorial December 1, 1917 Issue

Cleanliness and Godliness

Annie M. Knott

No one who has been acquainted with the results of Mrs. Eddy's teachings for any length of time could doubt their cleansing effect upon those who study them. Others, who have gained their impressions of Christian Science from adverse criticism, might gather the impression that physical cleanliness at least was thought of little importance by Christian Scientists, but nothing could be farther from the fact. In their churches, reading rooms, and homes the aim is to have order and purity well in evidence, and the relation of these to spiritual reality may readily be traced. Even the familiar statement that "cleanliness is next to godliness" shows that godliness must always take precedence over the other; but right here it may be remarked that where the human thought has felt the cleansing power of Truth, there will be a constant demand for purity in all things.

While it is quite true that Christian Scientists do not consider physical cleanliness as essential to health, they would cheerfully admit that it naturally accompanies it, because the thought which has been purified will never be content with anything else than purity in all its surroundings. Mrs. Eddy makes this very clear when she says on page 383 of Science and Health: "We need a clean body and a clean mind,—a body rendered pure by Mind as well as washed by water." There is, however, a great difference between the demand for external cleanliness, which is the result of fear or it may be of fastidiousness, and that which naturally accompanies a love of all that is pure and good. Christ Jesus made a clear-cut distinction between external cleanliness, even though it claimed to be associated with godliness, and the spiritual purity which springs from obedience to the law of God. When he was asked why his disciples did not comform to the ceremonial requirements of their time with respect to washing before meals, he directed his critics to the higher law which they ignored. He practically taught that when the inside is clean, the outside will be clean also.

A good many people seem to think that it is a difficult matter for mankind at large to maintain moral purity under all circumstances, or even to have much desire for it; but this is surely the result of false education. When one has been accustomed to cleanliness even of the external sort, he does not need to be reminded of the need for frequent ablutions. He would be extremely uncomfortable without them, and would almost prefer to go without his food than without the opportunity to wash,—this of course being largely the result of habit, yet at the same time being due to a certain amount of refinement, humanly speaking.

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