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Testimonies for the Church Volume 2
and cleanliness with His people. That mighty God directed Moses
to tell the people to wash their clothes lest there should be impurity
in their clothing and about their persons as they came up before the
Lord. And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and
they washed their clothes, according to the command of God.
And to show how careful they were to be in regard to cleanliness,
Moses was to put a laver between the tent of the congregation and
the altar, “and put water there, to wash withal.” And Moses and
Aaron, and Aaron’s sons that ministered before the Lord, were to
wash their hands and their feet thereat when they went into the tent
of the congregation, and when they went in before the Lord.
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This was the commandment of the great and mighty God. There
was to be nothing slack and untidy about those who appeared before
Him when they came into His holy presence. And why was this?
What was the object of all this carefulness? Was it merely to recom-
mend the people to God? Was it merely to gain His approbation?
The reason that was given me was this, that a right impression might
be made upon the people. If those who ministered in sacred office
should fail to manifest care, and reverence for God, in their apparel
and their deportment, the people would lose their awe and their rev-
erence for God and His sacred service. If the priests showed great
reverence for God by being very careful and very particular as they
came into His presence, it gave the people an exalted idea of God
and His requirements. It showed them that God was holy, that His
work was sacred, and that everything in connection with His work
must be holy; that it must be free from everything like impurity and
uncleanness; and that all defilement must be put away from those
who approach nigh to God.
From the light that has been given me, there has been a care-
lessness in this respect. I might speak of it as Paul presents it. It
is carried out in will-worship and neglecting of the body. But this
voluntary humility, this will-worship and neglecting of the body, is
not the humility that savors of heaven. That humility will be partic-
ular to have the person and actions and apparel of all who preach
the holy truth of God, right and perfectly proper, so that every item
connected with us will recommend our holy religion. The very dress
will be a recommendation of the truth to unbelievers. It will be a
sermon in itself.