Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1857-04-15
WASH AND BE CLEAN.

The Rev. DR.. Bethune, on the recent
occasion of breaking ground for the
Brooklyn Water Works, made felici.
tous imPromptu speech, from which we
aubjoin an extract:
But my friends, the Scriptures, which
have been eloquently invoked for cur in |
.struction to day, give two uses for water;
one of these is a call upon us to slske
our thirst with the waters of life, but
the other is to plunge and bathe oursel- |
YES in the fountains that are opened to
cleanse from impurity. And both these
are necessary. If could, at this late
hour, attempt sermon on the text Of
Water, l should divide it into two head
water inside and water outside. Bptl
don't be alarmed, gentlemen, l am not
going to. But certainly you can't ex-
pect people TO drink water unless you
give them good water. 1t is impossible.
Why, l have been introduced to a gen.
deman this day-s born Hollander-
Who | know does honor 10 his country,
and appropos to that, can tell you, that
if you were in some parts of Holland
yes, and if Mayor Hall himself was in
some parts Of Holland. and had some of
the water there offered to him, he would
put something into it. believe there is
no greater temptation ia intempersnce
than bad wafer, and that it is what we
owe to our moral life, to have abundance
Of pure and heallhful water for the city s
drinking. You remember the complaint
Of the Irishnan in the old days of the
pumps in New York-says be, "Here is
the Human Society, the Humane, l
suppose he meant-"says you mustn't
drink cold water; and there's the Tenn
Perance Society says you mustn't drink
whiskey. and the only way think we
Tan get along is just by splitting the diff
iereuce." Ny friends. let us take away
every prsttnce of mixing anything with
he water which God his Providence
gave us, and than which we should de-
sire no better drink. But we also want
water on the outside. Every day l get
little angry seeing some of the notices
in the papers OF some poor boys, or per-
haps some men who have been working
in The factories, brought up and fined for
bathing off the public docks. How else
can they get themselves clean2 Have
they not right, when God. in his Provi.
dence, poured such tides of cleansing
efficacy all around them, to make, use of
il? Shall any man SAYS it not pre-
posterOus tyranny to say-that they shall
not enjoy the cleansing power? If any
body's mOdesty is offended by such
things, let them look the other way
And sowoulj l have this water that you
bring into this city. would have it SO
plentiful that not only every man should
have a batli--every man should be clean
| once illustrated subject ike this. l
was talking to College. You know
that people say that a studious life is
very bad fer the health, though there
are some of US here that do not show thar
in fact. But l believe that many Il man
loses his health in study, simply because
he does not take care of his health One |
thing is, that he takes too little exercise;
another is that he eats too much meat
a thing that every American does, in my |
judgment; and another is, that he does
not keep himself clean. A little soap
and water is wonderfully efficscious in
helping US 10 live well; for, as said to
them, what would you think of your
washerwoman if she sent your shirt home
with only the Wristbands aud collar wash
ed? Would you think your shirt clean?
And yet there are some of you who don't
do more than that, merely washing of
face and hands from day to day. Ia do
ing that do you think you make your
selves clean? Not a bit of it. There
was good old saint that said, "cleanli-
ness is next to godliness. My own opin-
ion is, that you cannot be godly without
being cleanly. No man can be a good
man and dirty man at the same time.
was once on one of the Southern rivers,
where as usual, we stuck fast in the mud,
and gentlemauly young man came up ,
and says: STRANGER, | wish you would
end me your razor, for I feel dirty enough ,
o steal" Well, now, that remark show +;
ID me that he felt degraded by sense
If his own uncleanliness. believe that +
t is necessary actually, to the moral dig
lity of man, that he should feel himseIfl>-
,ure; that he should be permitted to
wash off the dirt of this dirty world,
which, with all its beauty, has SO many =
leflements in it. and that he should ;,
now himself to be baplised pure, as far !
S his flesh is concerned, by the abun- :
anl gif. of God; that is. in the water j..
hat he pours out for US without meas
ire.