Question: explain the proverb cleanliness is next to godliness?
Answer: The proverb 'cleanliness is next to godliness' expresses the idea that those who are pure and wholesome are close to God. When the proverb was put forward, in the 17th century, cleanliness (or clenlynesse or cleanlines as it was spelled then) referred to both moral purity and to personal hygiene.