(21) And at all times be clean in thy body, and wash thyself with water before thou approachest to offer on the altar, and wash thy hands and thy feet before thou drawest near to the altar; and when thou art done sacrificing, wash again thy hands and thy feet.

(22) He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.

(3) And so following, when a man seeth in a bodily or ghostly mirror, or wots by other men’s teaching, whereabouts the foul spot is on his visage, either bodily or ghostly; then at first, and not before, he runneth to the well to wash him. If this spot be any special sin, then is this well Holy Church, and this water confession, with the circumstances. If it be but a blind root and a stirring of sin, then is this well merciful God, and this water prayer, with the circumstances. And thus mayest thou see that no thinking may goodly be gotten in beginners and profiters, without reading or hearing coming before: nor praying without thinking.

(7) With a cup of pure water from the Deep shalt thou purify thy way!

(1) CERTAIN of the scribes saw some of Jesus’ disciples eat bread with unwashen hands. They found fault: for the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables.

(10) There was indeed the sacred laver, as we have said, in the Hierarchy of the Law; and the present cleansing of the hands of the Hierarch and the Priests suggests it. For it behoves those who approach the most hallowed service to be purified even to the remotest imaginations of the soul, through likeness to it, and, as far as possible, to draw nigh; for thus they will shed around more visibly the Divine manifestations, since the supermundane flashes permit their own splendour to pass more thoroughly and brilliantly into the brightness of mirrors like themselves. Further, the cleansing of the Hierarch and the Priests to their extremities, i.e. lowest, takes place before the most holy symbols, as in the presence of Christ, Who surveys all our most secret thoughts, and since the utmost purification is established under His all-surveying scrutiny, and most just and unflinching judgment, the Hierarch thus becomes one with the things Divine, and, when he has extolled the holy works of God, he ministers things most Divine, and brings to view the things being sung.

(84) But now Baptism was not instituted in respect of the earthly corruptible [Man,] which belongs to the Earth, nor for the heavenly [Man's] Sake, which was pure and spotless without that, but for the poor Soul's Sake. Seeing the heavenly Man in Christ took our natural Soul (in the Body of the Virgin Mary) to his heavenly Man, and that also the earthly Man hung to the Soul, therefore the holy Trinity [by the Hand of Man] took the Water of the eternal Life in the pure Element, and dipt the Soul therein, as I may so speak.

(9) But observe that they are enrolled in the holy memorials, not as though the Divine memory were represented under the figure of a memorial, after the manner of men; but as one might say, with reverence towards God, as beseems the august and unfailing knowledge in God of those who have been perfected in the likeness of God. For "He knoweth," say the Oracles, "them that are His," and "precious, in the sight of the Lord, is the death of His saints, "death of saints," being said, instead of the perfection in holiness. And bear this religiously in mind, that when the worshipful symbols have been placed on the Divine Altar, through which (symbols) the Christ is signified and partaken, there is inseparably present the reading of the register of the holy persons, signifying the indivisible conjunction of their supermundane and sacred union with Him. When these things have been ministered, according to the regulations described, the Hierarch, standing before the most holy symbols, washes his hands with water, together with the reverend order of the Priests. Because, as the Oracles testify, when a man has been washed, he needs no other washing, except that of his extremities, i.e his lowest; through which extreme cleansing he will be resistless and free, as altogether uniform, in a sanctified habit of the Divine Likeness, and advancing in a goodly manner to things secondary, and being turned again uniquely to the One, he will make his return, without spot and blemish, as preserving the fulness and completeness of the Divine Likeness.

(20) If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.

(20) As Jesus spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: he went in, and sat down to meat. The Pharisee marvelled that Jesus had not washed before dinner. The Lord said unto him,

(9) This initiation, then, of the holy birth in God, as in symbols, has nothing unbecoming or irreverent, nor anything of the sensible images, but (contains) enigmas of a contemplation worthy of God, likened to physical and human images. For how should it appear misleading? Even when the very divine meaning of the things done is passed over in silence, the divine Instruction might convince, religiously pursuing as it does the good life of the candidate, enjoining upon him the purification from every kind of evil, through a virtuous and Divine life, by the physical cleansing through the agency of water in a bodily form. This symbolic teaching then of the things done, even if it had nothing more divine, would not be without religious value, as I think, introducing a discipline of a well-regulated life, and. suggesting mysteriously, through the total bodily purification by water, the complete purification from the evil life.

(4) Thou art pure, thou art pure, thy forepart is purified, thy hindpart is cleansed with bet and natron, and cooled with incense

(163) therefore has Christ ordained or instituted the Baptism or New Birth or Regeneration of the Holy Ghost, in the Water, because the Birth of the Light rises up in the sweet Water in the Heart. [†Printed Copy, Brain.]

(5) It is alluded to in the next Chapter (fifth verse), “thou puttest on the pure garment, and thou divestest the apron, when thou stretchest thyself on the funereal bed.”

(24) Understand it thus, that Water is the Water of the eternal Life in the mLimbus of God in the Holy Ternary; and that is the Water which baptizes the Soul, when we keep the Use of his As by an Example. Testament, for the Soul in his Covenant is dipped and washed in that Water, it is rightly the Bath [or Laver] of Regeneration, for by its dipping in the holy Water, it is received and quickened by the holy Water, and comes (in the Covenant of Christ) into the Soul of Christ; indeed not fully into his Soul, but into his Body, and becomes the Brother of the Soul of Christ; for Christ's Soul is a Creature, (as our Souls are,) and is in the Body of the Mercifulness in the Trinity, being surrounded therewith, and has the same in it for Food and Strength [or Refreshment.] So also our Souls in the Covenant, if they be faithful and continue in God, they are the Brethren of Christ's Soul.

(38) Think that your body is the garment of your soul; and therefore preserve it pure.

Impure dæmons vindicate to themselves the impure soul.

(27) Farther westward, in line with the Brazen Altar, was the Laver of Purification already described. It signified to the priest that he should cleanse not only his body but also his soul from all stains of impurity, for none who is not clean in both body and mind can enter into the presence of Divinity and live. Beyond the Laver of Purification was the entrance to the Tabernacle proper, facing the east, so that the first rays of the rising sun might enter and light the chamber. Between the encrusted pillars could be seen the Holy Place, a mysterious chamber, its walls hung with magnificent drapes embroidered with the faces of Cherubs.

(6) Now, if one should see himself in water, he should recite over it the formula: ' In me be vigor, power, beauty, wealth, merit! ' This, verily, indeed, is loveliness among women: when [a woman] has removed the [soiled] clothes of her impurity. Therefore when she has removed the [soiled] clothes of her impurity and is beautiful, one should approach and invite her.

(53) X. When rising from the bedclothes, roll them together, and obliterate the impression of the body. Pythagoras directed his disciples who had awakened from the sleep of ignorance into the waking state of intelligence to eliminate from their recollection all memory of their former spiritual darkness; for a wise man in passing leaves no form behind him which others less intelligent, seeing, shall use as a mold for the casting of idols.