672. What man of sound reason cannot see that the washing of the face, hands, and feet, or of all the limbs, and even the whole body in a bath, does nothing more than wash away the dirt, that men may appear clean in the human form before men? And who cannot understand that no washing enters into man's spirit and renders that equally clean? For any thief, plunderer or robber may wash himself until he shines; but is the disposition to steal, plunder, and rob thereby washed away? Does not the internal flow into the external and work out the effects of its will and understanding, but not the external into the internal? For this latter is contrary to nature, because it is contrary to order; but the former is according to nature, because it is according to order.
