Section 588
III. To a flock of sheep just "come up from the washing
And so are white and clean; which is another thing in which the beauty of teeth consists; for it is not only requisite that they should be even, so as one does not grow out from, nor rise higher than the other; but likewise that they should be white and clean, like sheep that are just come out of the washing pit: which some[3744] think intends baptism; though it may be better understood "of the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost," which the ministers of the gospel ought not to be strangers to; for he that is not "born again of water, and of the spirit," as he shall neither "see nor enter into the kingdom of heaven" himself; so is he not fit to preach the gospel of the kingdom of heaven to others: though I rather think, it intends the pure and unspotted lives and conversations of Christ's ministers,; who, being persons that hate the "garment spotted with the flesh," and who "have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the lamb;" become examples to the flock, not only in faith, but in purity of conversation.