A Solemn Appeal

RELATIVE TO
SOLITARY VICE,
AND
THE ABUSES AND EXCESSES
OF THE MARRIAGE RELATION.

EDITED BY
ELDER JAMES WHITE.

STEAM PRESS 1870.

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[Digital Edition's Note: This work is included in James White's collection, though he did not author much of it. He served as compiler. Ellen White wrote the five main sections that are also in her "Solemn Appeal." Other authors include E. P. Miller, M.D., and O. S. Fowler.]

PREFACE

It is not a pleasing task to point out the sins of others. It is disagreeable to call attention to those sins of youth, and the abuses and excesses, even in the married life, which are ruining the souls and bodies of ten of thousands; especially so while feelings of great delicacy, relative to the subject, exist in the public mind. But disagreeable though the task may be, facts, terrible facts of everyday observation, fully justify a solemn and faithful warning to all.

We would cherish the profoundest respect for the delicate feelings of the truly modest, and the really virtuous; but we confess our want of respect for that false delicacy in many, which takes fright at the mention of those vices, in consequence of which, they themselves exhibit evident marks of rapid decay. The reader may as well prepare at the first, by laying aside feelings of false delicacy, if he is troubled with them, to be benefited by the painful facts, plainly stated, in the following pages.

The real value of the lengthy article on "Chastity" cannot be estimated by dollars and cents. Every youth in the land should read it. And not only the youth, but every parent and guardian should study it well, and be prepared in a proper way to warn those children under their immediate care.

And let every mother be stirred by the article under

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the caption of "Appeal to Mothers." It comes from a mother's heart - from one who has had experience in laboring for the unfortunate victims of secret vice, and is imbued with the importance of the subject.

And the extracts from the excellent work of E. P. Miller, M. D., entitled, "The Cause of Exhausted Vitality," are of no less value than the articles that precede them. Dr. Miller's preface opens thus:

"This little book is born of the idea that mankind are suffering for want of the knowledge it is designed to give. A medical experience, extending through several years, has convinced me that people of all ages and both sexes are suffering from abuses of the sexual function. In a majority of instances these abuses were begun and continued in ignorance of the results which were to follow."

And then the lengthy and earnest appeal to men, women, youth and children, from the writer of the "Appeal to Mothers," and her exhortations and warnings from a Bible stand-point, meet the wants of the people.

The extracts entitled "Evils and Remedy," although unavailing many dark pictures, are entitled to consideration as the utterances of one whose extensive study of human nature has qualified him to speak to the point on this important subject.

The closing chapter, on treatment, is from the pen of one who sustains an intimate relation to the cause of health reform. Its instructions have the endorsement of the faculty of our Health Institute, and are entitled to the confidence of the reader.

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CHASTITY. DEFINITION OF UNCHASTITY.

UNCHASTITY includes all the action, whether of body or mind, which is forbidden by the seventh commandment. And all that is therein forbidden, may be included under the two following heads:

1. Unchastity of the mind.

2. Unchastity of the conduct.

By unchastity of the mind, is meant the conception of unchastity in the mind, the cherishing of impure desire. All sin has its seat in the mind. The seventh commandment, like every other, extends to "thoughts, and intents of the heart." "This," says Dwight, "is unanswerable evident from our Saviour's comment on this precept (the seventh commandment), 'Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.' " Matt.5:28. And with this agrees another scripture, which says, "Out of the heart proceedeth . . . adulteries."

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By unchastity of the conduct, we are to understand the acting out of unchastity in any of its various ways of developing sinful thoughts, as,

1. By unchaste conversation, writing, looks, and gestures. "Speech is the mirror of the soul." And hence it is that "by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." Matt.12:37. But significant looks, writing, gestures etc., being but substitutes for words and the tongue, are, like them, capable of being made the ministers of sin; hence, also, they must be subject to the same general law.

UNCHASTITY IN THE SIGHT OF GOD

Unchastity, loathsome and abhorrent as it is in the sight of good men, is infinitely more so in the sight of God. This is sufficiently evident in the conduct of the divine Being in relation to it. The prominent place he has given to the law forbidding it - having written it in common with nine others, on tables of stone, for the universal government of universal man - and, also, the sanction he has placed upon it - having announced it amid the most sublime and awful, symbols of the divine presence which the world ever witnessed - these considerations make it abundantly evident that God looks upon unchastity

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with the extreme of loathing and abhorrence.

This view, however, is further evidenced in the fact that throughout both Testaments, unchastity is made the subject of frequent rebuke, in language of the greatest detestation. Against no other form of sin are men more frequently and earnestly admonished.

EFFECTS OF UNCHASTITY UPON THE BODY

"Sexual desire, cherished by the mind, and dwelt upon by the imagination, not only increases the excitability and peculiar sensibility of the genital organs themselves; but always throws an influence equal to the intensity of the affection, over the whole nervous domain; disturbing all the functions depending on them for vital energy, which is thereby increased upon, or distracted from, them - and if this excitement is frequently repeated or long continued, it inevitably induces an increased degree of irritability and debility and relaxation generally, throughout the whole nervous and muscular tissues, and especially the nerves of organic life. And hence, those lascivious DAY-DREAMS and amorous reveries, in which young people - and especially the idle and the voluptuous, and the sedentary and the nervous - are exceedingly apt to indulge, are often the sources of

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general debility, effeminacy, disordered functions, and premature disease, and even premature death, without the actual exercise of the general organs! Indeed, this unchastity of thought - this adultery of the mind - is the beginning of immeasurable evil to the human family." - Graham's Lectures to Young Men, p. 57.

SOLITARY VICE

Testimony to the evil effects of solitary vice comes in from all quarters. Dr. Clarke, the excellent commentator, says that self-pollution "excites the powers to undue action, and produces violent secretions, which necessarily and speedily exhaust the vital principle and energy." The doctor goes on to speak of its consequences, as disease and death, and then adds: "Reader, this is no caricature, nor are the colors overcharged in this shocking picture. Worse woes than my pen can relate, I have witnessed in those addicted to this fascinating, unnatural and most destructive of crimes. If thou hast entered the snare, flee from the destruction of both soul and body that awaits thee."

Physiology also bears its testimony. Says Sylvester Graham, "By far the worst form of venereal indulgence is self-pollution." This testimony perfectly accords with that

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of the divine quoted above. Says Mrs. Grove, the celebrated physiological lectures, "There is hardly an end to these diseases" - diseases caused by solitary vice. Says the Rev. E. M. P. Wells, teacher in the school of moral discipline, Boston, "Respecting the habit of sexual self-indulgence, I should hope it was unnecessary to speak of its dangerous and evil effects."

Wm. C. Woodbridge, well known to the educational world, speaks of it as a "solitary but fatal vice, spreading desolation through our schools and families, unnoticed or unknown." Tissot speaks of it as the cause of painful, long, disgusting disease. Says Dr. Woodward, the justly-celebrated superintendent of the Mass. State Lunatic Hospital, "A great number of the ills which come upon the young at and after the age of puberty, arise from this habit, persisted in so long as to waste the vital energies, and enervate the physical and mental powers of the man."

Todd, in his "Student's Manual," p. 147, says, "I have known very many young persons who have daily polluted themselves with this vice - and that, too, for a number of years. . . . I have lamented the fall of many whom I have seen fall victims to premature death, for this foul cause alone - some, while in the halls of education, and others, soon after leaving college, adorned with its higher honors."

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We have already heard Mrs. Grove say, "There is hardly an end to these diseases" (diseases caused by this vice). She enumerates "dyspepsia, spinal complaint, headache, epilepsy, impaired eyesight, palpitation of the heart, pain in the side, bleeding at the lungs, spasms of the heart and lungs, diabetes, or incontinence of urine, fluor albus, or whites, inflammation of the urinary organs." Dr. Deslandes, besides many of these, instances rheumatism, affected perspiration, consumption, asthma, catarrh, polypus of the heart, affection of the bones, fevers, priapism strangury, polypus uteri, blood discharges, etc., etc.

The following startling case occurred but a few miles from the residence of the writer. It is received on credible information. A boy, about four years old, was afflicted with weakness and stiffness of limbs. (The exact symptoms the writer has not learned.) His parents at length carried him to a distant physician. The physician, after sufficient inquiry, told them that the child "handled himself too much." They returned, doubting what this could mean. Suggesting the matter to some of their neighbors, their eyes were opened. "Well," said they, "we will stop that." And they did stop it, by bandaging the genitals. And lo! the child soon stopped being feeble and lame. He is now a healthy boy.

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Dr. Goupil, as quoted by Deslandes, gives a full and particular account of a little boy who at two years old was epileptic, from this cause. The vice was taught him by his nurse. We say taught him - perhaps we should say fastened upon him at early infancy only as a notion. A notion, however, which hurried on excitement and rendered him paralytic. By the most vigilant use of mechanical means for confining the hands, covering the genitals, etc., the child was at length cured; he now enjoys good health, "and, with the exception of a remarkable loss of memory, retains no trace of his former indiscretions."

Instances like the above are, doubtless, of very rare occurrence, and when they do occur, must be supposed to be the result of the combined action of all the circumstances, constitutional and external, favorable to their development. That the debasing habit is often commenced before puberty, and in the language of an eminent physiological observer, "frequently many years before," is, however, quite indisputable.

But, after all, very little of the mischief of this sin is known. It is a secret vice, a vice which its patrons are ashamed to confess. And hence, provided they themselves know it to be the cause of their suffering, they are slow to acknowledge it. Or, if knowing this, they abandon it, and so get well; feeling under

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no obligation to publish their indiscretion, some medicinal nostrum obtains all the credit of their cure. And further, if knowing its evils they persist in it, in spite of them, why, they have then no motive for exposing it. But if, as is generally the case, they are ignorant of its injuriousness, then certainly, they will not reveal it. So that, every way, the conclusion forces itself upon us, that comparatively very little of the mischief of solitary vice is known. Indeed, very little of it is known to the victims themselves; much less, then, to the community. This will appear still more evident in the fact that it is only quite recently that many discoveries calculated to excite any general alarm and inquiry have been made - and also in the fact that the more general effects of the vice, being only a sort of general debility, are not among the ignorant masses calculated to excite much careful inquiry into their causes. Upon the whole, it must plainly appear that what are known of the consequences of solitary vice, can, at most, be regarded only as indices to what actually exist.

This evil is confined to neither sex. Its ravages, though not as extensive, are, however, most dreadful among the females. We have before us numerous published cases of the horrible nature, taken from the history of both sexes.

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The foregoing are among the causes which at present occur to our mind for the pre-eminently-sad physical consequences of solitary vice. But whatever view the reader take of these causes, we charge him never to hazard their consequences! And this charge we give in the name of his own health and life. Whatever be his age, and however temperate he resolve to be, he must not indulge in this sin. Total abstinence must be his law. One glass excites the appetite for another. One enemy admitted, another clamors for admission; while the one admitted is weakening his power of resistance. In a word, in the language of Deslandes, "It is clear that there is no possible security for the onanist." But especially let every praying man either cease to sip of this cup of foulness, or cease to pray, "Lead us not into temptation." Otherwise "his prayer itself will become sin."

EFFECTS OF UNCHASTITY UPON THE MIND

Unchastity, as we have already seen, deranges, debilitates and ruins the body. Now, out of this startling fact arises another fact, if possible more startling. It is that unchastity deranges, debilitates and ruins the mind. That this latter fact must follow the former, is clear in the consideration that the body is

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the seat of the mind, and the medium through which it acts. The mind gets its simple ideas through the medium of the body. And in proportion to the perfectness of this medium does the mind improve. But when the body is debilitated, languid, sick, it is injured, and ruined as a medium for the action of the mind. Consequently the mind is then shut up to itself in weakness and destitution. Moreover, the mind increases its stock of knowledge and its energy by the reflection upon its ideas. So that on ideas, by reflection, ideas grow. But when the body is feeble and sick, reflection cannot be supported. (Witness the case of thousands of invalids.) As, then, reflection is necessary to mental improvement, and as a sound body is necessary to clear and continued reflection, so is a sound body necessary to high mental improvement. Once more - the ability of the mind to use the knowledge it has, is dependent upon the body. Thus, whatever weakens the body, in so far locks up the mental treasure-house against even itself. But unchastity does weaken and debilitate the body, and by consequence, as we have above seen, the mind also. But to be a little more particular:

1. By unchastity, especially by solitary vice, the mind suffers lassitude. By lassitude, we mean that dozy indifference which the victims of venereal excesses often feel.

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To be sure, sensation and conscious energy may be, for a time and at intervals, exalted, under the influence of this unnaturalness. But unless they be exalted to the point of insanity, the system soon relapses, and sinks into the condition above mentioned. This condition is the perfectly-natural result of the exhaustion of the nervous energy upon the venereal passion. It is indicted by a general feeling of irresolution, and this more especially in the morning. Students, as many of them as are vicious, are the sorest sufferers from it. And, in general, persons of sedentary habits are most liable to it, although no victim of solitary vice is safe from it. Says Dr. Deslandes, "Young men who previously showed considerable vivacity of mind and aptitude for study, become, after being addicted to this habit [solitary vice], stupid and incapable of applying themselves. It is evident that this transitory state which immediately succeeds the act of venery, becomes continued when this act is frequently repeated, because time is not allowed for the effects of it to pass off." But if unchastity - more especially solitary vice - unfits students for their work, so does it young farmers, mechanics, seamstresses, etc., for theirs. It is always and every where, "evil, only evil, and that continually."

2. By unchastity, especially by solitary

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vice, the mind suffers permanent debility. Dr. Woodward says that loss of memory and power of application shows the devastating effects of solitary vice upon the mind. Says Todd in his "Student's Manual," "Remember that the fruits of this habit (solitary vice) are, (1) great debility of the memory, (2) great prostration of foolish imbecility of the mind."

But while the memory suffers so much from this vice that it has been marked by all who have written upon this subject, still it does not suffer alone. All the mental faculties partake of the general blight. Perception is made dull and obtuse, the reasoning powers are blunted. Nothing is seen clearly - nothing is understood perfectly. The whole mental man is sunk; and this, more or less, according to the degree of venereal abuse. To all this the reflecting reader will assent.

3. From debility the mind often sinks into idiocy. We have already seen that Dr. Woodward reckons idiocy among the consequences of solitary vice. And it is no marvel that whatever induces mental lassitude and debility, should finally induce vacant idiocy itself. The tendency is all that way. "Last fall," says the author of "Facts and Important Information," etc., "I saw a young woman in a town in Massachusetts who had

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made herself an idiot by masturbation. A most miserable creature she was. Her looks and gestures were indescribable; licentiousness, like a foul plague, had blasted everything beautiful in her face, everything noble and lovely in her soul." Says Dr. Clarke, by this vice the mind is 'often debilitated even to idiotism.'

In the fall of 1844, the writer visited the Massachusetts State Lunatic Hospital. While being conducted through the various apartments, mingling promiscuously with the insane, our attention was suddenly arrested by the peculiarly haggard, frantic, wild, and fiendish appearance of a young man, turning from us with his eye turned back over his shoulder. Struck with his shocking aspect, we inquired of our attendant, a young physician, what was the cause of his insanity. "Solitary vice," was the ready reply. Thought we, solitary vice produces solitary insanity! for we never saw the like before. We further asked, Have you many here from that cause? "A large proportion," was the reply. More than from intemperance? "Oh, yes, far more." Do you find ladies alike victims of that practice? "We know no difference." We were now passing through a large room where a number of beautiful and apparently intelligent young ladies sat gazing mutely upon us. But, doctor, what

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are your prospects of cure in such cases? "When there is reason enough left to make the patients see and feel that by abandoning the habit they may be cured, we have good hope; but not otherwise." This last sentiment agrees perfectly with a remark of Deslandes', that "when they (crazy persons) do indulge, this act must be considered as a bad symptom, since it constitutes an insurmountable obstacle to the cure: it destroys the strength, and finally produces, in the patients, stupidity, phthisis, marasmus, and death." And surely nothing but death was wanting to fill this picture in the case of the young man to whom we have just alluded.

EFFECTS OF LICENTIOUSNESS UPON THE MORALS

Lust fills the chambers of the whole soul with moral pestilence and mildew; and this, too, whatever be its mode of operating. So that solitary vice, in its depraving power, falls but little short of libertinism itself. Its tendency is downward - downward - DOWNWARD! It rapidly weakens and debases the moral character, especially if the sinfulness of it be known. We have already seen how often it hurries its victims to insanity. But far more frequently it sinks them deep in depravity without destroying their accountability.

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It is the parent of very much of that moral corruption so generally ascribed to the fall of Adam! Sapping the moral nature early, it saps it effectually. Reason and conscience, struggling ineffectually for a season, at length throw loose the controlling reins, and then the work is done. Few, if any, confirmed onanists, but are depraved to the level of any and every form of venereal sin. And certainly, they who are thus depraved, will shrink from very few acts of crime, whenever their interest or their passion shall summon them to wickedness. Selfish and interested motives may, to be sure, afford many, and sometimes strong, restraints. But when right - right in the sight of God - moral right is the only question, it is believed that the subjects of licentiousness will generally care but little for it.

CAUSES OF UNCHASTITY

We notice bad education as a cause of unchastity. Children are born in a perfectly uneducated state. They know absolutely nothing until they learn something. Now, by education, we mean the conveying of knowledge to the mind in any and every possible way. Thus, if the mind be compared to an unsoiled, white sheet, then the writing and impressing of ideas thereon we call education. Well has the poet said:

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" 'Tis education forms the common mind;" and certainly it has much to do in forming the moral character. By bad education we mean the filling of the mind with bad ideas. And it is this that we are now to consider as a cause of the prevalence of unchastity, as discussed in former chapters.

Paul says that "evil communications corrupt good manners." No sooner is it said, "A child is born," than an infant is subjected to "evil communications," i.e., put in communication with an evil, sensual world. And that manners are thereby corrupted, has been often proved while the child has been yet in the nurse's arms, and this, too, in a most serious manner. Nurses, by manipulating infants to cure their crying, have been known to give them a notion, which has resulted in the habit of solitary vice. This, the reader will say, is early education with a vengeance. And yet, numbers of instances of this kind are on record. The reader must judge for himself how many are un-recorded. In these cases, the victims, with a fatal precocity, live but to linger a little, unless they are saved by some happy influence next to miraculous.

The society of unchaste parents educates children in unchastity. It is surprising to see how early the child catches the traits of

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the parental character. So intimate is the parental relation, that to avoid this is quite impossible. The looks, the gestures, the words, the insinuations, at first a mystery to the child, are soon solved by its tiny reflection. Children are listeners at a very early age; and the smile of approbative indifference with which the parent speaks of deeds of lewdness, as they are occasionally occurring in community, is very soon transmitted to the little listener; and the child concluding, of course, that that cannot be very wrong which is smiled over, learns to look upon such deeds without abhorrence.

Again, children are ever associating with their superiors in age, in a series, extending from earliest childhood, up through youth, to manhood and womanhood. And this association is so intimate that generally what one knows all know, and what one does all are tempted to do. Now, through this series of associations, every licentious adult necessarily throws a licentious influence back down to the borders of the nursery. Thus, while one instructed child becomes himself an instructor, and indeed, while every child is both pupil and teacher - receiving lessons from the older, and handing them down to the younger - it is by no means wonderful that the process of education goes on so rapidly. And when this education is of a sensual character,

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why should it be thought remarkable that some of the forms of unchastity should be found in very early childhood. The writer knows a large family, one of the boys of which (perhaps five years old) has been repeatedly caught practicing fornication with his little sister, and also trying to seduce other little girls. He knows another little boy who will practice upon little girls, what in older persons would be pronounced the hight of immodesty and imposition. But in all this there is nothing singular, when the educational influences of society are considered.

Children at school are sometimes educated more in wickedness by bad associates, than they are in righteousness by their proper teachers. But even the education proper of the schools has sometimes been very unfavorable to chastity. The mind has, even there, sometimes lost its balance by constant efforts to strain upon the intellect to the neglect and expense of the moral sentiments. The animal propensities left to a constant revel, man grows sensual and brutish.

We notice ignorance as one of the causes of unchastity. Ignorance of the extent of the claims of the law of chastity is a negative cause of sad mischief. That this law demands a chaste mind, as well as chaste words and actions, is to many a new idea. That it

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forbids solitary vice, is unknown to very many of the oldest men of our day. And many who deem solitary vice wrong, see nothing wrong in the cherishing of amorous reveries and "lascivious day-dreams," And still more are they who have no idea of the excesses of married life being by this law forbidden. The consequences of this ignorance are, as we have already seen, just what might be expected - one is a mental adulterer, another is an onanist, and another still is a married, legal, sensualist - and all three, if not perfectly at ease morally, are kind of conscientious, and think themselves innocent of any violation of revealed law! Now who will wonder that unchastity should, under these circumstances, spread itself so rapidly?

Parents, through ignorance leave their children an easy prey to filthy vice. Parental love, however solicitous and careful, cannot teach children lessons which itself has never learned; nor guard them against dangers which it has never itself discovered. And hence while many parents are "verily guilty concerning the blood of their children," many more are doomed to see their children ruined, in perfect ignorance of what might have been done to save them. For the latter, ignorance may be a sufficient apology, when to the former it shall be said:

"Ye knew your duty, but ye did it not!"

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Parents have hitherto been generally and deplorably ignorant of the destructiveness of some of the forms of unchastity, and of solitary vice in particular. The consequence of this ignorance is just what might have been expected. Their children, altogether uninstructed in their danger, have sought enjoyment in what seemed to them but an innocent gratification, and thus they have been ruined.

We notice bad diet as a cause of unchastity. By bad diet we mean the use of food and drinks of bad qualities and unreasonable quantities. Nothing pertaining to the body is more important to man than to know when to eat, what to eat, and how much to eat; and when to drink, what to drink, and how much to drink. Man is made over again every few years; and the new bones, blood, and muscles, are manufactured from what is eaten and drank. The physical health and strength of man must, therefore, depend very much upon the food and drink he takes into his stomach. No one doubts this. Some substances actually poison the body to death, others produce but little perceivable injury, while others still produce results of a doubtful character, and yet others do the system some good; and, finally, others support, invigorate, and strengthen, to the greatest possible degree. All this seems plain. And

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plain must therefore seem the importance of that knowledge of which we have above spoken.

But, while the state of the body depends so much and so evidently upon the diet, the state of the mind generally - and of some of the passions in particular - is by no means independent of it. The stomach, in its relation to the body, has been very justly called "the center of sympathies." In its relation to the mind, it may certainly be safely called the seat of strong sympathies. Take, as an illustration, the passion of combativeness. Who has not seen this passion raised to a fury in a few hours by what has been thrown into the stomach? But it will be said that strong drink is no part of diet. And to be sure it ought not to be, and is very generally abandoned. But so specific are alcoholic liquors, in their action upon the venereal passion, that harlots and libertines use them, almost exclusively, for raising and supporting the exhausted venereal energies!

Now, if alcohol can thus work upon the passions, through the medium of the stomach, why may not other articles received there into? Most certainly they may. There is an open thoroughfare between the former and the latter. Thus are the passions well or illy affected by everything of substance that is eaten or drank.

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Food, too, which is not in its nature unduly stimulating, from being taken in too large quantities, produces alarming disturbances among the passions. Whatever is taken into the stomach must be disposed of in some way or other; otherwise health fails, and the body dies. Moreover, the organs of digestion, nutrition, and elimination, are capable of disposing of no more than a certain quantity of food and drink without injury. The instant, therefore that they are tasked beyond the design of their organization, they suffer fatigue and irritation. When the overtasked system is in good tone, it will, for a time, perhaps, relieve itself by vomiting, diarrhea, etc. But it soon becomes incapable of thus relieving itself, and either dies in the attempt or sinks into a decline. Now, with all this, and especially with whatever pertains to the stomach, the nervous system strongly sympathizes, and through that the passions are disturbed, irritated, and inflamed.

The disturbance produced by excessive alimentation is quite mechanical. The food, passing from the stomach but half digested - for it is obliged to pass out to give place to more - irritates the mucous membrane, or inner coating of the bowels, with its coarseness and its crudity, while from it the lacteals are capable of extracting but very imperfect chyle. Now for the same reason

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that the half-digested food irritated the bowels, this poor chyle irritates the duet through which it is conveyed into the circulation. And now the blood, loaded with this crude chyle, goes irritating through its million channels. The blood being thus imperfect, the glandular secretions from the blood are imperfect also. The liver secretes crude and acrid bile, while the acrid secretions of the kidneys go scalding along the ureters, inducing stranguary and every species of disease about the urinary system.

Now, not to be too tedious, we affirm that any person of common sense and common reflection, must see that this general mechanical irritation of the system must seriously affect the passions generally, and the venereal passion in particular. The location of the genital system is right in the way of this irritation, and necessarily participates largely in it.

Now, in view of the connection between the stomach and the passions, who can wonder that unchastity so much prevails in this land of gluttony? Who, in view of this, can wonder that venereal propensities are so early and strongly developed in children? Weaned of pork, and brought up to eat all they can of the most exciting articles of food - all they can at regular hours, and all they can between meals - who is surprised that

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they should be early drunk with amative passion? especially when it is considered, as has been already remarked, that the acting organs of this passion are so located as to feel the full force of these dietetic abuses. Say the author of "Facts and Important Information," "If children are brought up in an idle, effeminate, and luxurious manner, the passions are, like tinder, ignited by the first spark that falls upon them. If the laws of physiology were obeyed, and external excitements removed, the sexual appetite would sleep on, as nature designed, till the transition from boyhood to manhood, instead of being forced into action at from five to ten years of age, as we have often seen."

Says O.S. Fowler, as quoted by the same, "The diet or food of the young prematurely develops amativeness. There unquestionably exists a reciprocal relation between the body and the animal propensities. We have no room to introduce the proof of this principle, although it is indispensable in order to enforce the inference that tea, coffee, snuff, tobacco, candies, flesh, etc., stimulate the animal propensities and excite amativeness. The position, however, is undeniable, that whatever artificially excites the body, thereby stimulates the animal propensities more than the intellectual and moral faculties. Tea, coffee, flesh, spice, etc., are unquestionably

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highly stimulating, much more so than cold water, breadstuffs, vegetables, etc., and therefore kindle the animal propensities; and as the relation between the body - and especially the stomach and amativeness - is more direct and powerful than between the other parts, the evidence is inevitable that they proportionably kindle impure desires."

Says Graham, "This [the sexual] propensity is more or less powerful and imperious, according as the dietetic and other habits are more or less correct."

Dr. Woodward, of the Massachusetts State Lunatic Hospital, expresses the same sentiment. And, indeed, to this sentiment all dietetic writers which we have seen, agree. And who does not? The sentiment is almost as plain as a geometrical axiom.

Sedentary habits, unrelieved by sufficient exercise, increase the liabilities to unchastity. Exercise is the law of the human constitution. It is penal in its claims. Sedentariness ever brings suffering, while virtuous activity is health, strength, and peace. This is as evident in philosophy as it is in fact. One might as well look for limpid and pure cold waters in the stagnant marsh, as for the freshness and vigor of health, whether of body or mind, in the victim of unrelieved sedentariness! By it the circulation is rendered irregular, the fluids of the system

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gravitate to a point, while the body lacks the elasticity necessary to restore the equilibrium. The lower abdominal region stagnates and becomes irritable and uneasy, inducing costiveness, urinary difficulties, etc. But, from this Sedentariness the genital system is perhaps the greatest sufferer. Excited in common with the bowels, etc., almost, and often quite, to inflammation, its secretions become profuse, and its peculiar excitement often nearly constant. This excitement is thrown back upon the brain, thereby filling the mind with lascivious thoughts, and painting lascivious images upon the canvas of the imagination.

Bad books, pictures, etc., are a powerfully exciting cause of licentiousness. No one has ever seriously disputed the apostolic declaration that "evil communications corrupt good manners." Neither is the old proverb questioned that "a man is known by the company he keeps." But evil communication with books, no less than with men, corrupts good manners. And the sentiment is worthy of passing into a proverb, that a man is known by the books he reads. Books are men. Not paper men, but men on paper. And these influence the character of their readers as do men in the flesh the character of their companions. Show me a man's books, the books of his choice, and I will

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show you the man himself. Let me control the reading of a rising generation, and I will prophesy. A bad book is a bad associate; a good book, a good one. Sensual books tend strongly to make sensual readers. Many novel readers know this, and every reflecting, candid person will admit it. How can the person who is ever feasting his senses with fancy scenes in the history of sensual lovers, drawn out to the very life by the masterly hand of some intellectual sensualist, and all aglow with the high colorings of their author's amorous imagination; how can such a person fail to assimilate his own character more or less with that of his books? As well may a person take coals in his bosom and not be burned.

Not long since, a young murderer imputed the deed which brought him to the gallows to the reading of a popular novel. But thousands are they, who, from the time that Alcman wrote the tune of amorous love, have imputed - and might have imputed - their fall from virtue to the reading of voluptuous writings. By these we do not mean merely or chiefly such writings as, from their open obscenity, are read only by the grossly corrupt, and that only in secret. These are comparatively harmless, in the present state of society. But we rather mean such writings as make a show of modesty, are interspersed

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with excellent sentiments, and set off with fine embellishments, while, at the same time, by their designed associations and sly allusions, they play in upon the animal passions, and keep them under constant excitement. And it is because very much of modern reading is of this very character that the animal passions, unstayed by instinct, are prevailing with so much force throughout the community. Speaking of unchastity, Dr. Dwight says, "Most unhappily, aids and allurements to this licentious indulgence are never wanting. Genius, in every age and in every country, has, to a great extent prostituted its elevated powers for the deplorable purpose of seducing thoughtless minds to this sin. The unsuspecting imagination, ignorant of the dangers spread out before it, has, by this gay and fiery serpent, glittering with spots of gold, and painted with colors of enchantment, been allured to pluck the fruit of this forbidden tree, and hazard the death denounced against the transgressor. The numbers of the poet, the delightful melody of song, the fascinations of the chisel, and the spell of the pencil, have been all volunteered in the service of Satan, for the moral destruction of unhappy man."

French novels are generally reckoned among the worst. And they do much to make and keep France what she is for unchastity.

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Look at the young lady with the last novel of the French school in her hand! You know what it is, and therefore you know what her thoughts are, and what her taste is. And if purity, the stainless whiteness of an angel's breast, is the bosom whose companionship you seek, you turn from her society, and seek a friend whose loveliness of soul has never been profaned by such communings.

Margaret Prior, that fearless friend of the friendless, says in her journal, "Several instances of the baleful influences of novel-reading having recently come under my observation, I feel constrained to lift a note of warning against the indulgence of this pernicious habit. . . . Nothing tends more to destroy virtuous principles, or promote the growth of unholy appetites and passions. It is a real barrier to all useful acquirements, and, if persisted in, will effectually counteract the most faithful religious instruction." Novels are my prayers, said the dying harlot. The evils of licentiousness can never be stayed, so long as voluptuous reading keeps up the excitement of the public imagination.

Want of employment. Constant, laudable employment is every way important to mankind. Neither body nor mind can be preserved in health and purity without it. Of this fact, the history of man affords abundant and conclusive evidence. He only is

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secure who has some good and settled object at which he aims, and who is diligent in pursuing it. But he is comparatively secure. This is evident in the consideration that, attracted constantly ahead, and with all his powers properly tasked in the prosecution of his design, he can have no time to parley with passion, or to range the imaginary fields of sensual pleasure. He is doing a work at least, if not a great work, and cannot come down. We would not be understood to say that laudable employment, either of the body or mind, taken alone, is so great a safeguard against sin; but we mean the employment of both together.

But on the other hand, when the mind and the body are not properly employed, and the person is living on without any sufficient object, a sort of sluggish inanity pervades the system, time hangs heavily, and he feels that a want of employment is a want of happiness. The restless imagination now roves the fields of sensuality in pursuit of pleasure. It revels amid the amours and loves of its own creation, and soon brings the system under strong lascivious influences. The higher feelings of the soul finding no objects worthy their activity, the lower feelings - the propensities - enter into it, and take possession. Hence it is that the idle and the lazy are far more generally the victims of vile habits, and especially

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of licentious ones. He who has nothing to do is almost certain to do wickedly, and become the pest of society. But whether he become a pest to society or not, he is a pest to himself. Nor is it long before he resorts to unlawful and filthy means for relieving himself of the burden of himself. Every lascivious person knows that when he is without any settled object, and out of employ, he is far more subject to passion than when he is diligently pursuing some interesting object. He knows that, for instance, in the morning when he feels no sufficient call of business to bring him early off from his bed, he is almost sure to lounge amid lascivious, imaginary scenes, and the clamor of sensualty. And so of every hour of dreamish leisure.

Want of employment, then - laudable, interesting employment - during the hours of waking, is a prominent cause of the evil we are discussing. And considering the number of young persons in both city and country - but in the former more especially - who are brought up to idleness - street dandies and parlor ladies - who can wonder that sexual sensuality so much prevails?

CURE OF UNCHASTITY

We notice good education as a means of

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cure. We have already noticed bad education as a cause of unchastity. We now remark that in so far as bad education is a cause of this evil, in so far is good education a cure. Let all those then, who would perform a part in the removal of this evil from society, have an eye to correct and sufficiently moral, physical, and intellectual education. A good, moral education is of the highest importance in this matter. As the moral sentiments do most to form the character, so should they be most carefully educated. Children should be taught the importance of right and wrong, and the consequences of them. They should be early taught to make right a primary source of enjoyment, and to look upon wrong as a primary source of misery. They will then see that a life of mere sensuality is quite unworthy of their dignity, and hence will look higher into the sublimer region of the moral virtues for the means of happiness.

The intellectual education of children must also be attended to. The power of perception and of reasoning from causes to consequences must be early improved. Then will they be far more likely to see and flee from the sins of destruction. They will be more capable of appreciating any arguments used with them against their evil practices - and indeed they will be far more likely to discover the evil of

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any secret practice, of the evil of which they may never have been admonished.

When the intellect and moral sentiments are justly cultivated, the subject may be regarded as comparatively safe. But the cultivation of these would be far less important, were it not that when they are healthy and active, the lower passions, and especially the amative one, find far less motive power in the imagination, and consequently are comparatively and sufficiently quiet. The person with an active intellect, sanctified by the moral sentiments, rises above the world of passionate sensuality, and looks down upon it with unmingled disgust.

We have elsewhere noticed society as an educator. Parents and guardians will see the importance of withdrawing their children as much as possible from bad society. Children, however, must not be secluded from society altogether. This were, under ordinary circumstances, as injudicious as it is judicious to give them the purest society which their case and location admit. Let parents and guardians remember, too, that they are necessarily the prime educators of their children, and govern themselves as an enlightened love for children will dictate. Much may be done, too, by school-teachers, ministers, and indeed by every one whose influence extends to children. But, in order to

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teach, parents, teachers, ministers, etc., must be themselves instructed. But some there are who tell us that instruction on the subject of unchastity can serve only to aggravate the evil, or at least that it does more hurt than good.

"The whole question, therefore," to apply the language of Dr. Combe, "resolves itself into this, whether it is more beneficial to enlighten the understanding so as to dispose and enable it to control and direct this feeling, or (under the influence of error in philosophy and false delicacy founded upon it,) to admit it to riot in all the fierceness of animal instinct, withdrawn from the eye of reason, but not thereby deprived of its vehemence and importunity." We hope every reader - and especially every doubting one - will pause a minute over this last quotation, and ask himself, whether is it better that man should be governed by passion, than that passion should itself be subject to enlightened reason, and he be governed by the latter, aided by revelation? If it be not better, then let reason be enlightened upon the subject. If light is better than darkness (and Jesus says he that walketh in the dark stumbleth), then let light be poured upon the path of every son and daughter of Adam. Raise the light over the shoals! Lift the beacon indicating the whirlpool. Hoist the

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flag over the precipice! Point to the cloud in which wrathful fires are gathering, and cry in the ears of all, DANGER! DANGER! "Do thyself no harm!" "Because there is wrath, beware!!!" In a word, say anything - do anything which can serve to alarm the old, the young, the middle aged, of the dangers from any and all the forms of unchastity.

The prevention and cure of unchastity require strict attention to diet. It requires neither feasting, nor fasting, however; but a plain, moderate, and yet sufficient, diet. A living made up of articles of food which, while they are sufficiently nutritious, and easy of digestion, are at the same time free from acrid and exciting qualities. And hence all greasy, highly-seasoned, rich, and mixed dishes should be carefully avoided. Not irritants, but emollients, are demanded by the delicate, mucous coatings of the internal system. And therefore it is that ardent spirits of every kind, as well as fashionable table teas, coffee, etc., are so mischievous in their operations. These may excite the passions, but never allay them. For this last purpose no beverage is so excellent as that soft, limpid element which gushes from a thousand springs.

A diet chiefly or wholly farinaceous and vegetable, is evidently best adapted to allay

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passionate excitement. Flesh-meat diet is more stimulating than vegetable. Consequently it is plain that all those who suffer, or are exposed to suffering, from too high venereal excitement, should abandon it. All food need be, and is, stimulating; some kinds more, and some less. ¹1 Some persons also can bear the more stimulating. But every person who is already suffering from excitement in the passions should seek the plainest, softest table articles - avoiding recipied cakes, pastries, too much salt, saleratus, etc., etc.

When children shall be taught correct habits of diet, much, very much, will be done toward the removal of secret vice and other species of unchastity from society. A good diet is of great price; but especially so to children whose systems are yet in their greenness, but rapidly advancing to maturity. The fabric takes its character very much from the material wrought into it. Let parents bear this in mind. Let them lay this to heart; and cease to encourage precocious and extravagant venereal excitement

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in their children, by pampering them with miserable dainties - meat instead of milk - pork instead of bread! For by such indulgent pampering, a growth of passion has, in numberless instances, been excited, which has eventually brought down the parents' gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.

Activity. Nothing is more important to the prevention and cure of unchastity, than activity. More lust is generated during the leisure hours of sluggish inactivity than during all others. It is during these stupid seasons of dreamishness, that the blood accumulates upon the venereal system, while the imagination strolls about creation, bringing in the fruits and flowers of every forbidden tree. A lascivious mood resulting in lascivious conduct, is of course the consequence. Whereas, on the other hand, during the hours of laudable, engrossing activity, the blood flows regularly, and cheerfully, and impartially, throughout the whole system. Consequently, no part of the system is unhealthfully excited. At the same time, the mind being engaged in directing the body's exertions, the imagination has no opportunity for arousing and pampering the passions, and so they remain tranquil. Doubtless this is according to the experience of all who have any experience in this matter. Said a physician to the writer a short time since, "I have had

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repeated application for advice from young men who had become so enslaved to solitary vice that they knew not how to break away, unless the temptation could be softened. And my advise," said he, "to all is, Be active! When you awake in the morning, get up - go out - work - keep active during the day. When night comes, go to bed only to sleep - follow up this course day after day - etc." Now this advice is to the point. And those who follow it will do more to shun temptation and sin, than can be done for them by all the medical prescriptions for this matter by all the sons of AEsculapius, since the world began. Let lascivious sufferers take the idea. Let parents take the hint, and bring up their children to active labor. Yes, labor, ye sons and daughters of idleness, and of the parlor. Labor is what your delicate constitutions need. Sow to idle fashion if ye will, but be assured that if you sow to this fashion, you will reap; lasciviousness, which you may not control without a struggle.

And "what shall we do?" was the significant inquiry of certain persons of John the Baptist. Would to God that this might be the language of all my readers in view of the claims of the cause of moral purity. Now we do not profess to stand in the place of Christ's forerunner. But, as reflection and examination have taught us something, we

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think we may safely presume to give some directions to as many readers as are sincerely asking the above question. And,

First, we will suppose our inquirer to be a parent. As a parent, then, you are to consider well the exposure of your children. You are to read with interest whatever professes to be able to open your eyes on this point. You are to feel the exposure of your children, and count no labor too great or too expensive to secure them in virtue. You must shut up from them the avenues to unchastity. You must early make them see that you are solicitous for them, and also make them understand why you are so. Against the mischievous habit of solitary vice, you must watch and warn faithfully. You must begin this work early. If you wait till foul society has filled their minds with lascivious idea and images, you will not only find the task of instructing them far more difficult, but also far less promising of permanent good. Begin early, then. Fix a pure habit upon a child, and a fear of breaking it while it is yet greatly incapable of understanding the whys and wherefores of your wishes. But do not neglect the whys and wherefores too long. Introduce these into the minds of your children as soon as their minds open sufficiently to receive them. John Newton said he had no fear of the enemy's filling

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the hearts of the young with tares if he could first get them filled with wheat. But be assured, parent, that in order to get the advance of Satan in this matter, you must begin early, even at break of day.

Your own example, as we have elsewhere intimated, must be every way correct. You must make your children see that you discountenance and detest unchastity in all its forms. You must watch the social influences which your children are receiving from abroad. It is easy to crush the viper in the egg. Whenever your children become impurely insinuating, as is too often the case among children generally, correct at once by judicious measures (but always more by moral suasion than by force), the dangerous symptom. Pay strict regard to diet, to cleanliness, to education. Be judicious in the selection of pictures, books, etc., for the amusement and improvement of your children. But for more of this see above, where we have already considered some of these points.

But if your children are already large, and your duties yet undone, even in this case do not despair. To be sure, no future faithfulness can atone for past neglect. For this you must seek forgiveness. But still you may do much for their benefit and salvation. Instruct them at once; not, however, in the nature of the sin; nine-tenths of them understand

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this already; but instruct them in the consequences. Lift up the glowing horrors of solitary vice before them, and bid them see and understand. By this means as many as are hitherto uncorrupted will be confirmed in virtue. Those few who may be supposed to be ignorant of the action of the sin, as they have no habit formed, will, of course, form none in view of such awful hazard. And as to those who are already corrupted, they will, in the picture set before them, see a strong reason why they should flee out of Sodom before sundown. So that every way instruction is safe. Give it! Give it! By the love you bear your children, withhold it not.

Or finally, is my inquirer a victim of solitary vice, or of excessive legal commerce? Pale and exhausted, you would find relief. Well, thank God, relief is at hand! Abstinence will relieve you. It will cure you, provided your constitution is not too much injured. But how shall I abstain? say you. That's the question at issue. For, haunted day and night, worried down and overcome by temptation, it seems as though "the hand of necessity is upon me." You are right; the hand of necessity is upon you - necessity for your abstinence. You must abstain, or live uselessly, both to yourself and others - and die prematurely; and, added to this, die

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amid horrible reflections! You are destroying yourself - you must not persevere. "But," say you, "even the visions of the night provoke unchastity. We are defiled even in our dreams." But you know that the character of our sensations while asleep, depend very much upon the character of our thoughts and actions while awake. You must be chaste while awake, if you would be so while asleep.

But your case demands that we be a little more particular. Would you be purified, you must pay strict attention to your diet. Avoid condiments, spices, and all highly-seasoned and highly-stimulating food and drinks. Confine yourself to a light vegetable diet; a diet which, if possible, shall overcome all tendency to costiveness. This is very important. Drink only water. Eat light suppers. Rise early - as early as you awake. You know your danger from morning lounging. Be active. Labor all you can without great fatigue. Bathe often in cold, or nearly cold, water. Carefully avoid excitement of every kind. Consider your dignity as a moral and intellectual being, "bearing the impress of Divinity." Rise above sensual thoughts. Remember that you are allied to angels no less than to brutes - to the purely spiritual no less than to the exclusively sensual. Lift up your head and heart. Feel above sensuality, and, under God, you will soon be above it.

APPEAL TO MOTHERS

MY SISTERS: My apology for addressing you on this subject is, I am a mother, and feel alarmed for those children and youth who by solitary vice are ruining themselves for this world, and for that which is to come. Let us closely inquire into this subject from a physical, mental, and moral point of view.

Mothers, let us first view the results of this vice upon the physical strength. Have you not marked the lack of healthful beauty, of strength and power of endurance, in your dear children? Have you not felt saddened as you have watched the progress of disease upon them, which has baffled your skill, and that of physicians? You listen to numerous complaints of headache, catarrh, dizziness, nervousness, pain in the shoulders and side, loss of appetite, pain in the back and limbs, wakeful, feverish nights, of tired feelings in the morning, and great exhaustion after exercising? As you have seen the beauty of health disappearing, and have marked the sallow countenance, or the unnaturally-flushed face, have you been aroused sufficiently to look beneath the surface, to inquire into the cause of this physical decay? Have you observed the astonishing mortality among the youth?

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And have you not noticed that there was a deficiency in mental health of your children? that their course seemed to be marked with extremes? that they were absent minded? that they started nervously when spoken to? and were easily irritated? Have you not noticed that, when occupied upon a piece of work, they would look dreamingly, as though the mind was elsewhere? and when they came to their senses, they were unwilling to own the work as coming from their hands, it was so full of mistakes, and showed such marks of inattention? Have you not been astonished at their wonderful forgetfulness? The most simple and oft-repeated directions would often be forgotten. They might be quick to learn, but it would be of no special benefit to them. The mind would not retain it. What they might learn through hard study, when they would use their knowledge, is missing, lost through their sieve-like memories. Have you not noticed their reluctance to engage in active labor? and their unwillingness to perseveringly accomplish that which they have undertaken which taxes the mental, as well as the physical, strength? The tendency of many is to live in indolence.

Have you not witnessed the gloomy sadness upon the countenance, and frequent exhibitions of a morose temper in those who once were cheerful, kind, and affectionate?

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They are easily excited to jealousy, disposed to look upon the dark side, and when you are laboring for their good, imagine that you are their enemy, that you needlessly reprove and restrain them.

And have you not inquired where will all this end, as you have looked upon your children from a moral point of view? Have you not noticed the increase of disobedience in children, and their manifestations of ingratitude and impatience under restraint? Have you not been alarmed at their disregard of parental authority,which has bowed down the hearts of their parents with grief, and prematurely sprinkled their heads with gray hairs? Have you not witnessed the lack of that noble frankness in your children which they once possessed, and which you admired in them? Some children even express in their countenances a hardened look of depravity. Have you not felt distressed and anxious as you have seen the strong desire in your children to be with the other sex, and the overpowering disposition they possessed to form attachments when quite young? With your daughters, the boys have been the theme of conversation; and with your sons, it has been the girls. They manifest preference for particular ones, and your advice and warnings produce but little change. Blind passion overrules sensible considerations.

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And although you may check the outward manifestations, and you credit the promises of amendment, yet, to your sorrow, you find there is no change, only to conceal the matter from you. There are still secret attachments and stolen interviews. They follow their willful course, and are controlled by their passions, until you are startled by perhaps a premature marriage, or are brought to shame by those who should, by their noble course of conduct, bring to you respect and honor. The cases of premature marriage multiply. Boys and girls enter upon the marriage relation with unripe love, immature judgment, without noble, elevated feelings, and take upon themselves the marriage vows, wholly led by their boyish, girlish passions. These choose for themselves, often without the knowledge of the mother who has watched over them, and cared for them, from their earliest infancy.

Attachments formed in childhood have often resulted in a very wretched union, or in a disgraceful separation. Early connections, if formed without the consent of parents, have seldom proved happy. The young affections should be restrained until the period arrives when sufficient age and experience will make it honorable and safe to unfetter them. Those who will not be restrained, will be in danger of dragging out

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an unhappy existence. A youth not out of his teens is a poor judge of the fitness of a person, as young as himself, to be his companion for life. After their judgment has become more matured, they view themselves bound for life to each other, and perhaps not at all calculated to make each other happy. Then, instead of making the best of their lot, recriminations take place, the breach widens, until there is settled indifference and neglect of each other. To them there is nothing sacred in the word home. The very atmosphere is poisoned by unloving words and bitter reproaches. The offspring of such are placed in a much more unfavorable condition than were their parents. With such surroundings, such examples, what could be expected of them if time should continue? Mothers, the great cause of these physical, mental, and moral evil, is secret vice, which inflames the passions, fevers the imagination, and leads to fornication and adultery. This vice is laying waste the constitution of very many, and preparing them for diseases of almost every description. And shall we permit our children to pursue a course of self-destruction?

Mothers, view your children from a religious standpoint. It gives you pain to see your children feeble in body and mind; but does it not cause you still greater grief to see

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them almost dead to spiritual things, so that they have but little desire for goodness, beauty of character, and holy purposes? Secret vice is the destroyer of high resolve, earnest endeavor, and strength of will to form a good religious character. All who have any true sense of what is embraced in being a Christian, know that the followers of Christ are under obligation as his disciples, to bring all their passions, their physical powers and mental faculties, into perfect subordination to his will. Those who are controlled by their passions cannot be followers of Christ. They are too much devoted to the service of their master, the originator of every evil, to leave their corrupt habits, and choose the service of Christ.

Godly mothers will inquire with the deepest concern, Will our children continue to practice habits which will unfit them for any responsible position in this life? Will they sacrifice comeliness, health, intellect, and all hope of Heaven, everything worth possessing, here and hereafter to the demon passion? May God grant that it may be otherwise; and that our children, who are so dear to us, may listen to the voice of warning, and choose the path of purity and holiness.

How important that we teach our children self-control from their very infancy, and teach them the lesson of submitting their wills to

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ours. If they should be so unfortunate as to learn wrong habits, not knowing all the evil results, they can be reformed by appealing to their reason, and convincing them that such habits ruin the constitution, and affect the mind. We should show them that whatever persuasions corrupt persons may use to quiet their awakened fears, and lead them still to indulge this pernicious habit, whatever may be their pretense, they are really their enemies and the devil's agents. Virtue and purity are of great value. These precious traits are of heavenly origin. They make God our friend, and unite us firmly to his throne.

Satan is controlling the minds of the young, and we must work resolutely and faithfully to save them. Very young children practice this vice, and it grows upon them and strengthens with their years, until every noble faculty of body and mind is debased. Many might have been saved if they had been carefully instructed in regard to the influence of this practice upon their health. They were ignorant of the fact that they were bringing much suffering upon themselves. Children who are experienced in this vice, seem to be bewitched by the devil until they can impart their vile knowledge to others, even teaching very young children this practice.

Mothers, you cannot be too careful in preventing your children from learning low habits.

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It is easier to guard them from evil, than for them to eradicate it after it is learned. Neighbors may permit their children to come to your house, to spend the evening and the night with your children. Here is a trial, and a choice for you, to run the risk of offending your neighbors by sending their children to their own home, or gratify them, and let them lodge with your children, and thus expose them to be instructed in that knowledge which would be a life-long curse to them.

To save my children from being corrupted, I have not allowed them to sleep in the same bed, nor in the same room, with other boys, and have, as occasion has required, when traveling, made a scanty bed upon the floor for them, rather than have them lodge with others. I have tried to keep them from associating with rough, rude boys, and have presented inducements before them to make their employment at home cheerful and happy. By keeping their minds and hands occupied, they have had but little time, or disposition, to play in the street with other boys, and obtain a street education.

A misfortune, which occurred when I was about nine years old, ruined my health. I looked upon this as a great calamity, and murmured because of it. In a few years I viewed the matter quite differently. I then

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looked upon it in the light of a blessing. I regard it thus now. Because of sickness, I was kept from society, which preserved me in blissful ignorance of the secret vices of the young. After I was a mother, by the private death-bed confessions of some females, who had completed the work of ruin, I first learned that such vices existed. But I had no just conception of the extent of this vice, and the injury the health sustained by it, until a still later period.

The young indulge to quite an extent in this vice before the age of puberty, without experiencing at that time, to any very great degree, the evil results upon the constitution. But at this critical period, while merging into manhood and womanhood, nature then makes them feel the previous violation of her laws.

As the mother sees her daughter languid and dispirited, with but little vigor, easily irritated, starting suddenly and nervously when spoken to, she feels alarmed, and fears that she will not be able to reach womanhood with a good constitution. She relieves her, if possible, from active labor, and anxiously consults a physician, who prescribes for her without making searching inquiries, or suggesting to the unsuspecting mother the probable cause of her daughter's illness. Secret indulgence is, in many cases, the only real

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cause of the numerous complaints of the young. This vice is laying waste the vital forces, and debilitating the system; and until the habit, which produced the result, is broken off, there can be no permanent cure. To relieve the young from healthful labor, is the worst possible course a parent can pursue. Their life is then aimless, the mind and hands unoccupied, the imagination active, and left free to indulge in thoughts that are not pure and healthful. In this condition they are inclined to indulge still more freely in that vice which is the foundation of all their complaints.

Mothers, it is a crime for you to allow yourselves to remain in ignorance in regard to the habits of your children. If they are pure, keep them so. Fortify their young minds, and prepare them to detest this health and soul destroying vice. Shield them, as faithful mothers should, from becoming contaminated by associating with every young companion. Keep them, as precious jewels, from the corrupting influence of this age. If you are situated so that their intercourse with young associates cannot always be overruled, as you would wish to have it, then let them visit your children in your presence, and in no case allow these associates to lodge in the same bed or even in the same room. It will be far easier to prevent an evil than to cure it afterward.

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If your children practice this vice, they may be in danger of resorting to falsehood to deceive you. But, mothers, you must not be easily quieted, and cease your investigations. You should not let the matter rest until you are fully satisfied. The health and souls of those you love are in peril, which makes this matter of the greatest importance. Determined watchfulness, and close inquiry, notwithstanding the attempts to evade and conceal, will generally reveal the true state of the case. Then should the mother faithfully present this subject to them in its true light, showing its degrading, downward tendency. Try to convince them that indulgence in this sin will destroy self-respect and nobleness of character; will ruin health and morals, and its foul stain will blot from the soul true love for God, and the beauty of holiness. The mother should pursue this matter until she has sufficient evidence that the practice is at an end.

The course which most mothers pursue, in training their children in this dangerous age, is injurious to their children. It prepares the way to make their ruin more certain. Some mothers, with their own hands, open the door and virtually invite the devil in, by permitting their daughters to remain in idleness, or what is but little better, spend their time in knitting edging, crocheting, or embroidering,

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and employ a hired girl to do those things their children should do. They let them visit other young friends, form their own acquaintances, and even go from their parental watchcare some distance from home, where they are allowed to do very much as they please. Satan improves all such opportunities, and takes charge of the minds of these children whom mothers ignorantly expose to his artful snares. Because this course was pursued thirty years ago with comparative safety, it is no evidence that it can be now. The present cannot be judged by the past.

Mothers should take their daughters with them into the kitchen, and give them a thorough education in the cooking department. They should also instruct them in the art of substantial sewing. They should teach them how to cut garments economically, and put them together neatly. Some mothers, rather than take this trouble, to patiently instruct their inexperienced daughters, prefer to do all themselves. But in so doing, they leave the essential branches of education neglected, and commit a great wrong against their children; for in after life they feel embarrassment, because of their lack of knowledge in these things.

Mothers should educate their daughters in regard to the laws of life. They should understand

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their own frame, and the relation their eating, drinking, and every-day habits, have to health and a sound constitution, without which the sciences would be of but little benefit.

The help of the daughters will often make so much difference with the mother's work, that kitchen help can be dispensed with, which will prove not only a saving of expense, but a continual benefit to the children, by making room for them to labor, and bringing them into the society, and under the direct influence, of their mother, whose duty it is to patiently instruct the dear ones committed to her care. Also, a door will be closed against much evil, which a hired girl may bring into a family. In a few days she may exert a strong influence over the children of the family, and initiate your daughters into the practice of deception and vice.

Children should be instructed from their early years to be helpful, and to share the burdens of their parents. By thus doing, they can be a great blessing in lightening the cares of the weary mother. While children are engaged in active labor, time will not hang heavily upon their hands, and they will have less opportunity to associate with vain, talkative, unsuitable companions, whose evil communications might blight the whole life of an innocent girl, by corrupting her good manners.

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Active employment will give but little time to invite Satan's temptations. They may be often weary, but this will not injure them. Nature will restore their vigor and strength in their sleeping hours, if her laws are not violated. And the thoroughly-tired person has less inclination for secret indulgence.

Mothers allow themselves to be deceived in regard to their daughters. If they labor, and then appear languid and indisposed, the indulgent mother fears that she has overtaxed them, and resolves henceforward to lighten their task. The mother bears the extra amount of labor which should have been performed by the daughters. If the true facts in the case of many were known, it would be seen that it was not the labor which was the cause of the difficulty, but wrong habits which were prostrating the vital energies, and bringing upon them a sense of weakness and great debility. In such cases, when mothers relieve their daughters from active labor, they, by so doing, virtually give them up to idleness, to reserve their energies to consume upon the altar of lust. They remove the obstacles, giving the mind more freedom to run in a wrong channel, where they will more surely carry on the work of self-ruin.

The state of our world is alarming. Everywhere we look, we see imbecility, dwarfed

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forms, crippled limbs, misshapen heads, and deformity of every description. Sin and crime, and the violation of nature's laws, are the causes of this accumulation of human woe and suffering. A large share of the youth now living are worthless. Corrupt habits are wasting their energies, and bringing upon them loathsome and complicated diseases. Unsuspecting parents will try the skill of physicians, one after another, who prescribe drugs, when they generally know the real cause of the failing health; but for fear of offending, and losing their fees, they keep silent, when, as faithful physicians, they should expose the real cause. Their drugs only add a second great burden for abused nature to struggle against; and in this struggle nature often breaks down in her efforts, and the victim dies. And the friends look upon the death as a mysterious dispensation of Providence, when the most mysterious part of the matter is, that nature bore up as long as she did against her violated laws. Health, reason, and life, were sacrificed to depraved lusts.

Children who practice self-indulgence previous to puberty, or the period of merging into manhood or womanhood, must pay the penalty of nature's violated laws at that critical period. Many sink into an early grave, while others have sufficient force of

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constitution to pass this ordeal. If the practice is continued from the age of fifteen and upward, nature will protest against the abuse she has suffered, and continues to suffer, and will make them pay the penalty for the transgression of her laws, especially from the ages of thirty to forty-five, by numerous pains in the system, and various diseases, such as affection of the liver and lungs, neuralgia, rheumatism, affection of the spine, diseased kidneys, and cancerous humors. Some of nature's fine machinery gives way, leaving a heavier task for the remaining to perform, which disorders nature's fine arrangement, and there is often a sudden breaking down of the constitution; and death is the result.

Mothers, you should give your children enough to do. If they get weary, it will not injure health. There is quite a difference between weariness and exhaustion. Indolence will not be favorable to physical, mental, or moral, health. It throws open the door, and invites Satan in, which opportunity he improves, and draws the young into his snares. By indolence, not only the moral strength is weakened, and the impulse of passion increased, but Satan's angels take possession of the whole citadel of the mind, and compel conscience to surrender to vile passion. We should teach our children habits

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of patient industry. We should beware of indulging them too much. When they meet with difficulty in their labor, we must help them through it instead of carrying them over it. It might be easier for us at the time to do the latter; but we fail to teach a useful and valuable lesson of self-reliance to our children, and are preparing the way to greatly increase our cares in the end. We should awaken in our children generous, noble principles, and urge them to active exertions, which will shield them from a multitude of temptations, and make their lives happier.

My sisters, as mothers we are responsible in a great degree for the physical, mental, and moral, health of our children. We can do much by teaching them correct habits of living. We can show them, by our example, that we make a great account of health, and that they should not violate its laws. We should not make it a practice to place upon our tables food which would injure the health of our children. Our food should be prepared free from spices. Mince pies, cakes, preserves, and highly-seasoned meats, with gravies, create a feverish condition in the system,, and inflame the animal passions. We should teach our children to practice habits of self-denial; that the great battle of life is with self, to restrain the passions, and bring them into subjection to the mental and moral faculties.

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My sisters, be entreated to spend less time over the cook-stove, preparing food to tempt the appetite, and thus wearing out the strength given you of God to be used for a better purpose. A plain, nourishing diet will not require so great an amount of labor. We should devote more time to humble, earnest prayer to God, for wisdom to bring up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The health of the mind is dependent upon the health of the body. As Christian parents, we are bound to train our children in reference to the laws of life. We should instruct them, by precept and example, that we do not live to eat, but that we eat to live. We should encourage in our children a love for nobleness of mind, and a pure, virtuous character. In order to strengthen in them the moral perceptions, the love of spiritual things, we must regulate the manner of our living, dispense with animal food, and use grains, vegetables, and fruits, as articles of diet.

Mothers, is there not a work for you to do in your families? You may inquire, How can we remedy the evils which already exist? How shall we begin to work? If you lack wisdom, go to God. He has promised to give liberally. Pray much, and fervently, for divine aid. One rule cannot be followed in every case. The exercise of sanctified

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judgment is now needful. Be not hasty and agitated, and approach your children with censure. Such a course would only cause rebellion in them. You should feel deeply over any wrong course you have taken, which may have opened a door for Satan to lead your children by his temptations. If you have not instructed them in regard to the violation of the laws of health, blame rests upon you. You have neglected an important duty, the result of which may be seen in the wrong practices of your children. Before you engage in the work of teaching your children the lesson of self-control, you should learn it yourself. If you are easily agitated, and become impatient, how can you appear reasonable to your children while instructing them to control their passions? With self-possession, and feelings of the deepest sympathy and pity, you should approach your erring children, and faithfully present to them the sure work of ruin upon their constitutions, if they continue the course they have begun; that as they debilitate the physical and mental, so, also, the moral must feel the decay, and they are sinning, not only against themselves, but against God.

You should make them feel, if possible, that it is God, the pure and holy God, that they have been sinning against; that the great Searcher of hearts is displeased with their

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course; that nothing is concealed from him. If you can so impress your children, that they will exercise that repentance which is acceptable to God, that godly sorrow which worketh repentance unto salvation, not to be repented of, the work will be thorough, the reform certain. They will not feel sorrow merely because their sins are known; but they will view their sinful practices in their aggravated character, and will be led to confess them to God, without reserve, and will forsake them. They will feel to sorrow for their wrong course, because they have displeased God, and sinned against him, and dishonored their bodies before Him who created them, and has required them to present their bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto him, which is their reasonable service.

"What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." 1Cor.6:19,20.

You should present encouragements before your children that a merciful God will accept true heart repentance, and will bless their endeavors to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. As Satan sees that he is losing control over the minds of your children, he will strongly tempt them,

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and seek to bind them to continue to practice this bewitching vice. But with a firm purpose they must resist Satan's temptations to indulge the animal passions, because it is sin against God. They should not venture on forbidden ground, where Satan can claim control over them. If they in humility entreat God for purity of thought, and a refined and sanctified imagination, he will hear them, and grant their petitions. God has not left them to perish in their sins, but will help the weak and helpless, if they cast themselves in faith upon him. Those who have been in the practice of secret indulgence until they have prostrated their physical and mental strength, may never fully recover from the result of the violation of nature's laws; but their only salvation in this world, and that which is to come depends upon entire reform. Every deviation is making recovery more hopeless. None should be discouraged if they perceive no decided improvement in their health after the habit has been broken off for quite a length of time. If nature's laws have not been too long abused, she will carry on her restoring process, although it may not be immediately realized. But some have so long abused nature that she cannot recover entirely. Such must reap as long as they live, to a greater or less degree, the fruit of their doings.

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We do not charge all the youth who are feeble of being guilty of wrong habits. There are those who are pure-minded and conscientious, who are sufferers from different causes over which they have no control.

The only sure safety for our children against every vicious practice is, to seek to be admitted into the fold of Christ, and to be taken under the watchcare of the faithful and true Shepherd. He will save them from every evil, shield them from all dangers, if they will heed his voice. He says, "My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me." In Christ they will find pasture, obtain strength and hope, and will not be troubled with restless longings for "something to divert the mind, and satisfy" the heart. They have found the pearl of great price, and the mind is at peaceful rest. Their pleasures are of a pure, elevated, heavenly character. They leave no painful reflections, no remorse. Such pleasures do not enfeeble the body, nor prostrate the mind, but give health and vigor to both.

Communion with, and love for, God, the practice of holiness, the destruction of sin, are all pleasant. The reading of God's word does not fascinate the imagination, and inflame the passions, like a fictitious story book, but softens, soothes, elevates, and sanctifies, the heart. When the youth are in trouble,

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when assailed by fierce temptations, they have the privilege of prayer. What an exalted privilege! Finite beings, of dust and ashes, admitted, through the mediation of Christ, into the audience-chamber of the Most High. In such exercises the soul is brought into a sacred nearness with God, and is renewed in knowledge, and true holiness, and fortified against the assaults of the enemy.

No matter how high a person's profession, those who are willing to be employed in gratifying the lust of the flesh, cannot be Christians. As servants of Christ, their employment, and meditations, and pleasure, should consist in things more excellent.

Many are ignorant of the sinfulness of these habits, and their certain results. Such need to be enlightened. Some who profess to be followers of Christ, know that they are sinning against God and ruining their health, yet they are slaves to their own corrupt passions. They feel a guilty conscience, and have less and less inclination to approach God in secret prayer. They may keep up the form of religion, yet be destitute of the grace of God in the heart. They have no devotedness to his service, no trust in him, no living to his glory, no pleasure in his ordinances, and no delight in him. The first commandment requires every living being to love and serve God with all the might, mind, and strength.

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Especially should professed Christians understand the principles of acceptable obedience.

Can any expect that God will accept a profession, a form, merely, while the heart is withheld, and they refuse to obey his commandments? They sacrifice physical strength and reason upon the altar of lust, and can they think that God will accept their distracted, imbecile service, while they continue their wrong course? Such are just as surely self-murderers as though they pointed a pistol to their own breast, and destroyed their life instantly. In the first case they linger longer, and more debilitated, and destroy gradually the vital force of their constitution, and the mental faculties; yet the work of decay is sure. While they live, they curse the earth with their imbecile influence, are a stumbling-block to sinners, and cause their friends living sorrow, and an immeasurable weight of anxiety and care as they mark the signs of their decay, and have daily evidence of their impaired intellect.

To take one's life instantly is no greater sin in the sight of Heaven than to destroy it gradually, but surely. Persons who bring upon themselves sure decay by wrong-doing, will suffer the penalty here, and, without a thorough repentance, will not be admitted into Heaven hereafter, any sooner than the one who destroys life instantly. The will of

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God establishes the connection between cause and its effects. Fearful consequences are attached to the least violation of God's law. All will seek to avoid the result, but will not labor to avoid the cause which produced the result. The cause is wrong, the effect right, the knowledge of which is to restrain the transgressor.

The inhabitants of Heaven are perfect, because the will of God is their joy and supreme delight. Many here destroy their own comfort, injure their health, and violate a good conscience, because they will not cease to do wrong. The injunction to mortify the deeds of the body, with its affections of lusts, has no effect upon them. They profess Christ, but are not his followers, and never can be until they cease their wrong-doing, and work the work of righteousness.

Females possess less vital force than the other sex, and are deprived very much of the bracing, invigorating air, by their in-door life. The result of self-abuse in them is seen in various diseases, such as catarrh, dropsy, headache, loss of memory and sight, great weakness in the back and loins, affections of the spine, and frequently, inward decay of the head. Cancerous humor, which would lie dormant in the system their lifetime, is inflamed, and commences its eating, destructive work. The mind is often utterly ruined, and insanity supervenes.

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The only hope for those who practice vile habits is to leave them forever, if they place any value upon health here, and salvation hereafter. When these habits have been indulged in for quite a length of time, it requires a determined effort to resist temptation, and refuse the corrupt indulgence. Those who destroy themselves by their own acts will never have eternal life. They that will continue to abuse the health and life given them of God in this world, would not make a right use of health and immortal life were they granted them in God's everlasting kingdom.

The practice of secret habits surely destroys the vital forces of the system. All unnecessary vital action will be followed by corresponding depression. Among the young, the vital capital, and the brain, are so severely taxed at an early age, that there is a deficiency and great exhaustion, which leave the system exposed to diseases of various kinds. But the most common of these is consumption. None can live when their vital energies are used up. They must die. God hates everything impure, and his frown is upon all who give themselves up to gradual and sure decay.

"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." 1Cor.3:16,17.

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Those that corrupt their own bodies cannot enjoy the favor of God, until they sincerely repent, make an entire reform, and perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord. None can be Christians and indulge in habits which debilitate the system, bring on a state of prostration of the vital forces, and end in making a complete wreck of beings formed in the image of God. This moral pollution will certainly bring its reward. The cause must produce the results. Those who profess to be disciples of Christ should be elevated in all their thoughts and acts, and should ever realize that they are fitting for immortality, and that, if saved, they must be without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. Their Christian character must be without a blemish, or they will be pronounced unfit to be taken to a holy Heaven, to dwell with pure, sinless beings in God's everlasting kingdom.

It is the special work of Satan in these last days to take possession of the minds of youth, to corrupt their thoughts, and inflame their passions, knowing that by thus doing he can lead them to self-pollution, and then all the noble faculties of the mind will become debased, and he can control them to suit his own purposes. All are free moral agents; and as such they must bring their thoughts to run in the right channel. Their meditations

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should be of that nature which will elevate their minds, and make Jesus and Heaven the subjects of their thoughts. Here is a wide field in which the mind can safely range. If Satan seeks to divert the mind from this to low and sensual things, bring it back again, and place it on eternal things; and when the Lord sees the determined effort made to retain only pure thoughts, he will attract the kind, like the magnet, and purify the thoughts, and enable them to cleanse themselves from every secret sin. "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." 2Cor.10:5. The first work of those who would reform is, to purify the imagination. If the mind is led out in a vicious direction, it must be restrained to dwell only upon pure and elevated subjects. When tempted to yield to a corrupt imagination, then flee to the throne of grace, and pray for strength from Heaven. In the strength of God the imagination can be disciplined to dwell upon things which are pure and heavenly.

Some young persons who have been initiated into the vile practices of the world, seek to awaken the curiosity of other inquisitive minds, and impart to them that secret knowledge, ignorance of which would be bliss.

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They are not content with practicing themselves the vice they have learned. They are hurried on by the devil, to whisper their evil communications to other minds, to corrupt their good manners. And unless the youth have fixed religious principles, they will be corrupted. A heavy penalty will rest upon those who suffered Satan to use them as mediums to lead astray, and corrupt the minds of others. A heavy curse rested upon the serpent in Eden, because he was the medium Satan used to tempt our first parents to transgress; and a heavy curse from God will follow those who yield themselves as instruments in the subversion of others. And although those who permit themselves to be led astray, and learn vile habits, will suffer for their sin, yet those guilty of instructing them will also suffer for their own sins, and the sins they led others to commit. It were better for such if they had never been born.

Those who would have that wisdom which is from God, must become fools in the sinful knowledge of this age, in order to be wise. They should shut their eyes, that they may see and learn no evil. They should close their ears, lest they hear that which is evil, and obtain that knowledge which would stain their purity of thoughts and acts. And they should guard their tongues, lest they utter corrupt communications, and guile be found in their mouths.

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All are accountable for their actions while upon probation in this world. And have power to control their actions. If they are weak in virtue and purity of thoughts and acts, they can obtain help from the Friend of the helpless. Jesus is acquainted with all the weaknesses of human nature, and, if entreated, will give strength to overcome the most powerful temptations. All can obtain this strength if they seek for it in humility. Jesus gives all a blessed invitation who are burdened, and laden with sin to come to him, the sinner's friend. "Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest to your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matt.11:28-30.

Here the most inquisitive may safely learn in the school of Christ that which will prove for their present and everlasting good. The uneasy and dissatisfied will here find rest. With their thoughts and affections centered in Christ, they will obtain true wisdom, which will be worth more to them than the richest earthly treasures.

Many professed Christians do not labor perseveringly. They make too little effort, and are not ready and willing to deny self. The prayer of the living Christian will be

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to "be filled with the knowledge of His will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that ye may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness." Col.1:9-11. "In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Col.2:3.

Here is the true knowledge, which should be desired and possessed by every Christian. This knowledge will not lead to ungodliness. It will not break down the constitution, nor bring a gloomy cloud over the mind; but will impart substantial joys and true happiness. This wisdom is divine, and flows ceaselessly from a pure fountain which gives peace, joy, and health.

Even many professed Christians seem to have no earnest desire for this heavenly knowledge, and remain in willing ignorance of this divine grace which it is their privilege to obtain. The only safety for the youth is to seek this precious wisdom, which will assuredly destroy all desire for corrupt knowledge. And when they have acquired a relish for the pure, calm, satisfying joys of faith and holiness, every feeling of their being will rise in abhorrence to corrupting pleasures. All can choose life if they will. They can resist

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sin, take pleasure in the ways of righteousness and true holiness, and be rewarded with eternal life in God's everlasting kingdom.

If they choose to corrupt their ways before the Lord, defile their own bodies and commit self-murder, they can do so; but they should remember that the judgment is to sit, and the books are to be opened, and they are to be judged out of those things which are written in the books, according to their works. What a fearful, spotted record will be opened before them, of their secret thoughts, and vile acts. Sentence is pronounced upon them, and they are shut out from the city of God, with the ungodly, and miserably perish with the wicked.

Now is the time of preparation. None need to expect that God will do the work of preparing and fitting them up, without their efforts. It is for them to work the works of righteousness, and crowd all the right-doing they can into the little space of time allotted to them before probation closes, that they may have a clean record in Heaven. I close with the entreaty of the prophet, "Turn ye, turn ye, from your evil ways; for why will ye die?" Eze.33:11. E.G.W.

EXHAUSTED VITALITY

[This is the title of a valuable little volume from the pen of E. P. MILLER, M. D., Physician of the Hygienic Institute, 13 and 15 Laight street, New York City, from which we take the following important extracts. - ED.]

DERANGEMENTS OBSERVABLE IN MANKIND

"Everywhere we see deformity and disease. In almost every land, 'the pestilence walketh in darkness, and destruction wasteth at noonday.' Our cities are studded with asylums and infirmaries for the sick, the lame, the halt, and the blind. In every household there are evidences of suffering and sorrow; we can not walk abroad but the heart is pained at the sight of the pale cheek, the sunken eye, the deformed body, the tottering gait, the enfeebled and exhausted men, women, and children, of this enlightened age; yes, enlightened in all things save in regard to the noblest work of God, mankind.

"The cities of the dead outnumber far the cities of the living; emblems of mourning and sadness are met on every hand; death is constantly claiming its victims amongst the

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young and the middle-aged as well as the old. Babes die by thousands before they are born, and one fifth of those born alive are laid away in their tiny graves before they reach the age of seven."

ABUSE OF THE SEXUAL FUNCTION A PRIME CAUSE OF DERANGEMENTS

"From the blood the elements of a new life are formed; and it has been ascertained that the material - called semen - which goes to generate a new being, is so refined, so intensified in its vitalizing power, that 'one ounce of it is equal to forty ounces of blood in any other part of the body.' Then, too, the nervous force expended is amazing; for 'in the sexual organs we find a union of the three great systems of nerves - the vegetative, or nerves of organic life; the emotional, or nerves of animal life; and the intellectual, or nerves of spiritual life; for the last two sacral nerves, which to to supply the generative organs, have their ganglia within the dura matter of the spinal cord; thus differing from the other spinal nerves, and resembling the nerves which originate in the brain, and are connected with the mind.'

"Is it any wonder, then, considering this concentration of blood and nerve, that the orgasm experienced in the indulgence of

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the sexual passion induced in many persons an exhaustion of every faculty of body and mind? Is it possible that this orgasm should constantly or even frequently occur without producing a degree of prostration that must sooner or later make sad inroads upon even the strongest constitution?

"The loss of semen is very exhausting, yet the expenditure of nerve force is quite as great a source of evil in the abuse of the sexual function; for until puberty, males have no semen to lose, and females have none at any age. It is, therefore, in the nervous orgasm that the greatest evil lies. When this is prematurely experienced, although imperfect, it gives a shock to the whole system; and when often repeated, the nervous power is completely drained away. 'All the vitality of the system goes to supply the immature but already exhausted organs of sexuality, both in body and in brain. The manufactory of the mind is robbed, and the victim loses sense and memory; the digestive apparatus is robbed, and dyspepsia and decay follow,' accompanied by the many nervous diseases with which we are only too familiar.

"The loss of vital power by means of this drain renders man less able to resist the effects of change of climate and of malarial poisons and miasms. It impoverishes the

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blood, and induces consumption, dyspepsia, nervous diseases, and mental derangements, with the long train of sequences which follow in their wake."

"And this loss affects not only the loser, but all who come after him; for the weakened and diluted semen can never impart life-force to a new being which it does not itself possess; from healthy blood is formed healthy tissue, full of force and power; healthy semen, that will impart a strong and vigorous life to offspring; while from impoverished and impure blood are supplied the elements of disease; and the child begotten from such blood must of necessity be born with a constitution wanting in vitality, weakened in those very parts upon whose strength and vigor depends the vital stamina; and he either dies young, or falls early into the degrading habits he has inherited, and becomes a victim of the vices of his progenitors."

SELF-ABUSE

"Self-abuse is, probably, the most flagrant violation of the sexual law; the grossest abuse of the sexual function; and it is a practice fraught with the most disastrous consequences to the health, happiness, and even life of the race. It is an evil even more

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damning than any other to which mankind is subject! Language supplies to words sufficiently strong to express the horrors which result from it! And surely if the evil one, in tempting our first parents, had foreseen that this practice would have been the result of the passions he aroused, he must have been more than satisfied with his ignoble work.

"Self-abuse is practiced in almost every country, and by persons of all ages and both sexes. Many children are born with this propensity, and the habit is commenced in infancy, or in early childhood, by handling the genital organs; the friction and irritation giving rise to a peculiar kind of excitement which they are unable to resist. The habit formed at this early age is usually kept up till after puberty, if the system does not earlier succumb to its ill effects. The little, puny, sickly, dwarfed, and diminutive men-and-women-looking children that we sometimes see are many of them examples of this habit.

"Others who have escaped the vice at so early an age are often initiated into the practice of self-pollution at the age of eight or ten by their playmates, their school-fellows, or by hired servants; and all this without a thought of evil on the part of the little masturbators."

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"Those who have neither inherited the vice nor learned it from others, often commence the habit of self-abuse about the age of puberty when the development of the sexual organs and the establishment of the sexual function produce a peculiar uneasiness of the parts, to allay which, this habit is at first almost unconsciously fallen into.

"Of course, the excitement and irritation, instead of being allayed, are by this means increased, and the momentary pleasure experienced induces a repetition of the act, till by-and-by the habit becomes fully established. This goes on voluntarily for from three to ten years, till those who practice it learn from some source that this habit must, sooner or later, lead them to misery and, perhaps, destruction; but by this time the organs have become so weakened, and the system so impoverished, that, although the habit may be abandoned, in nine cases out of ten the loss will be continued in the form of involuntary nocturnal and, perhaps, diurnal emissions."

Mr. O. S. Fowler says: 'I have known boys not yet four years old both practice self-abuse and indulge with the opposite sex; and have known hundreds ruined by it before they entered their teens.' 'I have been consulted in cases almost without number by those on the brink of ruin who sought relief from the consequences of this vice. I know

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it by its infallible signs, and go where I will, in the busy street, in the lecture-room, in the family, they throng me like leaves in autumn.'

"Dr. Woodward says: 'I have never conversed with a lad twelve years of age who did not know all about the practice, and understand the language used to describe it.'

"William C. Woodbridge says: 'This solitary, but fatal, vice is spreading desolation throughout our schools and families, unnoticed and unknown.'

"E. M. R. Wells, a teacher in Boston, says: 'Thousands of pure-minded and amiable boys and young men are undermining their physical constitutions, and prospectively corrupting their souls,by a pleasurable, and to many of them innocent, gratification.'

"Dr. Alcott says: 'There is not a town in New England whose bills of mortality from year to year are not greatly increased by this fearful and wide-wasting scourge.'

"Dr. Snow, of Boston, says: 'Self-pollution is undoubtedly one of the most common causes of ill health that can be found among the young men of this country. I am satisfied the practice is almost universal. Boys commence it at an early age; and the habit once formed like that of intemperance, becomes almost unconquerable. In boarding-schools and colleges it obtains almost without exception.' "

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When a primary law of the human system is violated, the most disastrous consequences must follow. There is no law of the animal economy that is violated with so great risk to life and happiness as the sexual law; no function, the abuse of which is followed by such deleterious results as the sexual function.

"The evils which result from self-abuse do not come upon the victim all at once; they creep in so slowly, so unconsciously, that they are often scarcely perceived until he is upon the verge of ruin. Multitudes of unpleasant feelings arise, which are attributed to a variety of causes, but they are seldom traced to their true source.

"Truly, if there is a wretched being upon earth, it is the person who has habitually practiced self-abuse, even for a few years. It brings disaster and ruin upon every part of the system. It drains away the life-power, the vitality, the proper elements of health and strength, and destroys the ability to grow and develop, and increase in beauty and vigor. It takes away the materials that are needed to produce a noble, high-toned, healthy and happy human being. It crushes out the image of God, and stamps in its place that of the destroyer. It withdraws such an amount of life-force from the blood that every organ and tissue of the body is left so enfeebled

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and debilitated as to become an easy prey to disease. Self-abuse opens the door for consumption, dyspepsia, nervous debility, apoplexy, epilepsy, paralyses, insanity, and almost every disease from which humanity suffers.

"It weakens and deranges the stomach, the liver, the kidneys, the bowels, the muscles, the bones, the nerves, the brain, and all the various organs of the body."

"The inordinate craving for spirituous liquors and tobacco, which is to-day so almost universal, is due, in a great measure, to the lack of vital force in the system, resulting from sexual abuses."

"Stimulants and narcotics fail most signally to satisfy the terrible craving; for self-abuse enkindles a flame which cannot be extinguished! It opens the flood-gates of the passions, and ingulfs all that is pure and true! It makes a hell where Christ says 'the kingdom of Heaven is'! Ask him whose life-force has been exhausted in this direction, and he will tell you . . . that his thoughts are a consuming fire! his hopes and aspirations blasted as by the lightning's shock! his mind shattered and vapid, his whole life a constant burden, and his every duty an irksome task! He will tell you that his waking hours are filled with anguish, and his sleep disturbed by cursed and depraving

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dreams. Self-abuse is a sure road to the grave, which is often longed for as a haven of rest from the uncontrollable and never-ending sufferings of its victim.

"This picture, full of horrors as it is, is not overdrawn; in truth 'the half hath not been told;' nor would volumes contain all that might be said, all that should be said, upon this terrible and revolting evil. Truly, 'there is no more degrading bondage than the bondage of one's own lusts.' "

INFLUENCE UPON THE MIND

"The dependence of mind upon organic conditions, upon cell-development of the brain - as stated in a previous chapter - is such that the effects of self-abuse are quite as apparent upon the mind as upon the body; and derangements here are often the first intimation received by friends that something is wrong in the beloved one.

"The sufferer from this vice becomes listless, inattentive, indifferent. There is an inability to concentrate the mind, or apply it with any degree of vigor; want of interest in friends; loss of self-control; failure of memory, and difficulty of conducting conversation. The reasoning is disconnected, and oftentimes the mental powers entirely fail; the victim becomes diffident, bashful, and

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ashamed, and seldom looks people in the face. His love of books is lost, history becomes a blank, the glowing pages of romance charm no more, the poet's spell hath lost its power, music's witchery is dead, the beauties of art are passed unheeded by, the loveliest landscape is but an arid desert, and nature's most sublime endeavors fail to arouse the soul of him who has long been contaminated by this loathsome vice."

EFFECTS OF SELF-ABUSE UPON CHILDREN

"The habit of self-abuse is practiced amongst girls, as well as boys. Previous to the age of puberty, the effects are very similar in both sexes, momentary excitement, followed by depression of spirits, and irritability, induced by the exhaustion of the nervous system.

"After having indulged in this habit for a time, the child loses its bright and happy look; it becomes pale with as greenish tint, the eyes are sunken, and surrounded by dark rings; the vermillion of the lips is faded, the lips are attenuated, the muscles soft and flabby, and both in form and feature the child has the appearance of being old and worn out.

"Gradually, so gradually that the parents do not notice it the mind becomes dull, the

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power of comprehension is diminished, the child sits listless, seemingly absorbed in thought, and is startled whenever suddenly addressed; all its motions are slow and heavy; it seeks solitude, that its vicious propensities may be indulged; it is obstinate, peevish, and irritable; shuns the plays it formerly loved, and becomes morose and taciturn. And these conditions may continue to the end of life, even though the habit had long been abandoned."

"How different is the picture presented by the boy who has kept his sexual function unimpaired. His body is firm, vigorous, and elastic; his countenance rosy and healthy, his complexion bright and clear; his manners frank and candid; his spirits buoyant; his memory quick and ready; every function of his body is properly performed; he has that firmness of will and purpose which give him a happy self-control; he has no cause for shame; and, as he feels his stature increase and intellect expand, his whole life is a joy, and his heart a fount of thanksgiving to the great Creator that he is permitted to exist."

EFFECTS UPON WOMEN

"Females, although they do not lose semen, induce by this habit a discharge from

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the vagina which proves a terrible drain upon the system. This discharge, called 'leucorrhea,' or 'whites,' is often the beginning of the most dreadful and fatal diseases. It is the precursor of congestion, inflammation, ulceration, tumors, and cancers of the womb. It is very frequently induced by other means aside from self-abuse; for it follows in the train of all sexual abuses, and is often present as the result of inherited weaknesses. It is exceedingly debilitating, and, sad as it is, it is nevertheless true that our American women as a class are almost universally afflicted with this exhausting loss.

"The best blood of woman, as well as man, goes to the generative organs for the purpose of forming the new being; and, if it is lost by this constant drain from a million women, who can estimate how much lower we stand in consequence of this, both as regards physical and mental conditions, than we might have done had the life-forces of our progenitors been preserved intact?"

SPERMATORRHEA

"If every boy in the land, who is just beginning the practice of self-abuse, could be made fully to understand that this habit would soon produce such a weakness and irritation of the genital organs that they would

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act involuntarily upon the least excitement, or even when they were asleep, and they could not stop or control this by any effort of the will; and that these involuntary discharges would finally exhaust their vitality, stunt their growth, destroy digestion so that the constant, natural waste of the system could not be repaired, root out their manhood, render them incapable of taking pleasure in any thing in this life, and, in short, crush them physically, mentally, morally, and spiritually, both for time and for eternity, it seems to me that it would be an argument so forcible that they would at once abandon the vicious practice; and, instead of one child contaminating a whole street, or school, or village, as is often the case, they would become pure themselves, and warn others of the fatal dangers arising from this vile and sinful habit."

PREDISPOSING AND EXCITING CAUSES OF SELF-ABUSE

"The father was, perhaps, born with strong sexual passions which have never been controlled, and the mother may have inherited similar conditions. They have married without any appreciation of what true marriage is, and too often solely, or principally, for the gratification of the animal passions; for

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lust, and not for love. The child is begotten in mere passion! The father transmits his propensities to indulgence, along with the excitement of irritation of the sexual organs arising from those propensities; and not only this, but the sexual passion is indulged during pregnancy, which causes the mother to transmit doubly of the direful ill to the offspring within her womb, while at the same time the nervous force expended detracts just so much from the rights of the child to inherit a strong, well-balanced, and healthy organization.

"Every orgasm expends of the mother's vitality a portion that should go to nourish and develop her babe. Very much of the weakness and lassitude experienced during pregnancy is due to the exhaustion consequent upon the sexual embrace, and the forming child must suffer from its effects; for the mother cannot impart what she does not herself possess, health and strength, with elasticity of mind and earnestness of purpose."

"The manner in which children are reared and educated has also much to do in developing an irritability of the sexual organs, and is a predisposing cause of self-abuse; the food and drink, habits of cleanliness, or its opposite - dress, associations, etc., all have their influence upon the child, and tend either to develop or overcome the inherited tendencies of the sexual organization.

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"Feeding children upon pork, gravies, eggs, pastry made of lard, salt meats, with mustard and pepper, rich pies and cakes, spices, cloves, and other excitants; candies and sweetmeats, vinegar, pickles, tea and coffee, and every thing of this description, eaten at all hours of day and late at night, tend to fire the blood, derange the functions of the system, excite the nerves and bring on a precocious development of the sexual passion.

"The skin, too, with its millions of little sewers, by which God intended the purification of the system to be carried on, must be kept clean, or the impurities are dammed back, and the internal organs become deranged in consequence; and, wherever a predisposition to excitability of the sexual organs exists, those organs must suffer and become more irritable still, from habits of uncleanliness. Weakness of the sexual organs is often induced and increased by the inattention of mothers and nurses with regard to changing the clothing of infants; they are allowed to go wet and soiled, thus irritating and chafing the tender parts, until this becomes a strong excitant to self-abuse.

"Sleeping on feather-beds and feather-pillows, in close, unventilated rooms, is another cause of weakness, and therefore aids in inducing this vile practice. Children are

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often initiated into the habit of self-abuse by sleeping with libidinous servants; and many a man and woman might say, as a patient writes to me: 'I curse the time when I slept with a servant of impure mind, who led me to habits of vice from which I have suffered ever since.' Little babes acquire the habit of masturbation from nursery-maids, who frequently play with the genital organs to keep the child quiet.

"Confining children in-doors; compelling them to sit on hard benches, with their toes scarcely reaching the floor, in ill-ventilated school-rooms; low, vulgar stories upon subjects relating to the sexual function, which many young men and boys, yes, and old men too! are so fond of relating to excite the imagination and arouse the curiosity of all who listen to them; giving children false impressions as to how they were born - and this is as often done by parents as by others - and of the nature and use of the sexual function; reading low novels and obscene stories; looking at obscene pictures - all tend to excite the imagination, and arouse and pervert the sexual instinct."

"Talking to children about 'sweethearts' and 'lovers' is a fruitful cause of premature excitement of the sexual system, and often leads to self-abuse, as well as to promiscuous sexual indulgence. I am often horror-stricken

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at the lightness and levity with which these seeds of damnation are sown in the minds of children. Parents and others who sow such seed may thank themselves for the fruit thereof.

MATRIMONIAL EXCESSES

"Very much of the nervousness and hysteria so common among women, arises from abuses of the sexual function: in single life it is often the result of excitement of the sexual organs, induced by reading 'love-sick' novels, and cherishing lascivious thoughts, while in married life it is from the overtaxation of the nervous system by marital excesses.

"I know the heart-history of many noble, high-toned women, whose whole being revolts at the use to which they are put! Yet their ideas of domestic peace are so exalted that, loyal and true, they submit themselves a constant sacrifice, and, by the mere force of will, keep alive the fire of love within their tortured souls; living martyrs are they, daily enduring a fiercer ordeal than any to which the Christian martyrs were subjected. Many of these husbands are all the wife could ask, except in this one thing, and never dream but that they love those whom they have promised to'honor and cherish;' but it is a love so full of selfishness that it ceases to be true."

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"Our graveyards, could they speak, would send forth a sad and sickening wail from the young wives and mothers who have been placed there, the victims of matrimonial abuse of the sexual function. Our Greenwoods, our Auburns, and our Laurel Hills, are dotted with graves of young and middle-aged women, whose lives have been offered up as a sacrifice to the lustful passions of their husbands. And not always are these husbands ignorant of the result they are hastening; yet they will not pause in their guilty work, but deliberately and often furiously commit the murder for which, were justice meted out to them, they would 'hang by the neck till they were dead,' instead of being permitted to live and woo a second, a third, and sometimes even a fourth, victim to their base desires."

"The human race are wondering and mourning over the 'mysterious dispensations of Providence' in permitting so much disease, and removing from earth so many of the middle-aged and the young; and we are exhorted to consider this a lesson God is teaching to prepare for death. The facts are these: people destroy their own lives, and the lives of their children, by their own sexual abuses, and God suffers them to die, because they have so often and so grossly violated the laws he has ordained, that they are not fit to live!"

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"The foundation of this whole scheme of abuse of the sexual function is laid in the marriage-bed. Children who early fall into the habit of self-abuse, and young men and women who become libertines and prostitutes, are often not so much to blame as are the parents who, by their excesses in married life, entailed upon them a depraved organization."

ABORTION

"Few are aware of the fearful extent to which this nefarious business, this worse than develish practice, is carried on in all classes of society! Many a woman determines that she will not become a mother, and subjects herself to the vilest treatment, committing the basest crime to carry out her purpose. And many a man, who has 'as many children as he can support.' instead of restraining his passions, aids in the destruction of the babes he has begotten.

"The sin lies at the door of both parents in equal measure; for the father, although he may not always aid in the murder, is always accessory to it, in that he induces, and sometimes even forces upon the mother the condition which he knows will lead to the commission of this crime.

"But the effort to destroy the child is

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many times unsuccessful, and the little one is born with murder in his heart, stamped there by the murderous intentions of his own mother. And what wonder that these inborn passions should lead him to the lowest depths of degradation both as regards the body and the soul! Many a child lives to mature years, dwarfed and deformed in body, and irritable and imbecile in mind, a disgrace to himself and to the race, who might have been a model of beauty and strength, both physically and mentally, but for the attempts of his parents to destroy his life before he was born.

"And besides all this, the consequences of such a practice are most disastrous both upon the physical and moral nature of those whose souls are stained with this terrible sin. The general health of the mother is often ruined, and the generative organs seriously injured. No system can endure the shock produced by this unnatural crime without being more or less impaired, while many a woman meets death as a penalty for her sin; others live, but are never again in a condition to conceive, and often suffer constantly in consequence of their fiendish endeavors; while others still are enabled to bear children, but with such anguish as no tongue may tell, and the child thus born is frequently a curse to himself and all with whom he is connected."

THE MARRIAGE RELATION

Men and women, by indulging the appetite with rich and highly-seasoned foods, especially flesh-meats and rich gravies, and by using stimulating drinks, as tea and coffee, create unnatural appetites. The system becomes fevered, the organs of digestion become injured, the mental faculties are be clouded, while the baser passions are excited, and predominate. The appetite becomes more unnatural, and more difficult of restraint. The circulation is not equalized, and the blood becomes impure. The whole system is deranged, and the demands of appetite become more unreasonable, craving exciting, hurtful things, until it is thoroughly depraved.

With many, the appetite clamors for the disgusting weed, tobacco, and ale, made powerful by poisonous, health-destroying mixtures. Many do not stop even here. Their debased appetites call for stronger drink, which has a still more benumbing influence upon the brain. Thus they give themselves up to every excess, until appetite holds complete control over the reasoning faculties; and man, formed in the image of his Maker, debases himself lower than the beasts. Manhood and honor are alike

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sacrificed to appetite. It required time to benumb the sensibilities of the mind. It was done gradually, but surely. The indulgence of the appetite in first eating food highly seasoned, created a morbid appetite, and prepared the way for every kind of indulgence, until health and intellect were sacrificed to lust.

Many have entered the marriage relation who have not acquired property, and who have had no inheritance. They did not possess physical strength or mental energy, to acquire property. It has been just such ones who have been in haste to marry, and who have taken upon themselves responsibilities of which they had no just sense. They did not possess noble, elevated feelings, and had no just idea of the duty of a husband and father, and what it would cost them to provide for the wants of a family. And they manifested no more propriety in the increase of their families than that shown in their business transactions. Those who are seriously deficient in business tact, and who are the least qualified to get along in the world, generally fill their houses with children; while men who have ability to acquire property, generally have no more children than they can well provide for. Those who are not qualified to take care of themselves, should not have children. It has been the

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case that the numerous offspring of these poor calculators are left to come up like the brutes. They are not suitably fed or clothed, and do not receive physical or mental training, and there is nothing sacred in the word home, to either parents or children.

The marriage institution was designed of Heaven to be a blessing to man; but, in a general sense, it has been abused in such a manner as to make it a dreadful curse. Most men and women have acted, in entering the marriage relation, as though the only question for them to settle was, whether they loved each other. But they should realize that a responsibility rested upon them in the marriage relation farther than this. They should consider whether their offspring will possess physical health, and mental and moral strength. But few have moved with high motives, and with elevated considerations which they could not lightly throw off - that society had claims upon them, that the weight of their family's influence would tell in the upward or downward scale.

Society is composed of families; and heads of families are responsible for the molding of society. If those who choose to enter the marriage relation without due consideration were alone to be the sufferers, then the evil would not be so great, and their sin would be comparatively small. But the misery

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arising from unhappy marriages is felt by the offspring of such unions. They have entailed upon them a life of living misery; and, though innocent, suffer the consequences of their parents' inconsiderate course. Men and women have no right to follow impulse, or blind passion, in their marriage relation, and then bring innocent children into the world to realize from various causes that life has but little joy, but little happiness, and is therefore a burden. Children generally inherit the peculiar traits of character which the parents possess; and in addition to all this, many come up without any redeeming influence around them. They are too frequently huddled together in poverty and filth. With such surroundings and examples, what can be expected of the children when they come upon the stage of action, but that they will sink lower in the scale of moral worth than their parents, and their deficiencies, in every respect, be more apparent than theirs? Thus have this class perpetuated their deficiencies, and cursed their posterity with poverty, imbecility, and degradation. These should not have married. At least, they should not have brought innocent children into existence to share their misery, and hand down their own deficiencies, with accumulating wretchedness, from generation to generation. This is one great cause of the degeneracy of the race.

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If women of past generations had always moved from high considerations, realizing that future generations would be ennobled or debased by their course of action, they would have taken their stand, that they could not unite their life interest with men who were cherishing unnatural appetites for alcoholic drinks, and tobacco which is a slow, but sure and deadly, poison, weakening the nervous system, and debasing the noble faculties of the mind. If men would remain wedded to these vile habits, women should have left them to their life of single blessedness, to enjoy these companions of their choice. Women should not have considered themselves of so little value as to unite their destiny with men who had no control over their appetites, but whose principal happiness consisted in eating and drinking, and gratifying their animal passions. Women have not always followed the dictates of reason. They have sometimes been led by blind impulse. They have not always felt in a high degree the responsibilities resting upon them, to form such life connections as would not enstamp upon their offspring a low degree of morals, and a passion to gratify debased appetites, at the expense of health, and even life. God will hold them accountable in a large degree for the physical health and moral characters thus transmitted to future generations.

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Men and women who have corrupted their own bodies by dissolute habits, have also debased their intellects and destroyed the fine sensibilities of the soul. Very many of this class have married, and left for an inheritance to their offspring the taints of their own physical debility and depraved morals. The gratification of animal passions and gross sensuality have been the marked characteristics of their posterity, which have descended from generation to generation, increasing human misery to a fearful degree, and hastening the deterioration of the race.

Men and women who have become sickly and diseased, have often in their marriage connections selfishly thought only of their own happiness. They have not seriously considered the matter from the standpoint of noble, elevated principles, reasoning in regard to what they could expect of their posterity, but diminished energy of body and mind which would not elevate society, but sink it still lower.

Sickly men have often won the affections of women apparently healthy, and because they loved each other, they have felt themselves at perfect liberty to marry, neither considering that by their union the wife must be a sufferer, more or less, because of the diseased husband. In many cases, the diseased husband improves in health, while the

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wife shares his disease. He lives very much upon her vitality, and she soon complains of failing health. He prolongs his days by shortening the days of his wife. Those who thus marry, commit sin in lightly regarding health and life given to them of God to be used to his glory. But if those who thus enter the marriage relation were alone concerned, the sin would not be so great. Their offspring are compelled to be sufferers by disease transmitted to them. Thus disease has been perpetuated from generation to generation. And many charge all this weight of human misery upon God, when their wrong course of action has brought the sure result. They have thrown upon society an enfeebled race, and done their part to deteriorate the race, by rendering disease hereditary, and thus accumulating human suffering.

Another cause of the deficiency of the present generation in physical strength and moral worth, is the union of men and women in marriage whose ages widely differ. It is frequently the case that old men choose to marry young wives. By thus doing the life of the husband has often been prolonged, while the wife has had to feel the want of that vitality which she has imparted to her aged husband. It has not been the duty of any woman to sacrifice life and health, even if she did love one so much older than herself,

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and felt willing on her part to make such a sacrifice. She should have restrained her affections. She had considerations higher than her own interest to consult. She should consider, if children were born to them, what their condition would be. It is still worse for young men to marry women considerably older than themselves. The offspring of such unions in many cases, where ages widely differ, have not well-balanced minds. They have been deficient also in physical strength. In such families, varied, peculiar, and often painful, traits of character have frequently been manifested. The children often die prematurely, and those who reach maturity, in many cases, are deficient in physical and mental strength, and moral worth.

The father is seldom prepared, with his failing faculties, to properly bring up his young family. These children have peculiar traits of character, which constantly need a counteracting influence, or they will go to certain ruin. They are not educated aright. Their discipline has too often been of the fitful, impulsive kind, by reason of his age. The father has been susceptible of changeable feelings. At one time over-indulgent, while at another he is unwarrantably severe. Everything in such families is wrong, and domestic wretchedness is greatly increased. Thus a class of beings have been thrown upon the world as a burden to society.

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Those who increase their number of children, when, if they consulted reason, they must know that physical and mental weakness must be their inheritance, are transgressors of the last six precepts of God's law, which specify the duty of man to his fellow-man. They do their part in increasing the degeneracy of the race, and in sinking society lower, thus injuring their neighbor. If God thus regards the rights of neighbors, has he no care in regard to closer and more sacred relationship? If not a sparrow falls to the ground without his notice, will he be unmindful of the children born into the world, diseased physically and mentally, suffering in a greater or less degree, all their lives? Will he not call parents to an account, to whom he has given reasoning powers, for putting these higher faculties in the background, and becoming slaves to passion, when, as the result, generations must bear the mark of their physical, mental, and moral deficiencies? In addition to the suffering they entail upon their children, they have no portion but poverty to leave to their pitiful flock. They cannot educate them, and many do not see the necessity of it; neither could they, if they did see such necessity, find time to train them, and instruct them, and lessen, as much as possible, the wretched inheritance transmitted to them. Parents should not increase

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their families any faster than they know that their children can be well cared for, and educated. A child in the mother's arms from year to year is great injustice to her. It lessens, and often destroys, social enjoyment, and increases domestic wretchedness. It robs their children of that care, education, and happiness, which parents should feel it their duty to bestow upon them.

The husband violates the marriage vow and the duties enjoined upon him in the word of God, when he disregards the health and happiness of the wife, by increasing her burdens and cares by numerous offspring. "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church."

We see this holy injunction almost wholly disregarded, even by professed Christians. Everywhere you may look, you will see pale, sickly, careworn, broken-down, dispirited, discouraged women. They are generally overworked, and their vital energies exhausted by frequent child-bearing. The world is filled with images of human beings who are of no worth to society. Many are deficient in intellect, and many who possess

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natural talents do not use them for any beneficial purposes. They are not cultivated, and the one great reason is, children have been multiplied faster than they could be well trained, and have been left to come up much like the brutes.

THE CARE OF CHILDREN

Children in this age are suffering with their parents, more or less, the penalty of the violation of the laws of health. The course generally pursued with them, from their infancy, is in continual opposition to the laws of their being. They were compelled to receive a miserable inheritance of disease and debility, before their birth, occasioned by the wrong habits of their parents, which will affect them in a greater or less degree through life. This bad state of things is made every way worse by parents' continuing to follow a wrong course in the physical training of their children during their childhood.

Parents manifest astonishing ignorance, indifference, and recklessness, in regard to the physical health of their children, which often results in destroying the little vitality left the abused infant, and consigns it to an early grave. You will frequently hear parents mourning over the providence of God

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which has torn their children from their embrace. Our Heavenly Father is too wise to err, and too good to do us wrong. He has no delight in seeing his creatures suffer. Thousands have been ruined for life because parents have not acted in accordance with the laws of health. They have moved from impulse, instead of following the dictates of sound judgment, constantly having in view the future well being of their children.

The first great object to be attained in the training of children is soundness of constitution, which will prepare the way, in a great measure for mental and moral training. Physical and moral health are closely united. What an enormous weight of responsibility is seen to rest upon serenities, when we consider that the course pursued by them, before the birth of their children, has very much to do with the development of their characters after their birth.

Many children are left to come up with less attention from their parents than a good farmer devotes to his dumb animals. Fathers, especially, are often guilty of manifesting less care for wife and children than that shown to their cattle. A merciful farmer will take time, and devote especial thought as to the best manner of managing his stock, and will be particular that his valuable horses shall not be overworked, overfed, or fed when

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heated, lest they be ruined. He will take time and care for his stock, lest they be injured by neglect, exposure, or any improper treatment, and his increasing young stock depreciate in value. He will observe regular periods for their eating, and will know the amount of work they can perform without injuring them. In order to accomplish this, he will provide them only the most healthful food, in proper quantities, and at stated periods. By thus following the dictates of reason, farmers are successful in preserving the strength of their beasts. If the interest of every father, for his wife and children, corresponded to that care manifested for his cattle, in that degree that their lives are more valuable than the dumb animals, there would be an entire reformation in every family, and human misery be far less.

Great care should be manifested by parents in providing the most healthful articles of food for themselves and for their children. And in no case should they place before their children food which their reason teaches them is not conducive to health, but which would fever the system, and derange the digestive organs. Parents do not study from cause to effect in regard to their children, as in the case of their dumb animals, and do not reason that to overwork, to eat after violent exercise, and when much exhausted, and

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heated, will injure the health of human beings, as well as the health of dumb animals, and will lay the foundation for a broken constitution in man, as well as in beasts.

The father in many cases exercises more reason respecting, and manifests more care for, his cattle when with young, than he manifests for his wife, when in a similar condition. The mother, in many cases previous to the birth of her children, is permitted to toil early and late, heating her blood, while preparing various unhealthful dishes of food to suit the perverted taste of the family, and of visitors. Her strength should be tenderly cherished. A preparation of healthful food would require but about one-half of the expense and labor, and would be far more nourishing.

The mother, before the birth of her children, is often permitted to labor beyond her strength. Her burdens and cares are seldom lessened, and that period, which should be to her of all others, a time of rest, is one of fatigue, sadness, and gloom. By too great exertion on her part, she deprives her offspring of that nutrition which nature has provided for it, and by heating her blood, she imparts to it a bad quality of nourishment. The offspring is robbed of its vitality, robbed of physical and mental strength. The father should study how to make the mother

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happy. He should not allow himself to come to his home with a clouded brow. If he is perplexed in business, he should not,unless it is actually necessary to counsel with his wife, trouble her with such matters. She has cares and trials of her own to bear, and she should be tenderly spared every needless burden.

The mother too often meets with cold reserve from the father. If everything does not move off just as pleasantly as he could wish, he blames the wife and mother, and seems indifferent to her cares and daily trials. Men who do this are working directly against their own interest and happiness. The mother becomes discouraged. Hope and cheerfulness depart from her. She goes about her work mechanically, knowing that it must be done, which soon debilitates physical and mental health. Children are born to them, suffering from various diseases, and God holds the parents accountable in a great degree; for it was their wrong habits which fastened disease upon their unborn children, under which they are compelled to suffer all through their lives. Some live but a short period with their load of debility. The mother anxiously watches over the life of her child, and is weighed down with sorrow as she is compelled to close its eyes in death, and she often regards God as the author of

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all this affliction, when the parents in reality were the murderers of their own child.

The father should bear in mind that the treatment of his wife before the birth of his offspring will materially affect the disposition of the mother during that period, and will have very much to do with the character developed by the child after its birth. Many fathers have been so anxious to obtain property fast, that higher considerations have been sacrificed, and some men have been criminally neglectful of the mother and her offspring, and too frequently the lives of both have been sacrificed to the strong desire to accumulate wealth. Many do not immediately suffer this heavy penalty for their wrong-doing, and are asleep to the result of their course. The condition of the wife is sometimes no better than that of a slave, and sometimes she is equally guilty with the husband, of squandering physical strength, to obtain means to live fashionably. It is a crime for such to have children, for their offspring will often be deficient in physical, mental, and moral worth, and will bear the miserable, close, selfish impress of their parents; and the world will be cursed with their meanness.

It is the duty of men and women to act with reason in regard to their labor. They should not exhaust their energies unnecessarily,

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for by doing this, they not only bring suffering upon themselves,but, by their errors, bring anxiety, weariness, and suffering, upon those they love. What calls for such an amount of labor? Intemperance in eating and in drinking, and the desire for wealth, have led to this intemperance in labor. If the appetite is controlled, and that food only which is healthful be taken, there will be so great a saving of expense, that men and women will not be compelled to labor beyond their strength, and thus violate the laws of health. The desire of men and women to accumulate property is not sinful, if, in their efforts to attain their object, they do not forget God, and transgress the last six precepts of Jehovah, which dictate the duty of man to his fellow-man, and place themselves in a position where it is impossible for them to glorify God in their bodies and spirits which are his. If, in their haste to be rich, they overtax their energies and violate the laws of their being, they place themselves in a condition where they cannot render to God perfect service, and are pursuing a course of sin. Property thus obtained is at an immense sacrifice.

Hard labor and anxious care often make the father nervous, impatient, and exacting. He does not notice the tired look of his wife, who has labored, with her feebler strength,

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just as hard as he has labored, with his stronger energies. He suffers himself to be hurried with business, and, through his anxiety to be rich, loses in a great measure the sense of his obligation to his family, and does not measure aright his wife's power of endurance. He often enlarges his farm, requiring an increase of hired help, which necessarily increases the housework. The wife realizes every day that she is doing too much work for her strength, yet she toils on, thinking the work must be done. She is continually reaching down into the future, drawing upon her future resources of strength, and is living upon borrowed capital, and at the period when she needs that strength, it is not at her command; and if she does not lose her life, her constitution is broken, past recovery.

If the father would become acquainted with physical law, he might better understand his obligations and his responsibilities. He would see that he had been guilty of almost murdering his children, by suffering so many burdens to come upon the mother, compelling her to labor beyond her strength before their birth, in order to obtain means to leave for them. They nurse these children through their suffering life, and often lay them prematurely in the grave, little realizing that their wrong course has brought the sure result. How much better to have shielded the

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mother of his children from wearing labor and mental anxiety, and let the children inherit good constitutions, and give them an opportunity to battle their way through life, not relying upon their father's property, but upon their own energetic strength. The experience thus obtained would be of more worth to them than houses and lands, purchased at the expense of the health of mother and children.

It seems perfectly natural for some men to be morose, selfish, exacting, and overbearing. They have never learned the lesson of self-control, and will not restrain their unreasonable feelings, let the consequences be what they may. Such men will be repaid, by seeing their companions sickly and dispirited, and their children bearing the peculiarities of their own disagreeable traits of character.

It is the duty of every married couple to studiously avoid marring the feelings of each other. They should control every look and expression of fretfulness and passion. They should study each other's happiness, in small matters, as well as in large, manifesting a tender thoughtfulness, in acknowledging kind acts and the little courtesies of each other. These small things should not be neglected, for they are just as important to the happiness of man and wife, as food is necessary to sustain physical strength. The father should

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encourage the wife and mother to lean upon his large affections. Kind, cheerful, encouraging words from him with whom she has intrusted her life happiness, will be more beneficial to her than any medicine; and the cheerful rays of light which such sympathizing words will bring to the heart of the wife and mother, will reflect back their own cheering beams upon the heart of the father.

The husband will frequently see his wife care-worn and debilitated, growing prematurely old, in laboring to prepare food to suit the vitiated taste. He gratifies the appetite, and will eat and drink those things which it costs much time and labor to prepare for the table, and which have a tendency to make those who partake of them nervous and irritable. The wife and mother is seldom free from the headache, and the children are suffering the effects of eating unwholesome food, and there is a great lack of patience and affection with parents and children. All are sufferers together, for health has been sacrificed to lustful appetite. The offspring, before its birth, has had transmitted to it disease and an unhealthy appetite. And the irritability, nervousness, and despondency, manifested by the mother, will mark the character of her child.

In past generations, if mothers had informed themselves in regard to the laws of

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their being, they would have understood that their constitutional strength, as well as the tone of their morals, and their mental faculties, would in a great measure be represented in their offspring. Their ignorance upon this subject, where so much is involved, is criminal. Many women never should have become mothers. Their blood was filled with scrofula, transmitted to them from their parents, and increased by their gross manner of living. The intellect has been brought down and enslaved to serve the animal appetite, and children, born of such parents, have been poor sufferers, and of but little use to society.

It has been one of the greatest causes of degeneracy in generations back, up to the present time, that wives and mothers who otherwise would have had a beneficial influence upon society, in raising the standard of morals, have been lost to society through multiplicity of home cares, because of the fashionable, health-destroying manner of cooking, and also in consequence of too frequent child-bearing. She has been compelled to needless suffering, her constitution has failed, and her intellect has become weakened, by so great a draught upon her vital resources.Her offspring suffer her debility, and thus a class is thrown upon society, poorly fitted, through the mother's inability to educate them, to be of the least benefit.

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If these mothers had given birth to but few children, and if they had been careful to live upon such food as would preserve physical health and mental strength, so that the moral and intellectual might predominate over the animal, they could have so educated their children for usefulness, as to have made them bright ornaments to society.

If parents in past generations had, with firmness of purpose, kept the body servant to the mind, and had not allowed the intellectual to be enslaved by animal passions, there would be in this age a different order of beings upon the earth. And if the mother, before the birth of her offspring, had always possessed self-control, realizing that she was giving the stamp of character to future generations, the present state of society would not be so depreciated in character as at the present time.

Every woman about to become a mother, whatever may be her surroundings, should encourage constantly a happy, cheerful, contented disposition, knowing that for all her efforts in this direction she will be repaid tenfold in the physical, as well as the moral, character of her offspring. Nor is this all. She can, by habit, accustom herself to cheerful thinking, and thus encourage a happy state of mind, and cast a cheerful reflection of her own happiness of spirit upon her family,

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and those with whom she associates. And in a very great degree will her physical health be improved. A force will be imparted to the life springs, the blood will not move sluggishly, as would be the case if she were to yield to despondency and gloom. Her mental and moral health are invigorated by the buoyancy of her spirits. The power of the will can resist impressions of the mind, and will prove a grand soother of the nerves. Children who are robbed of that vitality which they should have inherited of their parents, should have the utmost care. By close attention to the laws of their being, a much better condition of things can be established.

The period during which the infant receives its nourishment from the mother, is a critical one. Many mothers, while nursing their infants, have been permitted to over labor, and to heat their blood in cooking, and the nursing has been seriously affected, not only with fevered nourishment from the mother's breast, but its blood has been poisoned by the unhealthy diet of the mother, which has fevered her whole system, thereby affecting the food of the infant. The infant will also be affected by the condition of the mother's mind. If she is unhappy, easily agitated, irritable, giving vent to outbursts of passion, the nourishment the infant receives from its mother

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will be inflamed, often producing colic, spasms, and, in some instances, causing convulsions and fits.

The character also of the child is more or less affected by the nature of the nourishment received from the mother. How important, then, that the mother, while nursing her infant, should preserve a happy state of mind, having the perfect control of her own spirit. By thus doing, the food of the child is not injured, and the calm, self-possessed course the mother pursues in the treatment of her child has very much to do in molding the mind of the infant. If it is nervous, and easily agitated, the mother's careful, unhurried manner will have a soothing and correcting influence, and the health of the infant can be very much improved.

Infants have been greatly abused by improper treatment. If fretful, they have generally been fed to keep them quiet, when in most cases, the very reason of their fretfulness was because of their having received too much food, made injurious by the wrong habits of the mother. More food only made the matter worse, for their stomachs were already overloaded.

Children are generally brought up from the cradle to indulge the appetite, and are taught that they live to eat. The mother does much toward the formation of the character

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of her children in their childhood. She can teach them to control the appetite, or she can teach them to indulge the appetite, and become gluttons. The mother often arranges her plans to accomplish a certain amount through the day, and when the children trouble her, instead of taking time to soothe their little sorrows, and divert them, something is given them to eat, to keep them still, which answers the purpose for a short time, but eventually makes things worse. The children's stomachs have been pressed with food, when they had not the least want of it. All that was required was a little of the mother's time and attention. But she regarded her time as altogether too precious to devote to the amusement of her children. Perhaps the arrangement of her house in a tasteful manner for visitors to praise, and to have her food cooked in a fashionable style, are with her higher considerations than the happiness and health of her children.

Intemperance in eating and in labor debilitates the parents, often making them nervous, and disqualifying them to rightly discharge their duty to their children. Three times a day, parents and children gather around the table loaded with a variety of fashionable foods. The merits of each dish have to be tested. Perhaps the mother had toiled till she was heated and exhausted, and was not

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in a condition to take even the simplest food till she had first had a period of rest. The food she wearied herself in preparing was wholly unfit for her at any time, but especially taxes the digestive organs when the blood is heated and the system exhausted. Those who have thus persisted in violating the laws of their being, have been compelled to pay the penalty at some period in their life.

There are ample reasons why there are so many nervous women in the world, complaining of the dyspepsia, with its train of evils. The cause has been followed by the effect. It is impossible for intemperate persons to be patient. They must first reform bad habits, learn to live healthfully, and then it will not be difficult for them to be patient. Many do not seem to understand the relation the mind sustains to the body. If the system is deranged by improper food, the brain and nerves are affected, and slight things annoy those who are thus afflicted. Little difficulties are to them troubles mountain high. Persons thus situated are unfitted to properly train their children. Their life will be marked with extremes. Sometimes they are very indulgent, at other times severe, censuring for trifles which deserve no notice.

The mother frequently sends her children from her presence, because she thinks she

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cannot endure the noise occasioned by their happy frolics. But with no mother's eye over them to approbate or disapprove at the right time, unhappy differences often arise. A word from the mother would set all right again. They soon become weary, desire change, and go into the street for amusement; and pure, innocent-minded children are driven into bad company, and evil communications breathed into their ears corrupt their good manners. The mother often seems to be asleep to the interests of her children until she is painfully aroused by the exhibition of vice. The seeds of evil were sown in their young minds, promising an abundant harvest. And it is a marvel to her that her children are so prone to do wrong. Parents should begin in season to instill into infant minds good and correct principles. The mother should be with her children as much as possible, and should sow precious seed in their hearts.

The mother's time belongs in a special manner to her children. They have a right to her time which no others can have. In many cases mothers have neglected to discipline their children, because it would require too much of their time, which time they think must be spent in the cooking department, or in preparing their own clothing, and that of their children, according to fashion, to foster

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pride in their young hearts. In order to keep their restless children still, they have given them cake or candies, at almost any hour of the day, and their stomachs are crowded with hurtful things at irregular periods. Their pale faces testify to the fact that mothers are doing what they can to destroy the remaining life-forces of their poor children. The digestive organs are constantly taxed, and are not allowed periods of rest. The liver becomes inactive, and the blood impure; and the children are sickly and irritable, because they are real sufferers from intemperance, and it is impossible for them to exercise patience.

Parents wonder that children are so much more difficult to control than they used to be. In most cases their own criminal management has made them so. The quality of food they bring upon their tables, and encourage their children to eat, is constantly exciting their animal passions, and weakening the moral and intellectual faculties. Very many children are made miserable dyspeptics in their youth by the wrong course their parents have pursued toward them in childhood. Parents will be called to render an account to God for thus dealing with their children.

Many parents do not give their children lessons in self-control. They indulge their appetite, and suffer them to form, in their

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childhood, habits of eating and drinking according to their own desires. So will they be in their general habits in their youth. Their desires have not been restrained, and as they grow older, they will not only indulge in the common habits of intemperance, but they will go still further in indulgences. They will choose their own associates, although corrupt. They cannot endure restraint from their parents. They will give loose rein to their corrupt passions, and have but little regard for purity or virtue. This is the reason why there is so little purity and moral worth among the youth of the present day, and is the great cause why men and women feel under so little obligation to render obedience to the law of God. Some parents have not control over themselves. They do not control their own morbid appetites, or their passionate tempers; therefore they cannot educate their children in regard to the denial of their appetite, and teach them self-control.

ERRORS IN EDUCATION

Many mothers feel that they have not time to instruct their children, and in order to get them out of the way, and get rid of their noise and trouble, they send them to school. The school-room is a hard place for children

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who have inherited enfeebled constitutions. School-rooms generally have not been constructed in reference to health, but in regard to cheapness. The rooms have not been arranged so that they could be ventilated as they should have been, without exposing the children to severe colds. And the seats have seldom been made so that the children could sit with ease, and keep their little, growing frames in a proper posture to insure healthy action of the lungs and heart. Young children can grow into almost any shape, and can, by habits of proper exercise and positions of the body, obtain healthy forms. It is destructive to the health and life of young children for them to sit in the school-room, upon hard, ill-formed benches, from three to five hours a day, inhaling the impure air caused by many breaths. The weak lungs become affected, the brain, from which the nervous energy of the whole system is derived, becomes enfeebled by being called into active exercise before the strength of the mental organs is sufficiently matured to endure fatigue.

In the school-room, the foundation has been too surely laid for diseases of various kinds. But, more especially, that most delicate of all organs, the brain, has often been permanently injured by too great exercise. This has often caused inflammation, then

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dropsy of the head, and convulsions, with their dreaded results. And the lives of many have been thus sacrificed by ambitious mothers. Of those children who have apparently had sufficient force of constitution to survive this treatment, there are very many who carry the effects of it through life. The nervous energy of the brain becomes so weakened, that after they come to maturity, it is impossible for them to endure much mental exercise. The force of some of the delicate organs of the brain seems to be expended.

And not only has the physical and mental health of children been endangered by being sent to school at too early a period, but they have been the losers in a moral point of view. They have had opportunities to become acquainted with children who were uncultivated in their manners. They were thrown into the society of the coarse and rough, who lie, swear, steal, and deceive, and who delight to impart their knowledge of vice to those younger than themselves. Young children, if left to themselves, learn the bad more readily than the good. Bad habits agree best with the natural heart, and the things which they see and hear in infancy and childhood are deeply imprinted upon their minds, and the bad seed sown in their young hearts will take root, and will become sharp thorns to wound the hearts of their parents.

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During the first six or seven years of a child's life, special attention should be given to its physical training, rather than the intellect. After this period, if the physical constitution is good, the education of both should receive attention. Infancy extends to the age of six or seven years. Up to this period, children should be left, like little lambs, to roam around the house and in the yards, skipping and jumping in the buoyancy of their spirits, free from care and trouble.

Parents, especially mothers, should be the only teachers of such infant minds. They should not educate from books. The children will generally be inquisitive to learn the things of nature. They will ask questions in regard to the things they see and hear, and parents should improve the opportunity to instruct, and patiently answer, these little inquirers. They can in this manner get the advantage of the enemy, and fortify the minds of their children, by sowing good seed in their hearts, leaving no room for the bad to take root. The mother's loving instructions is what is needed by children of a tender age in the formation of character.

The first important lesson for children to learn is the proper denial of appetite. It is the duty of mothers to attend to the wants of their children, by soothing and diverting their minds, instead of giving them food, and

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thus teaching them that eating is the remedy for life's ills.

If parents had lived healthfully, being satisfied with simple diet, much expense would have been saved. The father would not have been obliged to labor beyond his strength, in order to supply the wants of his family. A simple, nourishing diet would not have had an influence to unduly excite the nervous system and the animal passions, producing moroseness and irritability. If he had partaken only of plain food, his head would have been clear, his nerves steady, his stomach in a healthy condition, and with a pure system, he would have had no loss of appetite, and the present generation would be in a much better condition than it now is. But even now, in this late period, something can be done to improve our condition. Temperance in all things is necessary. A temperate father will not complain if he has no great variety upon his table. A healthful manner of living will improve the condition of the family in every sense, and will allow the wife and mother time to devote to her children. The great study with the parents will be in what manner they can best train their children for usefulness in this world, and for Heaven hereafter. They will be content to see their children with neat, plain, but comfortable, garments, free from embroidery and adornment.

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They will earnestly labor to see their children in the possession of the inward adorning, the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

Before the Christian father leaves his home, to go to his labor, he will gather his family around him, and bowing before God will commit them to the care of the Chief Shepherd. He will then go forth to his labor with the love and blessing of his wife, and the love of his children, to make his heart cheerful through his laboring hours. And that mother who is aroused to her duty, will realize the obligations resting upon her to her children in the absence of the father. She will feel that she lives for her husband and children. By training her children aright, teaching them habits of temperance and self-control, and teaching them their duty to God, she is qualifying them to become useful in the world, to elevate the standard of morals in society, and to reverence and obey the law of God. Patiently and perseveringly will the godly mother instruct her children, giving them line upon line, and precept upon precept, not in a harsh, compelling manner but in love, and in tenderness; and thus will she win them. They will consider her lessons of love, and will happily listen to her words of instruction.

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Instead of sending her children from her presence, that she may not be troubled with their noise, and be annoyed with the numerous attentions they would desire, she will feel that her time cannot be better employed than in soothing, and diverting their restless, active minds with some amusement, or light, happy employment. The mother will be amply repaid for the efforts she may make, and the time she may send to invent amusement for her children.

Young children love society. They cannot, as a general thing, enjoy themselves alone, and the mother should feel that, in most cases, the place for her children, when they are in the house, is in the room she occupies. She can then have a general oversight of them, and be prepared to set little differences right, when appealed to by them, and correct wrong habits, or the manifestation of selfishness or passion, and can give their minds a turn in the right direction. That which children enjoy, they think mother can be pleased with, and it is perfectly natural for them to consult mother in little matters of perplexity. And the mother should not wound the heart of her sensitive child by treating the matter with indifference, or by refusing to be troubled with such small matters. That which may be small to the mother is large to them. And a word of direction

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or caution, at the right time, will often prove of great value. An approving glance, a word of encouragement and praise from the mother, will often cast a sunbeam into their young hearts for a whole day.

The first education children should receive from the mother in infancy, should be in regard to their physical health. They should be allowed only plain food, of that quality that will preserve to them the best condition of health, and that should be partaken of only at regular periods, not oftener than three times a day, and two meals would be better than three. If children are disciplined aright, they will soon learn that they can receive nothing by crying or fretting. A judicious mother will act in training her children, not merely in regard to her own present comfort, but for their future good. And to this end, she will teach her children the important lesson of controlling the appetite, and of self-denial, that they should eat, drink, and dress, in reference to health.

A well disciplined family, who love and obey God; will be cheerful and happy. The father, when he returns from his daily labor, will not bring his perplexities to his home. He will feel that home and the family circle are too sacred to be marred with unhappy perplexities. When he left his home, he did not leave his Saviour and his religion behind. Both were his companions. The

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sweet influence of his home, the blessing of his wife, and love of his children, make his burdens light, and he returns with peace in his heart, and cheerful, encouraging words for his wife and children, who are waiting to joyfully welcome his coming. As he bows with his family at the altar of prayer, to offer up his grateful thanks to God, for his preserving care of himself and loved ones through the day, angels of God hover in the room, and bear the fervent prayer of God-fearing parents to Heaven, as sweet incense, which are answered by returning blessings.

Parents should impress upon their children that it is sin to consult the taste, to the injury of the stomach. They should impress upon their minds that by violating the laws of their being, they sin against their Maker. Children thus educated will not be difficult of restraint. They will not be subject to irritable, changeable tempers, and will be in a far better condition for enjoying life. Such children will the more readily and clearly understand their moral obligations. Children who have been taught to yield their will and wishes to their parents, will the more easily and readily yield their wills to God, and will submit to be controlled by the Spirit of Christ. Why so many who claim to be Christians have numerous trials, which keep the church burdened, is because they were not correctly trained in their childhood,

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but were left in a great measure to form their own character. Their wrong habits, and peculiar, unhappy dispositions, were not corrected. They were not taught to yield their will to their parents. Their whole religious experience is affected by their training in childhood. They were not then controlled. They grew up undisciplined, and now, in their religious experience, it is difficult for them to yield to that pure discipline taught in the word of God. Parents should, then, realize the responsibility resting upon them to educate their children in reference to their religious experience.

Those who regard the marriage relation as one of God's sacred ordinances, guarded by his holy precept, will be controlled by the dictates of reason. They will consider carefully the result of every privilege the marriage relation grants. Such will feel that their children are precious jewels committed to their keeping by God, to remove from their natures the rough surface by discipline, that their luster may appear. They will feel under most solemn obligations to so form their characters that they may do good in their life, bless others with their light, and the world be better for their having lived in it, and they be finally fitted for the higher life, the better world, to shine in the presence of God and the Lamb forever. E.G.W.

OBEDIENCE TO THE LAW OF GOD

Mercy and truth are promised to the humble and penitent, and judgments are prepared for the sinful and rebellious. "Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne." Ps.89:14. A wicked and adulterous people will not escape the wrath of God, the punishment they have justly earned. Man has fallen, and his is a work of a lifetime, be it longer or shorter, to recover from his fall, and regain, through Christ, the image of the divine, which he has lost by sin and continued transgression. God requires a thorough transformation of soul, body, and spirit, in order to regain the estate lost through Adam. The Lord mercifully sends rays of light to show man his true condition. If he will not walk in the light, he manifests a pleasure in darkness. He will not come to the light lest his deeds should be reproved.

The nominal churches of this day are filled with fornication and adultery, the result of base, lustful passion, but these things, to a great extent, are kept covered. Ministers, in high places, are guilty, yet a cloak of godliness covers their dark deeds, and they pass on from year to year in their course of hypocrisy. Their sins have reached unto Heaven.

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Fornication and adultery are estimated by many professing Christians as sins which God winketh at. These sins are practiced to a great extent. They do not acknowledge the claims of God's law upon them. They have broken the commandments of the great Jehovah, and are zealously teaching their hearers to do the same, declaring that the law of God is abolished, and consequently has no claims upon them. In accordance with this free state of things, sin does not appear so exceedingly sinful; for by the law is the knowledge of sin. We may expect to find men among those who thus teach, who will deceive, and lie, and give loose rein to lustful passions. But men and women who acknowledge the ten commandments binding, should carry out in their lives, the principles of all ten of the precepts given in awful grandeur from Sinai.

The Lord made this special covenant with ancient Israel: "Now, therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people; for all the earth is mine. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation." Ex.19:5,6. He addresses his commandment-keeping people in these last days, "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth

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the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." "Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul." 1Pet.2:9,11.

But all who profess to keep the commandments of God are not possessing their bodies in sanctification and honor. They can have a powerful influence if they will be sanctified by the truths they profess. They profess to be standing upon the elevated platform of eternal truth, keeping all of God's commandments; therefore, if they indulge in sin, if they commit fornication and adultery, their crime is of tenfold greater magnitude than those I have referred to who do not acknowledge the law of God binding upon them. In a peculiar sense do those who profess to keep God's law dishonor him and reproach the truth by transgressing that law.

This very sin, fornication, prevailed among ancient Israel, which brought the signal manifestation of God's displeasure. The judgments of God followed close upon their heinous sin. Thousands of them fell, and their polluted bodies were left in the wilderness. "But with many of them God was not well pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be

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ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." 1Cor.10:5-12.

God's people, above all people in the world, should be patterns of piety, holy in heart and in conversation. The people whom God has chosen as his peculiar treasure, he requires to be elevated, refined, sanctified - partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. If such indulge in sin and iniquity who make so high a profession, their guilt is very great, because they have great light, and have by their profession taken their position as God's special, chosen people, having the law of God written in their hearts. They signify their loyalty to the God of Heaven by yielding obedience to the laws of his government. They are God's representatives upon the

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earth. Any sin or transgression in them separates them from God, and, in a special manner, dishonors his name by giving the enemies of God's holy law occasion to reproach his cause and his people, whom he has called "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people," that they should show forth the praises of Him that hath called them out of darkness into his marvelous light.

The people who are at war with the law of the great Jehovah, who consider it a special virtue to talk, and write, and act, the most bitter and hateful things, to show their contempt of that law, may make high and exalted profession of love to God, and apparently have much religious zeal, as did the Jewish chief priests and elders; yet in the day of God, "Found wanting" will be said to them by the Majesty of Heaven. By the law is the knowledge of sin. The mirror which discovers to them the defects in their character, they are infuriated against, because it points out their sins. Ministers who have rejected the light are fired with madness against God's holy law, as the Jewish priests were against the Son of God. They are in a terrible deception, deceiving souls, and being deceived themselves. They will not come to the light, lest their deeds should be reproved. Such will not be taught. But the

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people who profess to keep the law of God, he corrects, he reproves. He points out their sins, and lays open their iniquity; because he wishes to separate all sin and wickedness from them, that they may perfect holiness in his fear, and be prepared to die in the Lord, or to be translated to Heaven. God will rebuke, reprove, and correct them, that they may be refined, sanctified, elevated, and finally exalted to his throne.

The professed people of God are not all holy. Some are corrupt. God is seeking to elevate them; but these refuse to come up upon a high plane of action. The animal passions bear sway, and the moral and intellectual are overborne, and made servants to the animal. Those who do not control their passions cannot appreciate the atonement, or place a right value upon the worth of the soul. Salvation to them is not experienced nor understood. The gratification of their animal passions is to them the highest ambition of their lives. But nothing but purity and holiness will God accept. One spot, one wrinkle, one defect in the character, will debar them from Heaven, with all its glories and treasures, forever.

Ample provisions have been made for all who sincerely, earnestly, and thoughtfully, set about the work of perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Power and strength, grace

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and glory, have been provided through Christ, to be brought by ministering angels to the heirs of salvation. None are so low, and corrupt, and vile, but that they can find in Jesus, who died for them, strength, purity, and righteousness, if they will put away their sins, stop their course of iniquity, and turn with full purpose of heart to the living God. He is waiting to strip them of their garments, stained and polluted by sin, and to put upon them the pure robes of righteousness, and bid them live and not die. In him they may flourish. Their branches will not wither nor be fruitless. If they abide in him, they can draw sap and nourishment from him, be imbued with his Spirit, walk even as he walked, overcome as he overcame, and be exalted to his own right hand.

"Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it, in the lust thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." Rom.6:12,13. Professed Christians, if there is no further light given you than that contained in this text, you will be without excuse if you suffer yourselves to be controlled by base passions. The word of God is sufficient to enlighten the most be clouded

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mind. And it can be understood by those who have any wish to understand it. But notwithstanding all this, some of those who profess to make the word of God their study, are found living in direct opposition to its plainest teachings. But in order to leave men and women without excuse, God has given plain and pointed testimonies, bringing them to the word they have neglected to follow. Yet all the light is turned from by those who serve their own lusts, and they will not cease their course of sin, but continue to take pleasure in unrighteousness, in the face of the threatenings and vengeance of God against those who do such things.

FEMALE MODESTY

I have long been designing to speak to my sisters. They are not always careful to abstain from all appearance of evil. They are not all circumspect in their deportment, as becometh women professing godliness. Their words are not as select and well chosen as they should be for women who have received the grace of God. They are too familiar with their brethren. They linger around them, incline towards them, and seem to choose their society, and are highly gratified with their attention.

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There is much jesting and joking and laughing indulged in by women professing godliness. This is all unbecoming, and grieves the Spirit of God. These exhibitions manifest a lack of true Christian refinement. These things indulged in do not strengthen the soul in God, but bring great darkness, drive the pure, refined, heavenly angels away, and bring those who engage in these wrongs down to a low level.

The sisters should encourage true meekness. They should not be forward, talkative, and bold, but modest and slow to speak. They should be courteous. To be kind, tender, pitiful, forgiving, and humble, would be becoming and well pleasing to God. If they occupy this position, they will not be burdened with undue attention from gentlemen. It will be felt by all that there is a sacred circle of purity around these God-fearing women, which shields them from any unwarrantable liberties. There is too much careless, loose, coarse freedom of manner by some women professing godliness, which leads to greater wrongs. Those godly women who occupy their minds and hearts in meditating upon themes which strengthen purity of life, which elevate the soul to commune with God, will not be easily ledastray from the path of rectitude and virtue. They will be fortified against the sophistry of Satan, and prepared to withstand his seductive arts.

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The fashion of the world, the desire of the eye, and the lust of the flesh, or vain glory, are connected with the fall of the unfortunate. That which is pleasing to the natural heart and carnal mind is cherished. If the lust of the flesh was rooted out of their hearts, they would not be so weak. If our sisters would feel the necessity of purifying their thoughts, and never suffer themselves to be careless in their deportment, which leads to improper acts, they would not be in danger of staining their purity. They would feel such an abhorrence of impure acts and deeds that they would not be found among the number who fall through the temptations of Satan, no matter who the medium might be whom Satan should select.

A preacher may deal in sacred, holy things, and yet not be holy in heart. He may give himself to Satan to work wickedness, and to corrupt the soul and body of his flock. Yet if the minds of women and youth professing to love and fear God were fortified with the Spirit of God; if they had trained their minds to purity of thought, and educated themselves to avoid all appearance of evil, they would be safe from any improper advances, and be secure from the prevailing corruption around them. The apostle has written concerning himself. "But I keep under my body, and bring it in subjection; lest

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that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." 1Cor.9:27.

If a minister of the gospel has not control of his lower passions; if he fails to follow the example of the apostle, and so dishonors his profession and faith as to even name the indulgence of sin, the sisters who profess godliness should not for an instant flatter themselves that sin and crime lose their sinfulness in the least because their minister dares to engage in them. Because men who are in responsible places show themselves to be familiar with sin, it should not lessen the guilt and enormity of the sin in the minds of any. Sin should appear just as sinful, just as abhorrent, as the word of God represents it to be, and the one who indulges in sin should, in the minds of the pure and elevated, be abhorred and withdrawn from, as they would flee from a serpent whose sting was deadly.

If the sisters were elevated, and possessed purity of heart, any corrupt advances, even from their minister, would be repulsed with such positiveness that they would never be repealed. Minds must be terribly befogged that can listen to the voice of the seducer because he is a minister, and therefore break God's plain and positive commands, and flatter themselves that they commit no sin. Have we not the words of John: "He that saith,

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I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him"? What saith the law? "Thou shalt not commit adultery." The fact of a man's professing to keep God's holy law, and ministering in sacred things, should he take advantage of the confidence his position gives him to indulge his passions, should, of itself, be sufficient to lead any woman professing godliness, to see that, although his profession was as exalted as the heavens, any impure proposal coming from him was the work of Satan disguised as an angel of light. I cannot believe that the word of God is abiding in the hearts of those who are so readily controlled, and yield up their innocency and virtue upon the altar of lustful passion.

My sisters, you should avoid even the appearance of evil. In this fast age, which is reeking with corruption, you are not safe unless you stand guarded. Virtue and modesty are rare. I appeal to you as followers of Jesus Christ, making a high and exalted profession, to cherish this precious, priceless gem, modesty. This will guard virtue. If you have any hope of being finally exalted to join company with the pure, sinless angels, and live in an atmosphere where there is not the least taint of sin, cherish modesty and virtue. Nothing but purity, sacred purity, will abide the day of God, stand the grand

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review, and be received into a pure and holy Heaven.

The least insinuations, come from whatever source they may, inviting you to indulge in sin, or to allow the least unwarrantable liberty with your person, you should resent as the worst of insults to your dignified womanhood. The kiss upon your cheek, at an improper time and place, should lead you to repel the emissary of Satan with disgust. If it is from one in high places who is dealing in sacred things, the sin in such a one, is of tenfold greater magnitude, and should lead a God-fearing woman or youth to recoil with horror, not only from the sin he would have you commit, but from the hypocrisy and villainy of one whom the people respect and honor as God's servant. In his ministry he is handling sacred things, yet hiding his baseness of heart under a ministerial cloak. Be afraid of anything like this familiarity. You may be sure that the least approach to it is the evidence of a lascivious mind and a lustful eye. If the least encouragement is given in this direction; if any of the liberties mentioned are tolerated, no better evidence can you give that your mind is not pure and chaste as it should be, and that sin and crime have charms for you. You lower the standard of your dignified, virtuous womanhood, and give unmistakable evidence that a low, brutal passion

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has been suffered to remain in your heart.

As I have seen the dangers of, and the sins among, those who profess better things - a class who are not suspected of being in any danger from these polluting sins - I have been led to inquire, Who, O Lord, shall stand when thou appearest? Only those who have clean hands and pure hearts shall abide the day of his coming.

I feel impelled by the Spirit of the Lord to urge my sisters who profess godliness to cherish modesty of deportment and a becoming reserve, with shame facedness and sobriety. The liberties taken in this age of corruption should be no criterion for Christ's followers. These fashionable exhibitions of familiarity should not exist among Christians fitting for immortality. If lasciviousness, pollution, adultery, crime, and murder, are the order of the day among those who know not the truth, and who refuse to be controlled by the principles of God's word, how important that those who profess to be followers of Christ and closely allied to God and angels, should show them a better and nobler way. How important that their chastity and virtue stand in marked contrast with that of the class who are controlled by brute passions.

I have inquired, When will the youthful sisters act with propriety? But I know there will not be any decided change for the

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better until parents feel the importance of greater carefulness in educating their children correctly. They should teach them to act with reserve and modesty. They should educate them for usefulness, to be helps, to minister to others, rather than to be waited upon and ministered unto. Satan has the control of the minds of the youth generally. Fond parents, your daughters are not always taught self-denial and self-control. They are petted, and their pride is fostered. They are allowed to have their own way until they become headstrong and self-willed, and you are put to your wits' end to know what course to pursue, to save them from ruin. Satan is leading them on to be a proverb in the mouths of unbelievers, because of their boldness, their lack of reserve and want of female modesty.

The young boys are likewise left to have their own way. They have scarcely entered their teens before they are by the side of little girls about their own age, accompanying them home, and making love to them. And the parents are so completely in bondage through their own indulgence, and their mistaken love for their children, that they dare not pursue a decided course to make a change, and restrain their too fast children.

With many young ladies, the boys is the theme of conversation, and with the young men, it is the girls. Out of the abundance

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of the heart the mouth speaketh. They talk of those subjects upon which their minds mostly run. The recording angel is writing the words of these professed Christian boys and girls. How will they be confused and ashamed when they meet them again in the day of God. There are too many children who are a sort of pious hypocrites. The youth who have not made a profession of religion stumble over these hypocritical ones, and are hardened against any effort that may be made by those interested in their salvation. Oh! that we could rouse fathers and mothers to have a sense of their duty. Oh! that they would feel deeply the weight of responsibility resting upon them. Then they might forestall the enemy, and gain precious victories for Jesus. Parents are not clear in this matter. They should investigate their lives closely, analyze their thoughts and motives, and see if they have been circumspect in their course of action. They should closely watch, to see if their example in conversation and deportment has been such as they would wish their children to imitate. Have purity and virtue shine out in your words and acts before your children.

There are families where the husband and father has not preserved that reserve, that dignified, godlike manhood, which a follower of Jesus Christ should. He has failed to

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manifest kind, tender, courteous acts due to his wife, whom he has promised before God and angels to love and respect and honor while they both shall live. The girl employed to do the work may be free and somewhat forward in her attentions to dress his hair and be affectionately attentive, and he is pleased, foolishly pleased. And he is not as demonstrative in his attention and love as he once was to his wife. Be sure Satan is at work here. Respect your hired help, treat them kindly, considerately, but go no farther. Let your deportment be such that there will be no advances to familiarity from your help. If you have words of kindness and acts of courtesy to give, it is always safe to give them to your wife. It will be a great blessing to her, and will bring happiness to her heart which will be reflected back upon you again. Also, the wife may let her sympathies and interest and affection go out to another man beside her husband. He may be a member of the family, whom she makes a confidant, and to whom she relates her troubles, and, perhaps, her private family matters. She shows a preference for his society.

Satan is at the bottom of this; and unless she can be alarmed, and stopped just where she is, he will lead her to ruin. My sisters, you cannot observe too great caution in this matter.

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If you have tender, loving words and kindly attentions to bestow, let them be given him you have promised before God and angels to love, honor and respect, while you both shall live. Oh! how many lives are made bitter by the walls being broken down which inclose the privacies of every family, calculated to preserve purity and sanctity. A third person is taken into the confidence of the wife, and her private family matters are laid open before the special friend. This is the device of Satan to estrange the hearts of the husband and wife. Oh! that this would cease. What a world of trouble would be saved! Lock the faults of one another within your own hearts. Tell your troubles alone to God. He can give you right counsel and sure consolation, which will be pure, having no bitterness in it. E.G.W.

SENTIMENTALISM

I am acquainted with a number of cases where the women have thought their marriage a misfortune. They have read novels until their imaginations have become diseased, and they live in a world of their own creating. They think themselves women of sensitive minds, of superior, refined organizations.

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They think themselves great sufferers, martyrs, because they imagine their husbands are not so refined, not possessing such superior qualities that they can appreciate their own supposed virtue and refined organizations. These women have talked of this, and thought of it, until they are nearly maniacs upon this subject. They imagine their worth is superior to that of other mortals, and it is not agreeable to their fine sensibilities to associate with common humanity.

The women of this class have had their imaginations perverted by novel-reading, day-dreaming, and castle-building; by living in an imaginary world. They do not bring their ideas down to the common, useful duties of life. They do not take up the life-burdens which lie in their path, and seek to make happy, cheerful homes for their husbands. They lean upon them without so much as bearing their own burden. They expect others to anticipate their wants, and do for them, while they are at liberty to find fault and to question as they please. These women have a sort of love-sick sentimentalism, constantly thinking they are not appreciated; that their husbands do not give them all that attention they deserve. They imagine themselves martyrs.

The truth of the matter is this: if they

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would show themselves useful, their value might be appreciated; but when they pursue a course to constantly draw upon others for sympathy and attention, while they feel under no obligation to give the same in return, and pass along, reserved, cold, and unapproachable, bearing no burden for others, or feeling for their woes, there can be but little in their lives precious and valuable. These women have educated themselves to think that it has been a great condescension in them to marry the men they have; and therefore that their fine organizations will never be fully appreciated; and they act accordingly.

They view things altogether in a wrong light. They are unworthy of their husbands. They are a constant tax upon their care and patience, when, at the same time, they might be helps, lifting at the burdens of life with their husbands, instead of dreaming over unreal life found in novels and love romances. May the Lord pity the men who are bound to such useless machines, fit only to be waited upon, to eat, dress, and breathe.

These women who suppose they possess such sensitive, refined organizations make very useless wives and mothers. It is frequently the case that the affections are withdrawn from their husbands, who are useful, practical men; and they show much attention

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to other men, and with their love-sick sentimentalism draw upon the sympathies of others, tell them their trials, their troubles, their aspirations to do some high and elevated work, and reveal the fact that their married life is a disappointment, a hinderance to their doing the work they have anticipated they might do.

Oh! what wretchedness exists in families that might be happy. These women are a curse to themselves, and a curse to their husbands. In supposing themselves to be angels, they make themselves fools, and are nothing but heavy burdens. They leave right in their path, the common duties of life, which the Lord has left for them to do, and are restless and complaining, always looking for an easy, more exalted, and more agreeable work to do. Supposing themselves to be angels, they are found human after all. They are fretful, peevish, dissatisfied, jealous of their husbands because the larger portion of their time is not spent in waiting upon them. They complain of being neglected when their husbands are doing the very work they ought to do. Satan finds easy access to this class. They have no real love for any one but themselves. Yet Satan tells them that if such an one were their husband, they would be happy indeed. They are easy victims to the device of Satan, easy to be led to dishonor their

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own husbands, and to transgress the law of God.

I would say to women of this description, You can make your own happiness, or you can destroy it. You can make your position happy, or unbearable. The course you pursue will create happiness or misery for yourself. Have these never thought that their husbands must tire of them in their uselessness, in their peevishness, in their fault-finding, in their passionate fits of weeping, while imagining their case so pitiful? Their irritable, peevish disposition is indeed weaning the affections of their husbands from them, and driving them to seek for sympathy, and peace, and comfort, elsewhere than at home. A poisonous atmosphere is in their dwelling. And home is anything but a place of rest, or peace and happiness to them. The husband is subject to Satan's temptation, and his affections are placed on forbidden objects, and he is lured on to crime, and finally lost.

Great is the work and mission of women especially of those who are wives and mothers. They can be a blessing to all around them. They can have a powerful influence for good. Woman may have a transforming influence if she will only consent to yield her way and her will to God, and let him control her mind, affections, and being. She can have an influence which will tend to refine and elevate

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those with whom she associates. But she is generally unconscious of the power she possesses. She exerts an unconscious influence. It seems to work out naturally from a sanctified life, a renewed heart. It is the fruit that grows naturally upon the good tree of divine planting. Self is forgotten and immerged in the life of Christ. To be rich in good works comes as naturally as her breath. She lives to do others good, and yet is ready to say, I am an unprofitable servant.

God has assigned woman her mission, and if she, in her humble way, to the best of her ability, makes a heaven of her home, faithfully and lovingly performing her home-duties to her husband and children, continually seeking to let a holy light shine from her useful, pure, and virtuous life, to brighten all around her, she is doing the work left her of the Master, and will hear from his divine lips, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." These women who are doing what their hands find to do with ready willingness, and with cheerfulness of spirit, aiding their husbands to bear their burdens, and training their children for God, are missionaries in the highest sense. They are engaged in an important branch of the great work to be done on earth to prepare mortals for a higher life. They will receive their reward. Children

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are to be trained for Heaven, and fitted to shine in the courts of the Lord's kingdom. When parents, especially mothers, have a true sense of the responsible work God has left for them to do, they will not be so much engaged in the business which concerns their neighbors, with which they have nothing to do. They will not engage in the fashionable gossip from house to house, dwelling upon the faults and inconsistencies of their neighbors. They will feel so great a burden of care for their own children that they can find no time to take up a reproach against their neighbor. Gossipers and news-carriers are a terrible curse to neighborhoods and churches. Two-thirds of all the church trials arise from this source.

God requires all to do the duties of to-day with faithfulness. This is much neglected by the larger share of professed Christians. Especially is present duty lost sight of by the class I have mentioned, who imagine that they are of a higher order of beings than their fellow-mortals around them. The fact of their minds' turning in this channel, is proof that they are of an inferior order, narrow, conceited, and selfish. They feel high above the lowly and humble poor. Such, Jesus says he has called. They are forever trying to secure position, to gain applause, to obtain credit for doing a work that others cannot

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do, some great work. But it disturbs the fine grain of their refined organism to associate with the humble and unfortunate. They mistake the reason altogether. The reason they shun any of these duties not so agreeable, is because of their supreme selfishness. Dear self is the center of all their actions and motives.

The Majesty of Heaven, whom angels worshiped, who was rich in honor, splendor, and glory, came to the earth, and when he found himself in fashion as a man, he did not plead his refined nature as an excuse to hold himself aloof from the unfortunate. He was found in his work among the afflicted, the poor, distressed, and needy ones. Christ was the embodiment of refinement and purity. His was an exalted life and character, yet he was found in his labor, not among men of high-sounding titles, not among the most honorable of this world, but with the despised and needy. "I came," says the divine Teacher, "to save that which was lost." Yes, the Majesty of Heaven was ever found working to help those who most needed help. May the example of Christ put to shame the excuses of that class who are so attracted to their poor self that they consider it beneath their refined taste and their high calling to help the most helpless. Such have taken a position higher than their Lord, and in the

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end will be astonished to find themselves even lower than that class, to mingle with, and to work for whom, shocked their refined, sensitive natures. True, it may not always be agreeable or pleasant to unite with the Master and be co-workers with him in helping the very class who stand most in need of help. But this is the work Christ humbled himself to do. Is the servant greater than his Lord? He has given the example, and enjoins upon us to copy it. It may be disagreeable, yet duty demands that just such a work be performed.

I have felt deeply as I have seen the powerful influence animal passions have had in controlling men and women of no ordinary intelligence and ability. They are capable of engaging in a good work, of exerting a powerful influence, were they not enslaved by base passions. They have listened to the most solemn, impressive discourses upon the judgment, which seemed to bring them before the tribunal of God, causing them to fear and quake, yet an hour would hardly elapse before they have been engaged in their favorite, bewitching sin, polluting their own bodies. They were such slaves to this awful crime that they seemed devoid of power to control their passions. We have labored for some earnestly, we have wept and prayed over them, yet we have

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known that right amid all our earnest effort and distress, the force of sinful habit has obtained the mastery. These sins would be committed. The consciences of some of the guilty, through severe attacks of sickness, or by being powerfully convicted, have been aroused, and have so scourged them, that it has led to confession of these things, with deep humiliation. Others are alike guilty. They have practiced this sin nearly their whole lifetime, and with their broken-down constitutions, and, with their sieve-like memories, are reaping the result of this pernicious habit, yet are too proud to confess. They are secretive, and have not shown compunctions of conscience for this great sin and wickedness. They seem to be insensible to the influence of the Spirit of God. The sacred and common are alike to them. The common practice of a vice so degrading as polluting their own bodies has not led to bitter tears and heartfelt repentance. They feel that their sin is against themselves alone. Here they mistake. Are they diseased in body or mind, others are made to feel. Others suffer. Mistakes are made. The memory is deficient. The imagination is at fault. And there is a deficiency everywhere which seriously affects those with whom they live, and who associate with them. These feel mortification and regret because these things are known by another.

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I have mentioned these cases to illustrate the power of this soul-and-body-destroying vice. The entire mind is given up to low passion. The moral and intellectual are overborne by the baser powers. The body is enervated, the brain is weakened. The material there deposited to nourish the system is squandered. The drain upon the system is great. The fine nerves of the brain, by being excited to unnatural action, become benumbed and in a measure paralyzed. The moral and intellectual are growing weaker while the animal passions are growing stronger, and being more largely developed by exercise. The appetite for unhealthful food clamors for indulgence. It is impossible to fully arouse the moral sensibilities of those persons who are addicted to the habit of self-abuse, to appreciate eternal things. You cannot lead such to delight in spiritual exercises. Impure thoughts seize and control the imagination, fascinate the mind, and next follows an almost uncontrollable desire for impure acts. If the mind were educated to contemplate elevating subjects, the imagination trained to reflect upon pure and holy things, it would be fortified against this terrible, debasing, soul-and-body-destroying indulgence. It would become accustomed to linger with delight upon the high, the heavenly, the pure, and the sacred, and could not be attracted to this base, corrupt, and vile indulgence.

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What can we say of those who are living right in the blazing light of truth, yet daily practicing and following in a course of sin and crime. Forbidden, exciting pleasures have a charm for them, and hold and control their entire being. Such take pleasure in unrighteousness and iniquity, and must perish outside of the city of God, with every abominable thing.

I have sought to arouse parents to their duty, yet they sleep on. Your children practice secret vice, and they deceive you. You have such implicit confidence in them, that you think them too good and innocent to be capable of secretly practicing iniquity. Parents fondle and pet their children, and indulge them in pride, but do not restrain them with firmness and decision. They are so much afraid of their willful, stubborn spirits, that they fear to come in contact with them; but the sin of negligence, which was marked against Eli, will be their sin. The exhortation of Peter is of the highest value to all who are striving for immortality. Those of like precious faith are addressed:

"Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus

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our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 2Pet.1:1-11.

We are in a world where light and knowledge abound; yet many, claiming to be of like precious faith, are willingly ignorant. Light is all around them; yet they do not

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appropriate it to themselves. Parents do not see the necessity of informing themselves, of obtaining knowledge, and putting that knowledge to a practical use in their married life. If they followed out the exhortation of the apostle, and lived upon the plan of addition, they would not be unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Many do not understand the work of sanctification. It is a progressive work. It is not attained to in an hour or a day, and then maintained without any special effort on their part. Many seem to think they have attained to it when they have only learned the first lessons in addition.

Many parents do not obtain the knowledge that they should respecting the married life. They are not guarded lest Satan take advantage of them, and control their minds and their lives. They do not see that God requires them to control their married lives from any excesses. But very few feel it to be a religious duty to govern their passions. They have united themselves in marriage to the object of their choice, and therefore reason that marriage sanctifies the indulgence of the baser passions. Even men and women professing godliness give loose rein to their lustful passions, and have no thought that God holds them accountable for the expenditure of vital energy, which weakens their

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hold on life and enervates the entire system.

The marriage covenant covers sins of the darkest hue. Some men and women professing godliness debase their own bodies through the indulgence of the corrupt passions, which lowers them beneath the brute creation. They abuse the powers of God has given them to be preserved in sanctification and honor. Health and life are sacrificed upon the altar of base passion. The higher, nobler powers are brought into subjection to the animal propensities. Those who thus sin are not acquainted with the result of their course. Could all see the amount of suffering they bring upon themselves by their own wrong and sinful indulgence, they would be alarmed. Some, at least, would shun the course of sin which brings such dreaded wages. A miserable existence is entailed upon so large a class that death to them would be preferable to life; and many do die prematurely, their lives being sacrificed in the inglorious work of excessive indulgence of the animal passions. Because they are married, they think they commit no sin.

These men and women will one day learn what lust is, and behold the result of its gratification. Passion may be found of as base a quality in the marriage relation as outside of it. The apostle Paul exhorts husbands to love their wives "even as Christ also loved

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the church, and gave himself for it." "So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church." Eph.5:25,28,29. It is not pure love which actuates a man to make his wife an instrument to administer to his lust. It is the animal passions which clamor for indulgence. How few men show their love in the manner specified by the apostle: "Even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might [not pollute it, but] sanctify and cleanse it," "that it should be holy and without blemish." This is the quality of love in the married relation which God recognizes as holy. Love is a pure and holy principle. Lustful passion will not admit of restraint, and will not be dictated or controlled by reason. It is blind to consequences. It will not reason from cause to effect. Many women are suffering from great debility, and with settled disease, brought upon them because the laws of their being have not been regarded. Nature's laws have been trampled upon. The brain nerve-power is squandered by men and women because called into unnatural action to gratify base passions; and this hideous monster, base, low passion, assumes the delicate name of love.

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Many professed Christians are more animal than divine. They are, in fact, about all animal. A man of this type degrades the wife he has promised to nourish and cherish. She is made by him an instrument to minister to the gratification of his low, lustful propensities. Very many women submit to become slaves to lustful passion. They do not possess their bodies in sanctification and honor. The wife does not retain the dignity and self-respect she possessed previous to marriage. This holy institution should have preserved and increased her womanly respect and holy dignity. Her chaste, dignified, godlike womanhood, has been consumed upon the altar of base passion. It has been sacrificed to please her husband. She soon loses respect for her husband, who does not regard the laws to which the brute creation yields obedience. The married life become a galling yoke; for love dies out, and, frequently, distrust, jealousy, and hate, take its place.

No man can truly love his wife if she will patiently submit to become his slave, and minister to his degraded passions. She loses, in her passive submission, the value she once possessed in his eyes. He sees her dragged down from everything elevating, to a low level, and soon he suspects that she will, perhaps, as tamely submit to be degraded by another as by himself. He doubts her constancy

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and purity, tires of her, and seeks new objects which will arouse and intensify his hellish passions. The law of God is not regarded. These men are worse than brutes. They are demons in human form. They are unacquainted with the elevating, ennobling principles of true, of sanctified, love.

The wife becomes jealous of the husband. She suspects that he will just as readily pay his addresses to another as to her, if opportunity should offer. She sees that he is not controlled by conscience, nor the fear of God. All these sanctified barriers are broken down by lustful passions. All that is godlike in the husband is made the servant of low, brutish lust.

The world is filled with men and women of this order; and neat, tasty, yea, expensive houses contain a hell within. Imagine, if you can, what the offspring of such parents must be. Will not the children sink lower in the scale than their parents? Parents give the stamp of character to their children. Children that are born of these parents inherit qualities of mind from them which are of a low and base order. Satan nourishes anything tending to corruption. The matter now to be settled is, shall the wife feel bound to yield implicitly to the demands of her husband when she sees that nothing but base passions control him, and

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when her reason and knowledge are convinced that she does it to the injury of her body, which God has enjoined upon her to possess in sanctification and honor, and to preserve a living sacrifice to God?

It is not pure, holy love which leads the wife to gratify the animal propensities of her husband at the expense of health and life. If she possesses true love and wisdom, she will seek to divert the mind of her husband from the gratification of lustful passions, to high and spiritual themes, dwelling upon interesting spiritual subjects. It may be necessary to humbly and affectionately urge, even at the risk of his displeasure, that she cannot debase her body by yielding to sexual excess. She should, in a tender, kind manner, remind him that God has the first and highest claim upon her entire being, which claim she cannot disregard, for she will be held accountable in the great day of God. "What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? for ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." 1Cor.6:19,20. "Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men." 1Cor.7:23.

Woman can do much, if she will, through her judicious influence, by elevating her affections,

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and in sanctification and honor preserving her refined, womanly dignity. In thus doing, she can save her husband and herself, thus performing a double work, and fulfilling her high mission, sanctifying her husband by her influence. In this delicate, difficult matter to manage, much wisdom and patience are necessary, as well as moral courage and fortitude. Strength and grace can be found in prayer. Sincere love is to be the ruling principle of the heart. Love to God and love to your husband can be the only right ground of action.

Let the woman decide that it is the husband's prerogative to have full control of her body, and to mold her mind to suit his in every respect, and run in the same channel of his own, and she yields her individuality. Her identity is lost, submerged in that of her husband. She is a mere machine for him to move and control, a creature of his will and pleasure. He thinks for her, decides for her, and acts for her. She dishonors God in this passive position. She has a responsibility before God which it is her duty to preserve.

When the wife yields her body and mind to the control of her husband, being passive to his will in all things, sacrificing her conscience, her dignity, and even her identity, she loses the opportunity of exerting that

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mighty influence for good which she should possess to elevate her husband. She could soften his stern nature, and her sanctifying influence could be exerted in a manner to refine, purify, and lead him to strive earnestly to govern his passions, and be more spiritually minded, that they might be partakers together of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. The power of influence can be great to lead the mind to high and noble themes, above the low, sensual indulgences which the heart unrenewed by grace naturally seeks. If the wife feels that she must, in order to please her husband, come down to his standard, when animal passion is the principal basis of his love, controlling his actions, she displeases God; for she fails to exert a sanctifying influence upon her husband. If she feels that she must submit to the animal passions of her husband without a word of remonstrance, she does not understand her duty to him, nor to her God. Sexual excess will effectually destroy a love for devotional exercises, will take from the brain the substance needed to nourish the system, and will most effectually exhaust the vitality. No woman should aid her husband in this work of self-destruction. She will not do it if she is enlightened, and truly loves her husband.

The more the animal passions are indulged

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and exercised, the stronger do they become, and the more violent will be their clamors for indulgence. Let God-fearing men and women awake to their duty. Many professing Christianity are suffering with paralysis of nerve and brain because of their intemperance in this direction. Rottenness is in the bones and marrow of many who are regarded as good men, who pray and weep, and who stand in high places, but whose polluted carcasses will never pass the portals of the heavenly city. Oh! that I could make all understand their obligations to God to preserve the mental and physical organism in the best condition to render perfect service to God.

Let the Christian wife refrain, both in word and act, from exciting the animal passions of her husband. Many have no strength at all to waste in this direction. They have already, from their youth up, weakened their brains, and sapped their constitutions, by the gratification of their animal passions. Self-denial and temperance should be the watchword in married life; then, when children are born to parents, they will not be so liable to have the moral and intellectual organs weak, and the animal strong. Vice in children is almost universal. Is there not a cause? Who have given them the stamp of character?

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The mind of man or woman does not come down in a moment from purity and holiness, to depravity, corruption, and crime. It takes time to transform the human to the divine, or to degrade those formed in the image of God, to brutes, or to the satanic. By beholding, we become changed. Man, formed in the image of his Maker, can so educate his mind that sin which he once loathed, will become pleasant to him. As he ceases to watch and pray, he ceases to guard the citadel, the heart, and engages in sin and crime. The mind is debased, and it is impossible to elevate it from corruption while it is being educated to enslave the moral and intellectual powers, and bring them in subjection to the grosser passions. It is constant war against the carnal mind, aided by the refining influence of the grace of God, which will attract it upward, and habituate it to meditate upon pure and holy things.

Many children are born with the animal passions largely in the ascendency, while the moral and intellectual are but feebly developed. These children need the most careful culture to bring out, strengthen and develop the moral and intellectual, and have these take the lead. Children are not trained for God. Their moral and religious education is neglected. The animal passions are being constantly strengthened, while the moral faculties are becoming enfeebled.

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Some children begin to excite their animal passions in their infancy; and, as they increase in years, the lustful passions grow with their growth, and strengthen with their strength. Their minds are not at rest. Girls desire the society of boys; and boys, that of girls. Their deportment is not reserved and modest. They are bold and forward, taking indecent liberties. Their corrupt habits of self-abuse have debased their minds, and tainted their souls. Vile thoughts, novel-reading, low books, and love-stories, excite the imagination, and just suit their depraved minds. They do not love work. They complain of fatigue when engaged in labor. Their backs ache. Their heads ache. Is there not sufficient cause? Are they fatigued because of their labor? No. Yet their parents indulge them in their complaints, and release them from labor and responsibility. This is the very worst thing they can do for them. They are removing almost the only barrier to Satan's having free access to their weakened minds. Useful labor would be a safeguard in some measure from his decided control of them.

The corrupting doctrine which has prevailed, that, as viewed from a health standpoint, the sexes must mingle together, has done its mischievous work. When parents and guardians manifest one tithe of the

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shrewdness which Satan possesses, then can this associating of sexes be nearer harmless. As it is, Satan is most successful in his efforts to bewitch the minds of the youth; and the mingling of boys and girls only increases the evil twentyfold. Let boys and girls be kept employed in useful labor. If they are tired, they will have less inclination to corrupt their own bodies. E.G.W.

EVILS AND REMEDY

[Under this caption, O. S. FOWLER, in his work entitled, "Amativeness," has spoken to the point. May the reader feel the force of his timely admonitions. - ED.]

"A few palpable facts. A single physician in a factory village of some two or three thousand inhabitants only, had at one time over seventy venereal patients, besides many who were under the care of other doctors in the place! Look at the practice of those who advertise to cure this class of diseases. Catechise physicians on this point. Cast your eye over almost any newspaper, and then see how much of their relative space is occupied with advertisements of cures and practitioners of 'certain delicate diseases!' This diabolical business advertises double and

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quadruple above any other! This tells the doleful story. And the countless bills - half of all you see posted up in all our cities - echo its saddening notes! Madam Restell's riches and murders re-echo more plaintive still the groans and woes of unhallowed passion! A physician recently avowed his belief that if, by any secret means, however painful or dangerous, he could prevent progeny, he could make a princely fortune in a year. Thank God! no one has found out a specific preventive. Nor ever should; because this will throw open the floodgates of passion, and trample under the foot of unbridled lust nature's great ordinance, nature's great laws. Hear our news-boys either boast of their licentiousness, or else tantalize those whose native modesty is not yet wholly effaced, of their failure!

"What kinds of edibles command the highest price in the market? Those that stimulate this passion, and because they create impure desires. What mean those oyster stews, and crab parties, and terrapin soups, and squab suppers, wild fowls, cloves, and a host of other like things? Eaten, in many instances in high (?low) life, expressly to beget unhallowed desires! Oh! shame, where is thy blush! Do you want more proof? Behold the fertile South. But particulars are too revolting, both as regards the beastly

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indulgence of whites with blacks, and the number of rakes and harlots among the latter! Our world is literally FULL of sensuality!

"O, virtue! how few worship at thy holy shrine, or keep thy robe of spotless innocence unstained with carnality! To say what proportion keep their robes white, and know only their lawful companions, it is difficult to say, but not many stones would be cast if they alone cast them. Alas! how few observe the seventh commandment! And how almost universally is chastity sacrificed to lust, in one or other of its forms!

"But even this is not all; is not the most; is not the worst! One other form of this vice is doubtless little less appalling, and another is probably even more so! Reference is had, first, to excessive indulgence in wedlock, and next, to private sensuality. Few know that any excess of the former, however great, can possibly be sinful, and almost all suppose that marriage entitles to its right in any desired excess. But does marriage entitle the parties to kill each other or themselves? Little do we realize how many are dying continually around us from this sole cause. How and why this proves thus injurious, we shall see hereafter.

"Would that we could here end this painful chapter. Its worst, because most common, form still remains untold. We refer to SELF-ABUSE.

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You look surprised. "A false alarm," you exclaim. "Impossible!" But put it to any numerical test you please. Catechise promiscuously every boy you meet, and then say if nine in every ten, from eleven years old and upwards, and half, from seven to eleven, do not practice more or less? Many who deny in words, own up in deed by the shame manifested - a sure sign of guilt. Of those still older, the proportion is greater yet. Question the keepers of our hospitals for bad boys and poor children. A friend took a boy about ten years old from an asylum for poor and orphan children, and finding that he took every opportunity, when alone, to perpetrate this filthy practice, chastised him often and severely, but to no purpose, and finally kept his hands tied behind him as the only preventive, but at length disposed of him as incorrigible. The boy has since died. I have known boys not yet four years old, both practice it, and also indulge with the opposite sex; and known hundreds ruined by it before they entered their teens! Nor are any children safe from this loathsome habit. Especially are our schools the nurseries of this vice, where it is often practiced in companies. 'I speak what I do know, and testify what I have seen.' Nor are any of even our own dear children, though watched however closely, safe from this corrupting and deadly snare!

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"Nor am I alone in this view of its extensive practice among children. Dr. Woodward, higher authority than whom I could hardly quote, writes thus, touching this matter: 'Those who hold these opinions,' namely, that information on this subject is either unnecessary or injurious, and 'are hardly aware how extensively known this habit is with the young, or how early in life it is sometimes practiced. I have never conversed with a lad twelve years of age who did not know all about the practice, and understand the language used to describe it.' Remember, he who expresses himself thus strongly, is a cautious, discreet man, and always says much less than he means. So alarming does he regard this evil, that he has devoted a work to its exposition, entitled 'Hints to the Young.' Wm. C. Woodbridge, so long and so ably devoted to the cause of education, and whose means of knowing was extensive, thus writes in that able work, 'The Annals of Education:' 'A topic in Physiology which "artificial modesty" has covered up until a solitary but fatal vice is spreading desolation throughout our schools and families, unnoticed and unknown.' 'Thousands,' says E. M. R. Wells, a distinguished teacher in Boston, 'of pure minded and amiable boys and young men, are undermining their physical constitutions, and prospectively corrupting their souls, by a

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pleasurable, and, to many of them, an innocent, gratification.'

" 'What,' says a fond parent, 'our high schools and colleges contaminated with this vice? Even so. They are the most infected; first, because their boys are highly organized, and such experience proportionally greater pleasure and injury; and secondly, this vice pre-eminently is catching, especially as they commingle thus freely with each other. ²1 An English medical author remarks: 'Some children escape this knowledge till puberty; the majority, it is to be feared, however, commence earlier. . . . Schools generally have the credit of germinating this enervating fascination; but it is also acquired from the tuition of associates at home - from servants, relations, and others with whom they sleep.' 'Concealment,' says A. Walker, 'is quite impracticable.'

"Ruinous and prevalent as this practice is among boys, it does not end with childhood; but extends its sway, and deepens its power, as adolescence increases. One would think this is merely boyish, foolish practice, which age would correct; but years only serve to

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increase it. I do not delight to scandalize my fellow-men; I would not trespass upon the reader's credulity, but I solemnly declare, as my deliberate conviction, that few of my own sex wholly escape this snare; while thousands on thousands die annually from this one cause! My sources of information are not few, nor limited, nor recent. This work I have contemplated for ten years, and of course directed my observations and inquiries accordingly. I have been consulted in cases, almost without number, by those on the brink of ruin, who sought relief from its consequences. I know its subjects by its infallible signs, and, go where I will, in the busy street, in the lecture room, in the family, they throng me like leaves in autumn. One who knows, and is connected with West Point Academy, said he believed it to be practiced very generally at that institution; and that the debility occasioned thereby was the reason why so many of its students were unable to pass examination. In 1841, on application from the author of 'Facts and Important Information for Young Men,' in a communication to him on this subject, I expressed my views as follows:

" 'PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 8, 1841.

" 'Mr. G. - ., Dear Sir: Your letter and book are received. I am right glad you have taken hold of this subject. Much as reform

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is needed in other matters, no reform - no, not even that in reference to alcoholic drinks - is demanded half as much as in reference to this solitary vice. To this conclusion my practice, which, you know, has not been limited, and my means of information, which have been varied and extensive, have led me reluctantly, but inevitably. And, what is most deplorable, unlike other forms of vice which prey upon the coarse and the vulgar, this is even more likely to attack those of fine feelings and ardent temperaments, and otherwise unblemished morals. They are not aware that this is one of the greatest sins that they can commit.

" 'I have of late seen this evil to be so alarming, and its ravages on the intellect, and morals, and health, so fearful, that I have contemplated preparing a work on the phrenological organ of Amativeness, to consist mainly of the physiological, intellectual, and moral effects of this vice; but I rejoice that you are before me in this matter.

" 'I could give you a vast number of facts that have come to my knowledge. A few days ago, a young man who had been a gentleman, called upon me, in a state of mind and body truly wretched - the mere wreck of a man. His head was affected and painful, the back part of it in particular; and his mind was literally distracted with these horrors

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which this indulgence always induces. His mind was flighty, his appetite destroyed, and the tones of his voice the very personification of grief. Both his head and his conversation gave evidence of superior talents in ruins. Fifty times, in the course of an hour, did he exclaim, "O my God, what shall I do! I am mad, I know it. What can I do?"

" 'In laying open his case, in order that I might give him advice, he mentioned his having been much addicted to this habit, and would often bring his hand to these parts, an invariable sign of their being in a fevered state, either by secret indulgence, or indulgence with the other sex. His anxiety was, to escape the mad-house, and regain self-control; because on this he had always prided himself. On inquiring of him as to the prevalence of this evil, he said that nine-tenths of his acquaintances were given to it.

" 'On inquiring of one of the physicians in Blockley Alms House, Philadelphia, as to the number of its inmates who were brought into the insane department by its instrumentality, he started at once upon his feet, and spoke with great energy and emphasis of its influence in inducing derangement, and narrated several very interesting cases. In my visit to that institution a few days ago, I saw several insane patients who were brought there

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by this vice, and whose hands were tied, to prevent self-pollution.

" 'If it is facts that you want, I assure you they exist in abundance in every degree of aggravation. Let the young be warned, for most of its victims become so ignorantly. Let us have light, especially in our institutions of learning; because there, the absence of exercise, the seclusion from female society, and the character of their studies, especially those that cultivate (vitiate) the imagination, all tend to induce and increase the evil.' "

"Nor am I alone. All who say anything, corroborate this sad testimony. Dr. Alcott, whose authority will deservedly be regarded as weighty, writes concerning it thus:

" 'We believe that a majority of our diseases and infirmities - our aches, our pains, and our deformities, too - after the age of puberty, are either induced or aggravated in this way. Believe it, did we say? Would to Heaven this expression were as strong as the nature of the case and the character of the facts warrant. We know it is so, as well as we know anything of mathematical demonstration, or the actual testimony of our senses.'

"Dr. Snow, of Boston, confirms this painful testimony, as follows:

" 'Self-pollution is undoubtedly one of the most common causes of ill health that can be

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found among the young men of this country. From the observations that I have been able to make, I am satisfied that the practice is almost universal. Boys commence at an early age; and the habit once formed, like that of intemperance, becomes almost unconquerable. In boarding schools and colleges, it obtains oftentimes without an exception. Hence the many sickly students, and the many young men of the most brilliant and promising talents, who have broken their constitution and ruined their health, as it is said, "by hard study!" '

"Nor, in my humble judgment, do any of these statements overrate the evil; but far underrate it, as regards its prevalence in this country. English authors speak almost as freely regarding its prevalence there. If it is less extensively practiced in France, it is probably because licentiousness proper takes its place.

" 'But our females, at least, are safe,' exclaims the fond mother. 'My daughter's native modesty is her shield of protection.' Would to God this were so! but facts wrest even this consolation from us. They may be less infected, yet woman, young and modest, is dying by thousand, of consumption, of female complaints, of nervous or spinal affections, of general debility, and of other ostensible complaints innumerable, and some

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of insanity, caused solely by this practice. On this point, Dr. Woodward again thus speaks out:

" 'About two years ago, a young woman, aged twenty-two years, came under my care, in a state of the worst form of insanity. She was furious, noisy, filthy, and, apparently, nearly reduced to idiocy. She had been in this condition many months, and continued so for some time while with me. She was pale and bloodless, had but little appetite, frequently rejected her food, and was reduced in flesh and strength. Finding her one day more calm than usual, I hinted to her the subject of masturbation, and informed her that, if she practiced it, she could not get well - if she abandoned it, she might. She did not deny the charge, and promised to follow my advice strictly. In two or three weeks from that time, she was preceptibly better; her mind improved as her health gained; and both were much better in the course of a few weeks. The recovery was very rapid in this case. At the end of six months she had excellent health, was quite fleshy, and became perfectly sane; and has continued so, so far as we have known, to this time.

" 'Not long since, a case of periodical insanity came under my observation, the subject of which was a young lady. The disease

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had existed ten years without any material change. Suspecting that masturbation was the cause, I directed her mother to ascertain, if possible, and inform me. Some months after, I received intelligence that my patient was better, and that my suspicions of her habit were confirmed by the observation of her friends. The case is not without hope, although of so long standing, if the cause be removed.

" 'Three or four similar cases have been under my care recently, in which individuals of the same sex have been reduced to the same degraded state. They are now, and will continue to be while life remains, a melancholy spectacle of human misery, without mind, without delicacy or modesty, constantly harassed by the most ungovernable passion, and under the influence of propensities excited to morbid activity by a vice far more prevalent than has been supposed. A large proportion of the "bed-ridden" cases, of which there are so many in the community, will be found to have originated in this cause."'

"Mrs. Gove, in her Lectures to Ladies on Anatomy and Physiology - subjects which every woman should understand - thus discourses concerning its prevalence among her sex.

" 'About eight years since, my mind was

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awakened to examine this subject by the perusal of a medical work that described the effects of this vice when practiced by females. This was the first intimation I had that the vice existed among our sex. Since that time I have had much evidence that it is fearfully common among them.

" 'There is reason to believe that, in nine cases out of ten, those unhappy females who are tenants of houses of ill-fame, have been victims of this vice in the first place. Were this the peculiar vice of the low and vulgar, there might be more excuse for the apathy and false delicacy that pervaded the community respecting it. But it invades all ranks. Professed Christians are among its victims.

" 'Our boarding and day schools are sources of untold mischief. A short time since, two sisters, ladies of the first respectability, informed me that, when very young, they were put to a female boarding-school, where this vice prevailed, and the practice was explained to them. They were blessed with parents who were willing to converse with and warn their children, and they escaped the contamination.'

"One of her correspondents writes that she 'became addicted to solitary vice about the age of nine years.' 'Facts and Important Information to Young Woman,' etc., a work which we recommend cordially, details many

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instances illustrative of the prevalence of this vice.

"My own practice and observation, as to its prevalence, confirm and considerably exceed these statements. I have one infallible test, which I often apply without the knowledge of its subjects, and thereby detect many who little suspect me of knowing their secret practices. Called to prescribe for as young woman, and knowing from this sign what caused her complaint, I sought an interview with her mother, to whom I disclosed my suspicions. She said she thought her daughter innocent, but knew she had slept much with an elder girl who was addicted to it. I asked her what she knew concerning its prevalence. She said a girl in her neighborhood had just died from its effects, and that the female operatives in a neighboring factory practiced it almost universally; as she learned from one of them. She named other factories in which it was hardly less prevalent. I know little girls below their teens, who thus abuse themselves, and, from my application of the test named above, am constrained to believe the practice alarmingly extensive among the fairest portion of creation! I sicken at the thought. Oh! woman, 'who hath thus bewitched you that ye should' thus depart from the paths of delicacy, and health, and happiness?

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"But I forbear, simply alleging that the plague is all around and all among us. None of our daughters or sons are safe, however carefully we may guard them, till we cast out 'this accursed' plague from among us. And being a common enemy, it can be extirpated only by community of effort. Single hands can do but little. Nothing but combined, concentrated, and long-continued exertion can avert the wide-spread and insidious contagion. Come, up and doing, every lover of his race, every lover of his own dear children. Even for their sakes, if on no other account, gird yourselves to this disagreeable but indispensable work of philanthropy and reform, till we drive this common enemy from our midst. O gracious God! save our youth, for they border on ruin. Must they indeed fall a prey to a vice so brutal? Must they decay and die in their youth, but not till all the horrors of even a youthful death give relief to their tortured bodies and souls? Save especially female purity, and maiden loveliness.

EFFECTS

"Happiness is the one constitutional product of every function of our being. Yet every function is capable of painful action. Nor are these two forms or products of the

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action of our respective functions, chance comers and goers, but all are governed by inflexible law. That function is necessarily pleasurable which harmonizes with the primitive constitution, and fulfills the legitimate designs, of the faculty exercised, and is called normal or natural. That action of any function is painful which violates or departs from its normal primitive institution or end, and is called abnormal, which means unnatural.

"Of course, these natural axioms apply with significant emphasis to the element before us. To fulfill the legitimate ends for which this was ordained, is to be happy in its exercise; not to fulfill it, and especially to depart from it, is to suffer in and by its exercise. Now excessive promiscuous, and matrimonial, and solitary, indulgence, violate this function and cause pain. We come now to consider the evils consequent on these its perversions."

"To enumerate the tithe of the evils consequent on excessive sexual indulgence, whether promiscuous, or matrimonial, or solitary, all one in substance, would fill a world with volumes, as it already has with woes, and keep it full. We shall develop, first, some of its destruction of health, and generation of physical evils and sufferings; next, its destruction of the moral tone or stamina, and its production of propensity and depravity

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in forms without number, and aggravation beyond description. To enumerate a few.

IT INJURES HEALTH

"To dwell here on the importance of health as a means of enjoyment, and its essentiality to every form and degree of happiness, would take us too far from our subject. Suffice it to say, that WHATEVER impairs the health, or engenders disease, is proportionally fatal to happiness, and prolific of suffering.

Now, that excessive sexual indulgence injures the health, and in a pre-eminent degree, appears from the following, among its other effects:

IT EXHAUSTS THE BODY

"Those at all acquainted, experimentally, with the nature of this function, need not be told that few things are equally exhausting. This function was instituted to transmit the entire mentality and physiology of parents to offspring; and since the latter take on the existing conditions of the former, and these only, it becomes absolutely necessary that this function should call forth, in a powerful degree of action, all the mental, all the physical, functions of parents, as the means of

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their transmission to offspring. Now this intense and simultaneous action of all the functions of our nature in this indulgence, of course proportionally exhausts. A hard day's work does not equally prostrate and fatigue.

IT ENFEEBLES THE MIND

"Frequent indulgence in any of its forms, will run down, and run out, any one, of either sex. Those who would write, or speak, or study, must forego this indulgence or intellectual exertion, or else die. Powerful constitutions will stand an immense drain before they finally break, but terrible indeed is the result.

"Mere animal temperaments are less injured, because, by supposition, their vitality is abundant, and its drain by other functions is slight; nor do they enjoy this function as do those more highly organized, and hence are proportionally less exhausted. Such live, to be sure; so do brutes. Carnal, groveling, sensual, low-lived animals, living mainly on a single pleasure, when their nature serves up so many! Let such revel in lust, because capable of little else. But those highly organized must partake rarely, else it will excite to distraction, and proportionally exhaust. Besides, they can expend their less-abundant,

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perhaps deficient, vitality to better advantage. Frequent indulgence must necessarily be lustful, and therefore debasing to their higher feelings. Those whose intellectuality and morality are feeble, may spend their surplus vitality on this passion with less injury, yet cannot cultivate their higher faculties while they thus revel in lust. Let such remain all animal and revel on. But for those who have already too little vitality to sustain their higher faculties - for such to rob all their nobler, godlike elements of vitality, just to expend it on a sensual, debasing passion, is physical, mental, and moral suicide. Red-faced, bloated, coarse-grained, gouty subjects - it matters little what becomes of them. About as well go to Texas and be shot as any way, or stay and kill themselves, because worth little anyhow. But for light-built, fine-skinned, fine-haired, spare-built, sharp-featured, light-eyed persons, of either sex, to indulge, even in wedlock, as often as the moon quarters is gradual but effectual destruction of both soul and body; because they already work off vitality faster than their feeble vital apparatus manufactures it. This excess of expenditure over supply occasions their sharpness. A surplus would render them fleshy. Now to add the most powerful drain of all to their already sparse supply, must sooner or later, according to

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their vigor of constitution, render them bankrupts of life.

"It will not kill you outright. It will first weaken the garrison of life, and thus open the door for disease to come in and attack the weakest part, and complete the work of death in the name of other diseases. As bees, by swarming too freely, leave portions of their hive unprotected, and thus allow the deposit of those destructive worms which a full supply of bees would have prevented, so this indulgence drains the system of vitality, and of course leaves the weaker organs especially debilitated, till disease, thus invited, sets in, destroys the feebler organs, and ends in death; attributed, however, to consumption, dyspepsia, gravel, nervous, heart, and other affections, according as this or that organ is naturally most feeble, but rarely to its true cause. Ask any medical man conversant with diseases having this origin, and he will tell you that no other cause of disease equals this, either as a number, or aggravation, or difficulty of cure. Hear Dr. Woodward on this point:

" 'That the evil is wide-spread and exceedingly injurious, cannot be denied or doubted. A great number of the ills which come upon the young, at and after the age of puberty, arise from this habit, persisted in, so as to waste the vital energies and enervate

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the physical and mental powers of man.

" 'Nature designs that this drain upon the system should be reserved to mature age, and even then that it be made but sparingly. Sturdy manhood, in all its vigor, loses its energy, and bends under the too frequent expenditure of this important secretion; and no age or condition will protect a man from the danger of unlimited indulgence, legally and naturally exercised.

" 'In the young, however, its influence is much more seriously felt; and even those who have indulged so cautiously as not to break down the health of the mind, cannot know how much their physical energy, mental vigor, and moral purity, have been affected by the indulgence.

" 'No cause is more influential in producing insanity. The records of the institutions give an appalling catalogue of cases attributed to it.'

"A doctor in Brooklyn thus writes to the author of 'Facts, etc., to Young Men':

" 'Brooklyn, Dec. 19, 1840.

" 'In my own practice, I think I have seen the following results of masturbation: involuntary emissions, prostration of strength, paralysis of the limbs, hysteria, epilepsy, strange nervous affections, dyspepsia, hypochondria, spinal disease, pain and weakness

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in the back and limbs, costiveness - and, in fine, the long and dismal array of gastric, enteric, nervous, and spinal, affections, that are so complicated and difficult to manage.'

"Dr. J. A. Brown, of Providence, writes to the same source as follows:

" 'That it is an evil of vast magnitude, no physician who has been in the habit of tracing effects to causes, can for a moment doubt. I, sir, could tell of hundreds who labor under incurable maladies, produced by this practice; and I do not believe that I have a better faculty for obtaining such information than many others who are, and will be, dumb on this subject.'

"Another physician writes that 'seven-eighths of all the bodily ills and diseases of the people are caused, or greatly aggravated, by self-abuse, or excessive legal indulgence.'

"Nor is this all, nor the worst. The loss of this secretion is the loss of vitality itself. As must readily be apparent, it embodies the very quintessence of parentage, in order thereby to impart this quintessence of parents to offspring. To dwell on this point, however important, is unnecessary because so evident. Now it is a well-known principle of physiology, that when any organ is especially overtaxed, it robs the other parts of the system of vitality to supply its own taxation. Thus, overloading the

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stomach causes mental lassitude and muscular debility, because the stomach withdraws energy from the brain, the muscles, and wherever it can find it, to enable it to discharge its burden.

"Now overtax this secretion, and it withdraws energy from all the other parts to re-supply the drafts. Doing this frequently, diverts the energies permanently from the other organs to this. As those who get into the habit of being bled frequently, soon get full of blood, because they overtax the blood-manufacturing energies by this drain, so that an undue amount of vitality goes to blood; so, the frequent withdrawal of this condensed vital secretion, causes a drain from all the other parts and organs to re-supply it, and thus, frequent indulgence causes the very life's blood to run out thereat. Well has WISDOM said, 'Give not thy STRENGTH unto women.' And he who does, must expect to be weak every where else.

IT INFLAMES THE WHOLE SYSTEM

"But, great as is the evil, especially to growing youth, consequent on this drain of vitality, that inflammation, always and necessarily consequent on excessive indulgence in all its forms, is much more prolific of both disease and suffering. Whoever indulges

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often, and weekly is often, in wedlock or out of it, will experience an unnatural heat, tension, tenderness, irritation, swelling, perhaps soreness, in these organs, of course resulting from their inflammation.

"The immediate cause of this inflammation is twofold. First, intense action, in its very nature, engenders inflammation, and what action more intense and inflammatory than this? Secondly, in order to insure intense action in this function, so as thereby highly to endow its product, a larger amount of nervous tissue is found ramified upon those parts of this apparatus more immediately brought into action, than upon almost any other portion of the body. This contrivance is indispensable to pleasure, and this, to the endowment of offspring. Nerve alone gives pleasure, but inflamed nerve gives pain, and pain proportionate to its quantity, and the degree of inflammation. Now, frequent action necessarily inflames, and this both weakens these organs, and engenders disease in them, and throughout the system. It fills the whole being, mental and physical, full of wild, excited, preternatural, irregular, abnormal, painful action. And inflammation thus caused, is harder to be reached, and more difficult to be subdued, than disease of any other portion of the body; because, while inflammation of the lungs, of the heart, of

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the stomach, of the bowels, muscles, head, etc., can easily be reached through the intestinal canal, or else by external application, diseases of these organs, especially in women, can be reached or cured only with great difficulty.

"We have seen that excess produces inflammation, particularly in these organs. Now, inflammation, in its very nature, proportionally weakens and destroys. This law of organization is too well known to require proof or illustration. Excessive indulgence, of whatever kind, necessarily inflames, and therefore weakens and diseases the sexual apparatus; and hence that falling of the womb, fluor albus, and other common female complaints, as well as prostration, or pendency, or irritation, or priapism, or gonorrhoea, etc., of males, which excessive indulgence always and necessarily creates. Nor, once effectually impaired, does this apparatus ever fully regain its former tone and power. As with a dislocated joint, or affection of the stomach, or lungs, slighter, and still slighter, occasions of disease renew the chronic complaint, so indulgence, otherwise not injurious, now renews the disease, and re-impairs the health, besides enfeebling both this function and its product.

"Allow here a single remark relative to the effect of indulgence, whether promiscuous,

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matrimonial, or solitary, upon offspring. It has been seen that power of sexual passion contributes to the endowment of offspring, and its feebleness leaves them proportionally the less endowed. Now nature has provided for the retention of this secretion till the action and pleasure of this function rise higher and higher, and become most exalted prior to its discharge, in order that this condensation of energy and function may be imparted to offspring.

"Now frequent indulgence allows it to escape prematurely, or before this action rises to its highest pitch, and thus prevents that pleasure of its subject so essential to the endowment of offspring. Indulgence even goes so far sometimes as to cause involuntary emissions, or at least on slight incentives, which of course weakens both the pleasure and the product of this function. Thus excessive indulgence cuts off the very pleasure sought, by diseasing its apparatus.

IT DETERIORATES THE SEXUAL CHARACTERISTICS

"We have seen that over-indulgence, in all its forms, plants disease in the sexual apparatus. Now if this disease ended here, it would do great injury; but it goes farther, and does more. It deteriorates the sexual

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characteristics. That is, it impairs the manliness of the male, and the femininity of the female. Now the entire manhood of the man, all his nobleness, dignified aspirations, efficiency, and manliness, are created by, and depend upon, this his mental and physical sexuality. So do all the beauty, grace, refinement, purity, elegance, fascination, and charms of woman. This is certain. Now in and by this injury of the sexual apparatus, over-indulgence proportionally impairs the manhood and power of the former, and the beauty, sweetness, and charms of the latter. This result is necessary and universal.

"Destroy the sexual apparatus of animals by emasculation, and witness the effects. Compare the stallion with the gelding. What becomes of the proud and lofty prance, the noble bearing, the perfect form, the physical stamina, the free, bold, neighing, resolute, powerful horse? His neighing subdued, except as partially renewed by the arrival of the sexual season. His arched and thickened neck unstrung. His lofty prance exchanged for the steady jog. His mien humbled. His freed spirit chained. His physical power greatly subdued. No longer the horse proper, but lowered, mutilated, and the mere shadow of that noble animal. Compare the bull with the stag. You find results every way similar; as also by comparing

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the ram with the wether. What but the perfection of his sexual nature gives the bull his force and power of endurance over the ox, even enabling him to endure what would kill to oxen? Why can the former be easily tamed and subdued, but the latter never? Why a small bull whip a large ox? Why can the stud perform twice the labor of the gelding? The perfection of the sexual apparatus alone makes the difference. This principle applies throughout the animal kingdom, and is equally true of man. I once knew a eunuch, rendered so by his own hands. His voice, effeminate and hackled. His tones, pining, and whining, and complaining. The base, strong voice of manhood merged into the most diminutive manner of speaking imaginable. His look, sorrowful and hapless. His motions, slow and feeble. His very existence, a burden. And all because his sexuality, mental, as well as physical, was gone. No more the man! A mere thing!

"Now, by a law of things, whatever impairs the physical sexuality; and as over-indulgence does this, therefore, whoever gives way to this passion proportionally impairs his manhood, and becomes the ox or gelding; or else effaces the charms of the feminine. The man lays down his nobleness, dignity, power, and

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manhood, and is no longer bold, resolute, determined aspiring, dignified; but becomes depreciated, irresolute, undetermined, tamed, and conscious of his degradation. No longer comprehensive in planning, efficient in executing, correct in judgment, full of thought, strong in intellect, courteous in manner, noble in mien, and gallant to woman; but he becomes disheartened, uncertain in his plans, and inefficient in their execution, and a drone to himself and society. So too the female, deceased here, loses proportionally the amiableness and gracefulness of her sex, her sweetness of voice, disposition, and manner, her native enthusiasm, her beauty of face and form, her gracefulness and eloquence of carriage, her looks of love and interest in man, and to him, and becomes merged into a mongrel, neither male nor female, but marred by the defects of both, without possessing the virtues of either. This principle furnishes a very excellent hint to those who would retain or restore their beauty, to preserve or restore this apparatus - a means of promoting beauty much more effectual than all the padding, bustles, and fashionable attire in the world.

IT DISEASES THE WHOLE SYSTEM

"If the diseases consequent on this inflammation

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were confined to that apparatus in which it originates it would do great damage, as just seen, but it does incalculably more now; because it plants disease in the very bowels of the frame. We have also learned how perfectly reciprocal the relation existing between this apparatus and the heart, lungs, liver, stomach, kidneys, secretions, excretions, and each and all the vital organs and functions, in order thereby to propagate them all. Hence, whatever diseases it, thereby diseases them also. Disease in no other organ is equally prolific of disease in all the others. This is the physical citadel of health or of suffering, by capturing which you take all the others; and they captured, life itself surrenders to death. Common parlance designates some clouds as 'weather-breeders.' This is a disease-breeder - a true Pandora's box, the opening of which engenders all sorts and degrees of pains and sufferings 'that flesh is heir to.' Dr. Woodward, than whose opinion none is more entitled to consideration, remarks concerning it as follows;

" 'Consumption, spinal distortions, weak and painful eyes, weak stomachs, nervous headaches, and a host of other diseases, mark its influences upon the one; loss of memory and the power of application, insanity, and idiotism, show its devastating effects upon the other.

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" 'In the spring of 1837, I was consulted by the father of a young woman who had, for four years, been in the worst possible condition of health. She had consulted many eminent physicians, who had prescribed remedies and regimen for her without benefit. On first seeing the patient, I was impressed that the cause of her illness had not been understood, which had rendered all remedies unavailing. Upon inquiring of the patient, I found that she had been the victim of self-pollution. I cautioned her to abandon the practice, prescribed some remedies, and saw her no more.

" 'More than a year from the time of seeing her, I heard directly from her parent, who sent me word that she had entirely recovered her health and energy of mind; and that my prescriptions had entirely cured her.'

IT IMPAIRS DIGESTION AND CIRCULATION

"It thus robs the system of its required nourishment. Vertigo and heaviness about the stomach, etc., necessarily follow this excess, because it robs the digestive apparatus of the energy required to carry forward this function. It produces a gnawing, fainting, distressed, sunken, gone sensation, along the whole elementary canal, as a frightful cause of dyspepsia, heartburn, etc., and thus robs the system of its very life and soul.

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"An isolated example: Many years ago, an intelligent, well-educated man was brought to the lunatic asylum in Hartford, the victim of self-abuse, and rendered nearly idiotic thereby, as well as raving perpetually for food, which he would consume voraciously most of the time, if allowed. His keepers, however, refused food unless he would stop the practice. The struggle was terrible. His rampant appetite, aided by hunger, finally compelled him to desist, and he recovered.

"Nor does the heart escape. Indeed, it suffers among the foremost; as those will recognize experimentally who are at all subject to weakness, or palpitation, or enlargement, or uneasiness, of this organ. Nor can those thus affected indulge much without essentially increasing their malady. The kidneys, in particular, are diseased thereby, and hence it causes the gravel.

IT DERANGES THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM

"But its ravages on the brain and nervous system embody its most terrible consequences. To behold one physical organ after another fall a victim to this devastating passion, as house after house is consumed by the devastating flames, is indeed terrible.

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"To lose limb after limb of the body, or large portions of the heart, or lungs, or sight, or hearing, etc., is irreparable, and inexpressible by words; but to lose one after another of the mental faculties is inexpressibly greater, because these constitute the man. As Watts replied impromptu to Mrs. Rowe, when she rallied him for his personal diminutiveness -

" 'Could I in stature reach the pole,

Or grasp creation in my span,

I'd still be measured by my soul;

The MIND's the stature of the man.'

"Whatever enfeebles or deranges the brain and nerves, thereby impairs the very personality and entity of the man himself. Now, we have already seen that this indulgence is most exciting, exhausting, and irritating, to the brain and nervous system; that excess produces inflammation and disease; and also that nervous and cerebral disease both produces depravity, and renders its victims most miserable, where there is no other cause or occasion. Behold in this 'wheel within a wheel' - in the fact that this indulgence inflames the whole body, and especially the brain and nervous system - the reason why this excess causes more insanity than anything else except intemperance, which it generally accompanies. Of the 128 males in the McLean

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Lunatic Asylum, in Charlestown, Mass., in 1838, twenty-four were brought there by a single form of this vice! The report of the Worcester Insane Hospital for 1836, rates intemperance as the most prolific cause of insanity, and this passion as the second, of which it then had twenty-six victims. In 1838, of its 199 male patients, 42, or almost one-fourth, were the victims of solitary indulgence. A superintendent of a French lunatic asylum, says it 'is more frequently than is imagined, the cause of insanity, particularly among the rich.' 'No cause,' says Dr. Woodward, 'is more influential in producing insanity. The records of the institutions give an appalling catalogue of cases attributed to it.'

"But, when it does not go so far as to induce complete idiocy or insanity, it so far vitiates the nervous system as to leave its subjects completely miserable - self-abuse particularly so. Facts, almost without number, completely demonstrate the physiological law that disordered nerves produce mental misery; and as this passion deranges the nervous system, we see why its subjects are nervous, fidgety, easily agitated, fearful, afflicted with terrible dreams, melancholic, depressed in spirits, and most wretched, as well as partly beside themselves. In describing its effects, Dr. Adam Clarke writes thus:

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" 'The sin of self-pollution is one of the most destructive evils ever practised by fallen man. In many respects it is several degrees worse than common whoredom, and has in its train more awful consequences. It excites the powers of nature to undue action, and produces violent secretions, which necessarily and speedily exhaust the vital principle and energy; hence the muscles become flaccid and feeble, the tone and natural action of the nerves relaxed and impeded, the understanding confused, the memory oblivious, the judgment perverted, the will indeterminate and wholly without energy to resist; the eyes appear languishing and without expression, and the countenance vacant; appetite ceases, for the stomach is incapable of performing its proper office; nutrition fails; tremors, fears, and terrors, are generated; and thus the wretched victim drags out a miserable existence, till, superannuated, even before he had time to arrive at man's estate, with a mind often debilitated even to a state of idiotism, his worthless body tumbles into the grave, and his probation expires by acts of his own commission.

" 'Reader, this is no caricature, nor are the colorings overcharged in this shocking picture. Worse woes than my pen can relate, I have witnessed in those addicted to this fascinating, unnatural, and most destructive

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of crimes. If thou hast entered into the snare, flee from the destruction, both of body and mind that awaits thee! God alone can save thee. Advice, warnings, threatenings, increasing debility of body, mental decay, checks of conscience, expostulations of judgment, and medical assistance, will all be lost on thee; God, and God alone, can save thee from an evil which has in its issue the destruction of thy body, and the final perdition of thy soul.'

" 'Facts,' etc., to 'Young Men,' narrates the history of a young man of high talents and standing, promoted to an important post of honor, which he once filled satisfactorily to his constituents, and who had amassed considerable wealth, and was engaged to be married, as follows:

" 'But his health began to fail. His constant complaint was - "my nerves are weak" - "my hands tremble" - "my wrists ache" - "my knees are weak" - "I have bad dreams," etc. He was advised to take outdoor exercise, ride horseback, and take strengthening remedies, with a nourishing diet. But all this did no good. The symptoms increased. He soon became dyspeptic and hypochondriac; and then followed, not only the aches and pains that were consequent upon such a state of the body, but all those ten thousand imaginary physical and

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mental diseases that flesh is heir to. Every remedy was used, but to no purpose. He gave up his business, broke off his engagement with his lady, sought every opportunity to hide himself from the gaze of his friends and the world, and seemed to be determined to die.

" 'Thus he remained a most wretched devotee to the suicidal practice of self-pollution. Professional advice, and that of his friends, who knew the cause of his sickness, had no effect upon him. Sometimes, indeed, he would desist for a few days, but it seemed to be only to gather new strength, that he might pursue his ruinous career with greater energy. About two years ago, he was attacked with palsy of the whole of one side, and which continues to this day. Nocturnal emissions, priapisms, gleet, or a watery discharge from the urethra, and aches and pains, with frightful visions, horrid dreams, and idiotic manners, all now present themselves as the sad result of this disgusting, criminal, and soul-destroying habit. He is now a mere pest to his friends; and though but comparatively few persons are aware of the cause of his wretchedness, it is nevertheless true, and can be attributed to none other than the indulgence in solitary vice.

" 'Other cases might be referred to, if I had time, of a less revolting nature; for when

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the indulgence is only occasional, of course the effects are not so alarming. But even then the effects are bad - for there cannot be a single indulgence in this way, without producing injury to a certain extent.'

"Of another, it narrates thus:

" 'A few years ago, I had under my care and instruction a most promising youth. His talents were of the highest order, and he bade fair to take a prominent stand among the first scholars of our country. He entered college, and was considered one of the first scholars of his class. It was soon perceived that his constitution was breaking down. Medicine did him but little good. Soon after he graduated, he became melancholy, and finally was deranged; and his friends were under the necessity of conveying him to a hospital. It was not until this event that the cause of his complaint was ascertained. It was evident that he had been in the constant habit of criminally indulging himself in secret. In a few months, he partially recovered, and visited his friends. He has,however, been sent to the hospital again. He is a most melancholy object, for in his lucid moments he is demented, a mere wreck of that superior genius which he once was. When I meet him in the street, I find that idiotic, lascivious smile, which is common in those cases where the individual has been in the constant habit of beastly indulgence.

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" 'A young man was under my care from one of the southern cities. He was an object of pity; he had become so accustomed to his vicious indulgence, that he has been known even at the dinner table to practice it. He was extremely irritable, and would often be taken in a fit (spasms), which would continue for hours. His physician did not understand his case, nor was I sensible, at the time, that his bad habits had produced his partial insanity. He would often disclose some of his practices to his associates, when he was insane, which he would much regret when he had recovered his reason. I have understood that, since his return to his friends, he has but partially recovered. He is demented, and is unfit for the common avocations of life.

" 'Another young man, who was under my care not long since, is obliged to leave his studies, and is just going into a decline; and self-pollution is the cause. I have conversed with him, and he is sensible of his error, but I fear too late.'

"A letter to Mrs. Gove, narrating its writer's experience, describes its effects on the mind as follows:

" 'At about twelve years of age, my health began to fail; I became dyspeptic and nervous. I often awoke in the morning bathed in tears; and the most indescribable and

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horrible sinking of spirits was my portion during the forenoon. If I committed any little mistake or fault, the recollection of it would haunt me for days, and make me superlatively wretched. I became pale as death, weak, feeble, and emaciated. I had severe palpitation of the heart, pain in the side, and many symptoms of consumption. I had also, much of the time, distressing pain in the head. I had much dizziness, and my sight would often become entirely obscured, especially when I stooped and rose quickly.'

" 'It renders them,' says an English author, 'stupid, dull, and melancholy, and destroys all their vivacity, cheerfulness, and health; it brings on consumptions, weakness, barrenness, and all that dreadful train of nervous complaints, which make them timid, whimsical, and ridiculous.'

"Another patient writes thus:

" 'My enthusiasm is sensibly diminished; my perceptions are very dull; the fire of imagination much less vivid; every passing event appears to me like a dream; I have less power of conception, and less presence of mind. In a word, I feel as if I am wasting away, although my sleep, appetite, and countenance, are good.'

" 'The empire which this odious practice gains over the senses,' says Tissot, 'is beyond expression. No sooner does this uncleanness

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get possession of the heart, than it pursues its votaries everywhere, and governs them at all times and in all places. Upon the most serious occasions, and in the solemn acts of religion, they find themselves transported with lustful conceptions and desires, which take up all their thoughts.'

"Dr. Woodward gives the following from a letter written by a patient:

" 'Having endured so long under this blighting, withering curse, my constitution, naturally very strong, is broken down, and my mind, as well as body, completely enervated. I am haunted day and night with lascivious thoughts and dreams; suspicious of my friends, and disgusted with myself. My memory has lost its power - unable to fix my attention - my mind is filled with terrible forebodings - fear of insanity, and at times it has cost me a continual effort to retain my reason. It is with difficulty that I walk, or stand, or even sit, erect. An inclination to lie down and sleep, which desire I am sensible I have indulged too much - my sleep never refreshes me - I rise in the morning weak and weary, to drag out another miserable day. Oh! how often have I wished for death, or rather oblivion, or anything to terminate my woes. I have of late been much annoyed with constant little twitchings or spasms in various parts of my body, and frequently my

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face. Would to God I had known what I now know when first tempted to this health, life, and soul-destroying vice. I feel that I cannot hold out much longer.'

"Behold, in the following auto-biography of a patient, the mental anguish and derangement this practice engenders. After saying that he commenced the practice at about fourteen years of age, and had kept it up at intervals for many years, he writes:

" 'During the whole of this time, I have suffered the most intense and unmitigated misery. Although blessed by nature with an excellent constitution, and with a kindly, cheerful disposition, I have become dyspeptic, gloomy, and unsociable. I am wretchedly timid and irresolute, my mind very weak, and filled with imaginary terrors. In fine, I have suffered so much in body and mind, and seeing no prospect of being restored to health and usefulness, that I am sunk in despair, and am daily contemplating SUICIDE. It is the anguish my death would cause my mother and sister, whom I devotedly love, and for whom I would wish to live, and whom I would wish to maintain, that mainly prevents.'

"But why detail more? These are the constitutional effects of this sin. Behold the MIND a wreck - the SOUL undone!

IT ENGENDERS DEPRAVITY IN ALL ITS FORMS

"But, all this, most terrible as it is, is not the worst. Amativeness being situated in the midst of the animal organs, and this indulgence tending necessarily to inflame it, its inflammation of course inflames, diseases, and perverts them also. Section three of 'Love' shows that the morbid, painful, diseased action of the propensities constitutes depravity; and this section shows that this excess diseases both the cerebellum and the body, with both of which the animal propensities are so intimately related that whatever deranges the former, thereby perverts the latter, and this causes depravity. Or thus: Excessive indulgence inflames the sexual organs, the whole body, and Amativeness, located in the cerebellum, in particular, and this inflames and depraves the whole animal group of organs, and thereby creates sin in all its forms. Corresponding with, and explained by, this, is the FACT that lust, the world over, is the concomitant and parent of all other sins. In what portions of our cities, towns, and villages, is perpetrated the most wickedness? Wherever are congregated the votaries of Venus. Where will groggeries be found the most abundant, the most frequented? In the streets and lanes of wantonness. Where are you most liable to be

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robbed? There also. And by whom? Its inhabitants. What but prostitution could make woman, aye, amiable woman, swear, and lie, and cheat, and drink, and carouse, and rob, and even murder? In what part of Boston was that recent tragical murder of Mrs. Bickford committed? In Old Town, the 'Five Points' of that goodly city. By whom? A libertine. On whom? A lewd woman. In short, the dens of prostitution are everywhere the dens of crime in all its forms, in all its aggravation. And what is true of these masses, is true of those individuals which compose them. Who are our defaulters, our swindlers, our gamblers, etc.? Frequenters of lewd houses, always. No equal incentive to dishonesty and criminality exists. Fortunes are yearly stolen by clerks, agents, etc., and covered by false entries, simply to obtain the means of gratifying this passion. How much, the judgment alone can reveal. Though intemperance will soon run a man down, and wring his last cent from him to feed those fatal fires which are consuming soul and body, yet it is a pigmy compared with this giant robber. It will drain the last cent, and then pursue its victim night and day till he becomes literally desperate, and is almost compelled to lie, steal, forge, rob, ANY AND EVERY thing to procure the wages of this sin. Do as great a business as he

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may, he rarely becomes rich, but see how many fortunes it has squandered! No one who "goes after strange women" can be good, honest, and true; but he who does, will commit almost any other form of sin. This passion will sow the seeds of depravity in the purest of souls, and convert those most irreproachable into demons. This is staple truth, apply it where you will.

"Moralists! behold in this relation of perverted sexuality to universal depravity, your first work of reform. As long as this passion is thus uncontrolled and perverted, so long will all other forms of depravity be rife, and all forms of virtue be trampled in the dust! Ministers may preach till doomsday against any and all other vices without effect, till they preach moral purity, and in all its forms. It is a matter of perfect surprise, that so few ministers preach against this sin in any of its forms, especially against self-abuse; but most of them, though posted on the moral watch-towers of society, are 'dead dogs,' that 'will not bark,' touching this, the very key-stone of the arch of depravity. Is it not high time that some moral champion should stand forth to proclaim this vital truth? Lawyers will not do it, nor doctors, except a few noble Woodwards; nor ministers. Shall then this monster be left undisturbed to feed on the physical and mental

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carcasses of his prey? God forbid! If the ministerial profession will so far prove recreant to their high, moral trust, and the other professions follow their example of silence, help must come from some other quarter; for this age of reform must begin reformation here. And the author is free to confess, that an overwhelming desire to prevent iniquity in its other forms, as well as this, and by sanctifying and properly directing this propensity, to promote general moral excellence and obviate general corruption, mainly dedicated these pages. He wishes to aid in rendering after generations better by nature - more intellectual, more pure and holy in soul, and elevated in aspiration, and by this work, to stay licentiousness, public and private, by showing the superiority of moral purity over sinful propensity, in order thereby to promote moral purity and all other virtues, on the one hand, and on the other, to prevent this vice, and thereby all other forms of human depravity and woe.

IT PERPETUATES AND RE-AUGMENTS ITSELF

"We have seen that excess begets inflammation, and that inflammation creates desire. Hence every new indulgence only re-augments the cravings of this propensity. As an inflammation of the stomach causes a morbid

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hankering after food, the gratification of which still further increases both the disease and the craving, so excessive sexual indulgence fevers these organs so that they call still more loudly for gratification, every new indulgence of which re-augments the inflammation and consequently the power of passion, till, like the letting out of waters, it rises and rushes till life itself is emptied out thereat, and both body and mind swept on to remediless destruction and woe! Indulgence is fuel to these already consuming fires of perdition. This propensity being to the sexual apparatus precisely what appetite is to the stomach, since as eating, so far from satisfying the ravenous cravings of the dyspeptic, only increases them, by re-inflaming the stomach; so sensual indulgence first inflames the sexual apparatus, and this re-increases both disease and desire till the entire system is drained of energy, and its victim dies.

"This passion, inflames by indulgence, becomes the horseleech of life and happiness, crying perpetually, louder and louder, 'Give, give, Give, GIVE,' but never enough; or the gluttonous tape-worm, the more it is fed, the more insatiate its ravages, till, after having devoured all the other powers and faculties of its miserable victim, it ends only in a death of all deaths the most horrible. Like

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the falling, perhaps, of an icicle on Mount Blanc, which gathers size and force as it descends, and now rolls heavily and rapidly down the steep sides of yonder towering cliff, anon bounds from peak to peak, sweeping their snowy sides and tearing up huge trees and rocks in its resistless course, till, leaping yonder yawning precipice, it plunges into the deep abyss, dashing to atoms both itself and all its prey, scattering ruin and death in all its course.

"Nor does this principle govern one form of sensual indulgence merely, but all its forms. It is inherent in all forms, and appertains alike to matrimonial, promiscuous, and personal indulgence in all their stages. Animals, one and all, before their first indulgence, experience only a moderate power of this impulse; but afterwards become uncontrollable. The less it is exercised, the more easily can it be held in check.

"Beware, then, O youth! how you unchain this roaring lion till walled in by wedlock; else propensity will haunt and goad you night and day, clamorous for indulgence, yet never satisfied till your ruin is complete. Indulge but once, and you will have no peace of your life, but will be dashed hither and yon, with those waves of passion into which "one false step" plunges you. If you have no regard for the sin committed, yet

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regard your own subsequent peace and happiness of life.

"Mark; we do not put this matter on its moral turpitude, but on its necessarily consequent evils and sufferings; first, because the latter involves the former, and is the cause or rationale of all sin - the reason why sin is sinful, as well as the measure of the sinfulness of sin, and because we thus appeal to the two strongest, and even the governing, motives of human nature; namely, first, to its love of happiness; and, secondly, to its dread of suffering. Not that it is not most sinful. It is morally wrong in exact proportion to its miseries which we have just seen to be so frightful.

THE EFFECTS OF PROMISCUOUS INDULGENCE, MATRIMONIAL EXCESS, AND SELF-ABUSE, COMPARED

"Thus far, our inquiries have related to the constitutional effects of excessive sexual indulgence in its collective capacity, or indiscriminately in all its forms. But, this hydra monster assumes many forms, three of which deserve consideration.

LICENTIOUSNESS

"That promiscuous indulgence is most

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sinful, is evident from that terrible penalty affixed to its perpetration. To be eaten up by piecemeal, with sores and ulcers,nauseating and loathsome beyond description - to lose bone, and muscle, and nerve, by inches, and literally be eaten up alive, besides being simultaneously tortured with agony the most excruciating mortals can endure, affixes nature's seal of proportional moral turpitude upon its cause. Consequences thus direful show that their cause must be a sin proportionally aggravated. Quacks may essay to cure it, but its virulent poison still lurks in the veins for life. Calomel may give immediate relief, but the grave alone can entirely eradicate it. Sin, ye who will; but suffer, ye who sin. God is just, and but visits his violated law with mete retribution.

"Nor does this curse of curses cease with its author, but is justly entailed upon his children, and his children's children, 'unto the third and fourth generations.' See yonder maimed and hobbling object of pity, his limbs distorted, his joints dislocated and racked with pain, his life tormented with running sores, his mind feeble, and passions ungovernable! All this is but the wages of his father's licentiousness. A physician once remarked to the author, that a more prolific cause of scrofula, consumptions, and kindred affections did not probably exist,

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than this sin of parents; adding, that it often broke out two or three generations down, and could rarely be eradicated from descendants. Oh! how great the crime of thus cursing posterity, instead of blessing it with all the endowments conferred by virtuous love!

"Nor do many know how prevalent this disease is in its various forms. Its victims keep their own secret as long as possible, and doctor themselves, except when their case becomes desperate; and then confide it only to their medical adviser, whose very profession forswears him to keep the secret. Oh! how many thousands of our young men have ruined their constitutions, and become invalids for life, solely by means of this disease, or attempts to cure it. Indeed, its prevalence at the Sandwich Islands actually threatens the extinction of that nation; which, at its present rate of mortality, it is computed to effect in about sixty years! And if it goes on to increase in the ratio of its past progression, it will ultimately cut off our race itself!

"The fact that SEVERAL THOUSAND COPIES of a little work of less than twenty pages, on the cure of venereal diseases, are sold every month, at one dollar per copy, and that other works of this class sell in proportion, shows conclusively that there are several thousand

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new victims every month! No patient wants more than a single work, yet TWENTY THOUSAND PER MONTH does not equal the sales of these works, and of course falls far short of the number of victims, for none but venereal patients will pay thus dear for so small a book, of no manner of interest to those not thus afflicted. All this, besides all those who indulge with other than harlots by profession! Almost incredible, but nevertheless true!

"We thus see that nature, as well as the Bible, condemns licentiousness; so that disbelievers in the latter are yet bound by nature's inflexible laws to continence, except in wedlock. But a point thus self-evident, need not be urged. Beware then, O passionate youth, how you commit this sin! Even though you neither 'fear God nor regard man, yet at least regard your own happiness, and induce not so terrible a curse!

MATRIMONIAL EXCESS

"But this is not the only form of sin assumed by this propensity. It invades married life, and sows the seeds of misery within the hallowed pale of wedlock. Reference is not now had to those who, though married, seek foreign indulgence; but to those who know their own legal companion only. This will surprise many who are married, because

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they think themselves entitled to any desired amount of indulgence. Far otherwise. Nature cares nothing, knows nothing about human enactments. Excessive indulgence between husband and wife produces all the consequences shown in the last chapter to result from excessive Amativeness. A miserable victim of connubial excess is hardly less miserable than the victim of licentiousness. A newly-married husband once called upon a medical friend of the author to prescribe for what he supposed to be venereal disease, contracted from his wife. Soon after, she called on the same errand; both accusing each other of having given the disease. He told both that their hymeneal excess had inflamed and diseased both, and prescribed moderation.

But, what stamps effectually the seal of nature's reprobation on excessive matrimonial indulgence, is its destruction of the health of woman. Is it not a most prolific cause of those distressing female complaints which bury half our married women prematurely, and seriously impair most of the balance? Testify, Drs. Sherwood, Banning, Hollick, Benjamin, and others, in this line of practice; are not these complaints alarmingly prevalent, and occasioned mainly by excessive indulgence? Do not thousand of our women die annually in consequence? Speak out, ye weakly, nervous wives, now dying by

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wretched inches of these diseases, and say whether your sufferings were not caused mainly, and have not been aggravated to their present painfulness, by the frequency, the fury, the almost goatishness, of your husbands' demands? I say fury, because though frequency is bad, yet harshness is worse; nor do husbands always consider how exceedingly tender, and how liable to consequent inflammation and disease, this apparatus. Many a husband has buried more wives than one, killed outright, ignorantly, yet effectually, by the brutality of this passion. Reader, if thou knowest none such, thou knowest not the cause of all the deaths that transpire around thee! And yet, the pulpit, the press, the lecture room, are silent in view of this vast, this wicked waste of life - of even the infinitely valuable life of woman!

"And tens of thousands of those whom it does not kill, it nevertheless despoils, by impairing both their sexual organs, and their health, as well as minds. More: It cuts off the very pleasure sought. As over-eating diminishes appetite, and thus curtails the gustatory pleasure sought, so excess here engenders those diseases which cut off this very pleasure. By causing the prolapsus uteri, albus, etc., it renders this intercourse utterly repugnant mentally, and painful physically; thus inducing the penalty in the direct line of the transgression.

IT DETERIORATES WOMAN IN THE ESTIMATION OF MAN

"Besides, lust carries with itself the feeling of degradation. He who indulges frequently, even with his lawful wife, cannot but associate her in his mind with this debased feeling to which she administers. He first debases her by his brutality, and then despises her for being debased. It is a law of mind that this excess should produce contempt for its partner. Reader, did you ever hear the libertine speak well of woman as a sex? This fact is apparent; and you may always measure the sensuality of a man by his respect for the sex, and his moral purity, by his estimation of woman. This is a perfect thermometer of moral purity. Its reasons are obvious. First, rogues suspect all mankind of being rogues; liars, of being deceptive, and the sensual, of sensuality. Secondly, he has been mainly conversant with woman as a sexual thing, and not as a pure, refined, and affectionate being. Her sexuality mainly is what he has noticed, and this he detests in himself, and therefore in her.

"Woman thus abused, also soon comes to feel herself humbled, broken down, and sunk in the scale of self-respect, by being put to so low a use. And let the sensual husband remember that knowing ones can read his

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treatment of her in this respect by these and kindred signs - that is, in her downcast, self-degraded looks and mien. But over this saddening picture of wo, let us draw the curtain of silence, while we shed tears of pity over her sufferings. Woman fallen! Her loveliness engulfed in the fiery sea of lust! Her angelic purity and perfection converted into corruption! The angel become the Animal - a mere sexual thing! And all by violating a plain law of nature. Mete punishment for so sensual a sin!

"Much has of late been said as regards the elevation of woman on the one hand, and her natural inferiority on the other. Without disturbing this mooted question, further than to say that she is equally perfect with man in her sphere, which is equally elevated with his, that she is as perfect as the God of nature could render her - allow special attention to be called to the one specific cause of her disrepute. It is man's sensuality. How does the Turk regard woman? As a mere thing, destitute of a soul, and of all intrinsic merit. Now look at the one animal end to which he puts her, and put the two together. Wherefore the harem? Simply to feed his sensuality. And this very sensuality breeds this contempt for its object. The same holds true of all mankind, and governs individuals as well as masses. The libertine always

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despises his 'bird' after he has sated his passion, and because of such indulgence. Sensual indulgence begets disgust for its object. This is a law of mind, and is as true in wedlock as out of it. Hence, other things being equal, in proportion as a man indulges sensually with woman as a sex, does he despise the sex, or as an individual, does he underrate her individually. Nor, say what you will, can woman ever be raised to her true dignity, or be properly appreciated, till licentiousness is superseded by pure love. Moral purity will elevate woman in exact proportion to its prevalence, while licentiousness, in and of itself, and by virtue of its own inherent nature, sinks her in the scale of valuation in exact proportion as it rises. This is cardinal truth, and shows those who would labor for the elevation of woman, where to begin, and what obstacle alone prevents.

"We might mention many more evils that grow out of matrimonial prostitution, but are not these amply sufficient to stamp it as most infamous in its nature, because most direful in its consequences? Indeed, I regard its magnitude as scarcely less than that of promiscuous indulgence, because its evils are substantially the same, and scarcely less aggravated, and partly because so much more prevalent. It offers much greater facilities and temptations. It costs nothing in and of

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itself - though many a husband has paid out more in the form of doctors' and nurses' bills, etc., than his licentious neighbor has for promiscuous indulgence. It is almost universal in married life, and is burying its victims ten to one faster than its twin sister, promiscuous intercourse. Mere sensual indulgence as such, in wedlock or out of it, in and of itself, sensualizes the mind, debases the feelings, and engenders depravity in all its other forms. It is fire to the nervous system, which, diseased, irritates all the propensities, and depraves the entire being! Mark, ye husbands whose demands are frequent, the increased irritability, and fretfulness, and crossness, of your wives the next day, and learn from these principles both the cause and cure.

"We must not omit to mention the double injury occasioned by indulging while she is fulfilling her maternal relations. At these periods she almost always loathes it - proof enough that it is then wrong. Besides, it withdraws that vital energy required by her precious charge. It also sensualizes the charge; it partaking by sympathy with its mother's feelings. Nor have I a doubt but that the seeds of much of the sensuality of mankind are sown by parental indulgence before birth. Then, at least, should the mother's mind be kept as pure and elevated

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as possible, and her physical stamina promoted, not drained off to feed a sensual passion.

"Husbands, be entreated to mark well this entire chapter. In this particular you are mainly in fault. Your wives could not impose upon you in this matter if they would, and rarely would if they could. But do you not often insist on compliance, and almost compel it when very disagreeable to them? Oh! be not thus cruel! Wait at least for reciprocity, and then guard carefully against all pain and injury. Would that these truths might reach every married pair in Christendom!

PRIVATE SENSUALITY

"But we have not reached all the evils, if the worst form, of 'excessive and perverted Amativeness.' However prevalent both licentiousness proper and legalized licentiousness, private fornication I regard as at least equal to either, and much more prevalent than the first named. Our youth by wretched thousands,aye millions, too conscientious to violate the literal law of chastity, seek in solitude that same gratification which constitutes sensuality itself. The two differ in nothing except in the substitution of an imaginary partner for a real one - in the complete absence of that love which alone can sanctify

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this indulgence, and in its being all sensuality, as well as, if possible, a still more unnatural and effectual violation of nature's laws. Do not both consist equally, in warp and woof, of sensuality? Is not the same propensity indulged in both? Are not the same feelings exercised, and in the same way, saving that its partner, so indispensable to both, is imaginary here, but real there? Is not the kind of gratification sought and afforded alike in both? Are not both precisely alike in debasing the character? The same feelings, the same organs, the same action in these organs, the same evacuations, except that private prostitution is necessarily more completely gross and lustful, as well as more injurious to the organs exercised; besides the far greater number of its subjects, and the far greater frequency of its indulgence. Is licentiousness debasing and polluting to the soul, and is not self-pollution even more so? Does it not create even a greater degree of shame, and self-abhorrence, and vulgarity? Does the former disease the sexual apparatus, and does not the latter equally, probably more? Does the former often produce impotency, and does not the latter much more frequently? Does the former derange the nervous system, and does not the latter equally, and fill the entire system full to bursting with a wild, hurried, fevered excitement,

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which rouses every animal passion, unstrings every nerve, and produces complete frustration and confusion? Does the former drain the system of animal energy, and waste the very essence of its vitality, and does not the latter equally rob every organ of the body, every faculty of the mind, of that vital energy by which alone it lives and acts?

"In short, it is hardly possible to name an evil which appertains to the former, which does not also characterize the latter; whilst the latter by being so much more accessible, subjecting its possessor to no expense (but that of life), and no shame, because perpetrated in secret, is therefore the more widespread, frequent, and ruinous. Nor is it considered a sin (shame on those pretended moral watchmen who do not denounce it), and therefore not opposed by the terrors of conscience. Nor does that almost insuperable barrier of native modesty created in the soul of every well-constituted youth against licentiousness, avail much here,because its natural stimulant, the presence of the other sex, is not present to bring it into action. It is also practiced at a much earlier age, and while the system is yet immature, and all the strength required for growth, thus sapping the constitution in its infancy, and hence the more completely irreparable and fatal.

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"If asked my serious opinion as to the comparative evils of these two forms of 'excessive or perverted Amativeness,' considered collectively, as working the greatest ruin in our age and nation, and causing the greatest amount of suffering and wo, I should answer unhesitatingly, as the result of my extensive observation and mature conviction, PRIVATE FORNICATION- TEN TO ONE! And this is substantially the opinion of all who have examined this subject. If asked which I should prefer a child of mine to practice (O merciful God! deliver me from so dreadful a dilemma), my unequivocal answer would be, 'Rather let my dear child DIE, be it even by revolting suicide. Any other cup of bitterness sooner!' Nothing, O fond parent, can render your beloved offspring more completely wretched!

SIGNS OF SENSUALITY IN ITS VARIOUS FORMS

" 'Satan never keeps secrets,' 'Murder will out.' And so will sensuality. We can tell the rake, and designate the wanton; and say truly, who has known the other sex, and how; as well as who seeks solitary gratification, and who is pure. The signs of all these things come to the surface, and cannot be disguised.

"To transfer all these signs to paper is impossible;

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nor can a fraction of them be fully given without too much digression. Many of them, the 'natural language' of the faculties discloses, which a phrenologist alone can fully understand. If, by casting her eyes over a congregation, the lewd woman can easily select her patrons, why cannot we also discern them? We can, by the following, among other indices:

"Carrying the hands frequently to these organs by way of changing their position; or sitting with the former partly inclosing the latter; because the latter, being inflamed by overaction, are uneasy, and the former are carried to, and move them about, to give relief. Such, if married, may know only their own companion, but it will be both lustful and excessive. If unmarried, they either abuse themselves, or else seek foreign indulgence. Which, may be distinguished by a slight difference in a certain position often assumed by each, which the natural language of Amativeness perfectly explains.

"The amorous man has also a lascivious expression of the eyes and lips, and always manifests sexual curiosity when he observes females; and often turns to look at them. Or, when anything is said about the other sex, he acts or laughs as if something very curious, or wanton, or vulgar, had been said, and relishes it, because he looks at every

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thing through glasses of lust. Or else he unequivocally condemns and denounces every thing pertaining to this subject, especially by way of obviating this evil, as foul and filthy; because to him it is so. A rake can easily be marked by these and kindred signs.

"Reader, is it expedient to give the indices of wantonness in woman? Yet they are equally, if not still more, apparent.

"The solitary libertine may be known, partly by these signs, and, in addition, by the following: In conversation, he never looks you full in the face; but averts his eyes, especially downward, as if ashamed of himself. He also avoids meeting the glances of females, yet steals every opportunity to look at them, and intently observes, particularly those portions which constitute and characterize the sex. Though very shy of females, and all in a tremor while in their presence, when others are by, yet when alone, he is forward and gross in his advances, and apt to take liberties; and is silly and sickish in their company, as if prompted by a mean passion, instead of being actuated by that love 'which maketh not ashamed.'

"Mark well this fundamental difference between the conduct of those who are actuated by true love, and by lust in any of its forms. Now, precisely this difference obtains touching the manners, carriage, expression,

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every thing, of his conduct towards woman whose amativeness is pure or perverted.

"The private sensualist may be further known by his pallid, bloodless countenance, and hollow, sunken, and half-ghastly eyes, the lids of which will frequently be tinged with red; while if his indulgence has been carried very far, he will have black and blue semi-circles under his eyes, and also look as if worn out, almost dead for want of sleep, yet unable to get it, etc. He will also have a half-wild, half-vacant stare, or half-lascivious, half-foolish smile, especially when he sees a female. He will also have a certain quickness, yet indecision, of manner; will begin to do this thing, then stoop and essay to do that, and then do what he first intended; and in such utterly insignificant matters as putting his hat here or there, etc. The same incoherence will characterize his expressions, and the same want of promptness mark all he does. Little things will agitate and fluster him. Nor will he be prompt, or resolute, or bold or forcible; but timid, afraid of his own shadow, uncertain, waiting to see what is best, and always in a hurry, yet hardly know what he is doing, or wants to do. Nor will he walk erect or dignified, as if conscious of his manhood and lofty in his aspirations, but will walk and move with a diminutive, cringing, sycophantic, inferior,

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mean, self-debased manner, as if depreciated and degraded in his own eyes; thus telling you perpetually by his shamed looks and sheepish manner that he has been doing something low, mean, contemptible and vulgar. His secret practices have impaired both his physical and mental manhood, and thereby effaced the nobleness and efficiency of the masculine, and deteriorated his soul, besides having ruined his body. Be entreated, O foolish and wicked, not thus to dethrone the man and enthrone the animal!

"He will, moreover, be dull of comprehension, incorrect, forgetful, heedless, full of blunders of all sorts, crude and inappropriate in his jokes, slow to take the hint, listless, inattentive, absent-minded, sad, melancholy, easily frightened, easily discouraged, wanting in clearness and point of idea, less bright than formerly, and altogether depreciated in looks and talents compared with what he would have been if he had never contracted this soul-and-body-ruining practice.

"Pain at or near the small of the back, is another dark symptom. It at least shows that the sexual apparatus is diseased, because the nerve from them enters the spinal column at this place, so that their inflammation renders it proportionally tender and painful. Sexual excess in any of its forms

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will give this pain. True, other causes may have deranged these organs, and given this pain, yet this is the great cause. Some victims of this passion have running sores in the small of the back, and are generally tender there.

"Many other signs evince carnality, yet these must suffice. Nor am I quite clear in giving these, because they will expose so many of my erring fellow-men, now unsuspected. Yet, again, such are dangerous, and ought to be exposed - at least, allowed to tell their own carnal story. Let every sensualist, especially private libertine, remember that he is marked and known, and read by all men who have eyes and know how to use them. This exposition is made, in part, to shame them out of degrading vice into moral purity and virtue.

REMEDIES

"Thus much of these evils. Next, their REMEDIES. All the penalties of nature's violated laws are not wholly incurable. A 'healing balm' is kindly furnished for such wounds as are not mortal. Though it may be impossible, after these evils have become aggravated for their subject to be as healthy and happy as he would have been if he had never sinned, yet our merciful Physician has

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furnished at hand both palliatives and restoratives, by the judicious and thorough use of which, he may become as sound in body and as strong in mind, as he ever has been; perhaps better, because he is yet immature. When the consequences of this vice have not gone so far as to impair or destroy the structure, a comparative cure is attainable; and even though the organization itself is seriously affected, yet, as nature restores a broken bone, or flesh wound, so here, she will often repair breaches apparently irreparable. Though, as a broken bone or a sprained joint is more liable to subsequent injury than if it had never been impaired, yet, as long and as far as life and constitution remain, they hold out the blessed promise of recovery and happiness. Unfortunate reader, however foolish and sinful you may have been, never despair; first, because discouragement greatly impedes cure; and secondly, because the constitutional tendency of your disease is to render you more gloomy and disheartened than you need be. Be it that your case is bad, you regard it as much worse than it really is. If it were fatal, you would be now literally dying. The flag of truce is yet flying. Because you have entered the broad road, you are not compelled to go down to final ruin. The door of escape is yet open. Few cases are desperate. Most men can be

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well nigh cured. Listen then to the means of salvation.

"You must cure yourselves. Nor is the task easy, but it requires effort, perseverance, and temporary self-denial. You must DO, instead of passively folding your arms, to which you are inclined. Be it, that a cure requires hard work, are not LIFE, HEALTH,happiness, worth working hard to obtain? If in Niagara rapids, and certain to be precipitated over its yawning precipice in case you remain passive, but could save yourself by powerful effort, would you fold your hands? Would you not tax every energy of life to its utmost? What will not man do for his LIFE? And your life is at stake, and the prize of effort. I hear your eager inquiry, 'What shall I do to be saved?'

ABSTAIN TOTALLY

"The least indulgence weakens hope, and is like paddling the canoe down the Niagara rapids, instead of toward its banks. Gradual emancipation, like leaving off drinking by degrees, will certainly increase both indulgence and suffering. This is true of all bad habits - is a law of things, and especially applicable here. 'Now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation.' Some of my contemporaries advise occasional indulgence.

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From this I dissent, and totally and unequivocally condemn all indulgence, every instance of which both augments passion and weakens resistance, by subjecting intellect and moral sentiment to propensity. If you cannot conquer now, you never can. Make one desperate stand and struggle. Summon every energy! Not once more! STOP SHORT!! 'Touch not, taste not, handle not,' lest you 'perish with the using.' Flee at once to perfect continence - your only city of refuge. Look not back towards Sodom, lest you die! Why will you go on to commit suicide? O son or daughter of sensuality! are you of no value? Are you not GODLIKE, and God endowed, born in your Maker's image, and most exalted both by nature and in your capabilities for enjoyment? Oh! will you, for a low-lived animal gratification, sell the birthright of your nature - all your intellectual powers, all your moral endowments, all your capabilities of enjoyment, and crowd every avenue and corner of both body and soul with untold agony? Behold the priceless gem of your nature! Oh! snatch it from impending destruction. TOTAL ABSTINENCE IS LIFE; animal, intellectual, moral. INDULGENCE IS TRIPLE DEATH! RESOLUTION - DETERMINATION TO STOP NOW AND FOREVER - is your starting point; without which no other remedial agents will avail

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anything. ABSTINENCE OR DEATH is your only alternative. STOP NOW AND FOREVER, or abandon all hope. Will you 'long debate which of the two to choose, slavery' and 'death' - and such a death - or abstinence and life? Do you 'return to your wallowing', and give up to die?

"No! Behold and shout the kindling resolve! See the intoxicating, poisoned cup of passion dashed aside. Hear the life-boat Resolution: 'I wash away the stain of the past in the reformation of the future! Born with capabilities thus exalted, I will yet be the man; no longer the groveling sensualist! Forgetting the past, I once more put on the garments of hope, and press forward in pursuit of those noble ends to which I once aspired, but from which this Delilah allured me. I will rise yet! On the bended knees of contrition and supplication, I bow before Jehovah's mercy-seat. On the altar of this hour, I lay my vow of abstinence and purity! No more will I sacrilegiously prostitute those glorious gifts with which thou hast graciously crowned me! I abjure forever this loathsome sin, and take the oath of allegiance to duty and to thee! Oh, "deliver me from temptation!" Of myself I am weak, but in thy strength I am strong! Do thou work in me to "WILL and to DO" only what is pure and holy. I have served "the lusts of the flesh,"

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but oh! forgive and restore a repentant prodigal, and accept that entire consecration of my every power and faculty to thee! O gracious God, forgive, and save, and accept, for Jesus' sake; and thine shall be the glory forever. Amen.'

" 'I rise a renewed man! My vow is recorded before God! I will keep it inviolate. I will banish all unclean thoughts and feelings, and indulge only in holy wedlock. I will again "press forward" in the road of intellectual attainment and moral progression; and the more eagerly because of this hinderance. I drop but this one tear over the past, and then bury both my sin and shame in future efforts of self-improvement and labors of love. As mourning over my fall does not restore, but unnerves resolution and cripples effort, I cast the mantle of forgetfulness over the past. I have now to do only with the future. Nor must I remain a moment passive and idle. I have a great work before me, first, to repair my shattered constitution, which is the work, not of a day, but of my life; and also to recover my mental stamina and moral standing, and, if possible, soar higher still. What shall I do first?

REGAIN YOUR HEALTH

"Your sufferings and losses grow mainly

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out of the injury it has sustained, and to regain it, is indispensable to both effort and enjoyment, and your great salvation from the consequences of past sins, and prevention of future ones.

"In effecting this restoration, you have mainly to obviate that inflammation already shown to have chiefly engendered your sufferings, and produced disease. Reduce it, and you both forestall farther injury, and give to Nature, your great physician, an opportunity to repair the breach.

"Dr. Trall, in the 'Hydropathic Encyclopedia,' remarks: 'In constitutions worn down by previous diseases, exhausted by riotous living, and undermined by abused Amativeness, the cure requires a strict and persevering observance of all the laws of hygiene, that the patient may outgrow, rather than doctor out, his ruinous ways. Unfortunately, however, there is no class of patients more fickle, vascillating, and unreliable; the mind partakes of the bodily degeneracy, and it requires a combination of rare and favorable circumstances to keep them from running after every foolish and whimsical impostor who advertises to cure them with a single bottle of bitters, which, moreover, is "pleasant to the taste." '

AVOID ALL STIMULANTS AND IRRITANTS

"Inflammation being the chief cause of your difficulty, everything calculated to increase it, is unequivocally bad. Hence, abandon, wholly and at once, tea, coffee, tobacco, and all stimulating meats and drinks. Otherwise, your struggle will be much more doubtful, tedious, and desperate. Any other fire burning in the system will augment this. Tea, Coffee, and tobacco, the last two in particular, are powerful narcotics, and, like opium, though soothing at first, ultimately only re-inflame, and are of themselves sufficient to keep up both the disease and the desire, and the inflammation you would conquer. They even often induce them, by causing an irritated, craving state of the nervous system, which aggravates desire from the first, by inflaming the nervous system, and of course the base of the brain. It is a settled physiological fact, that whatever stimulates the body, thereby proportionally irritates the base of the brain, Amativeness in particular, and thus causes lust, as well as sinful propensity in general. By this means it is that all intoxicating drinks cause both lust and depravity. It is their stimulating property which does this, and whatever stimulates the body, thereby stimulates the whole base of the brain, in consequence of that most

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intimate relation existing between the two, and therefore excites this passion, and more, probably, than any other. Now, tea, coffee, and tobacco, all stimulate, and of course excite both sinful propensity in general, and lustful desire in particular. The quid and the cigar have made sensualists and onans by the legion. Nor is coffee free from a like charge, and teas is also injurious.

"This is not all theory. It is sustained by facts. An acquaintance of the author, whose passion, professor though he is, is yet so rampant that he can govern himself only with the utmost difficulty, says, that after he has restrained himself for months, and got desire under subjection, a few cups of strong coffee will set him literally crazy after the sex, so that slight temptation will induce indulgence, and then, the helm carried away, self-control is out of the question till this passion has run him through and out, and brought him up debilitated and all on fire by excess, and penniless, after having squandered the savings of months of industry, perhaps years. He also recommends cathartics, yet their effect can be only temporary. Ultimately, they must debilitate the system. He says nothing saves him but 'TOTAL ABSTINENCE,' both from indulgence and from all stimulants.

"Besides, why make 'flesh of one' passion,

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'and fowl of another'? Why not sweep the board? Break away from ALL bad habits. Conquer every lust, and be the man for in nothing consist the true dignity and glory of our nature more than in SELF-GOVERNMENT. Even 'If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee.' Much more may you abandon that filthy and confessedly injurious habit of tobacco-eating and burning; else it may yet shipwreck your hopes. Come, arise in the might of manhood, and conquer this, as a means of overcoming that.

"And ye daughters of loveliness! whom this feeling has injured, but who would return again to; purity, health, and happiness, sip no more of the beverage of China; no more of the drinks of Java; for both will only add fuel to those polluting fires you wish to quench, as well as perpetuate the disease you would subdue. Try to experiment, if you doubt this logic. Compare a month of abstinence with one of tea and coffee drinking. Already your system is all alive with feverish excitement, which these drinks enhance, and this deepens your gloom and your misery. If you would be yourself again, cut off this right-hand gratification, as a means of overcoming that. And if you ask what you shall drink at your meals, I say, nothing is best; yet cocoa, chocolate, or warm water seasoned, or bread coffee, rice

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coffee, pea coffee, corn coffee, etc., etc, will be good substitutes, as they do not inflame, and are palatable.

"For a similar reason, meats, mustards, condiments, peppers, spices, rich food, gravies, - every thing heating and irritating - will only add to existing inflammation, and increase both desire and disease. Do not keepers of horses, who wish to fire up this passion, in them, do it by feeding high? Farmers do the like by the female, in order to create the required desire. Do not men and women, by the licentious thousand, live luxuriously for the express purpose of kindling the disease? Go and do the opposite, ye who would produce opposite results!

"Some kinds of food, as already specified, excite amorous desires; while others, as rice, bread, fruit, vegetables, etc., do not; and may therefore be eaten, yet sparingly, because you are yet weak, and because overeating, even of the plainest food, is injurious. We have also seen that sensuality is apt to excite appetite and derange digestion. Coarse or Graham bread, with fruit, or rice, or sago, or tapioca, or potato starch pudding, etc., will tend to obviate inflammation, and allow the system to rally. In regard to regimen, Dr. Woodward remarks thus:

" 'The regimen must be strict, the diet should be simple and nutritious, and sufficient

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in quantity; it should be rather plain than light and abstemious no stimulating condiments should be used; the suppers should be particularly light, and late suppers should be wholly avoided. All stimulating drinks, even strong tea and coffee, should be discarded; cider and wine are very pernicious; tobacco, in all its forms not less so.'

"As to suppers, I recommend none at all. A full stomach induces dreams, or the exercise, in sleep, of those organs most liable to spontaneous action, which in this case is Amativeness, which produces libidinous dreams, with accompanying night emissions, which weaken and disease equally with indulgence. No supper at all, also allows the dinner to become fully digested, which facilitates sound sleep - nature's great restorative. Never fear starvation. We all eat twice too much. The gluttony of our nation is one great cause of its sensuality, which fasting will of course tend to obviate. Try to experiment. A friend thus afflicted has found great relief therefrom. Above all things

KEEP DOING

" 'An idle brain is Satan's workshop,' in this respect pre-eminently. Keep your mind employed, and lewd feelings can find no entrance; but, unoccupied, they come unbidden, and renew former associations and habits.

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"But be very careful not to over-do - especially, over-lift. As you recover, you are in great danger of considering yourself stronger than you really are, and thus strain your back, and bring on a relapse of your night difficulty. Mark this caution.

"Graham's recommendation to touch these organs as little as possible, and to bring up children thus, I cordially indorse, because contact necessarily promotes both desire and inflammation.

PREVENTION

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure - here pre-eminently. Not to begin is the only safety. Nor is this prevention difficult. Nature has taken effectual means to secure this end. That wall of native modesty which she has thrown around every well-constituted youth, is ample protection. They only require to be put upon their guard. They would not fall into these habits unless coaxed into them, nor then if they once suspected them of being either wrong or injurious. Such knowledge would furnish an all-powerful stimulant to modesty, and render it effectual. They now suspect no harm, and intend no more wrong than in eating. To know that it is virtually on a par with sexual intercourse in its corrupting influence on the

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mind, and in its injury of the health, would awaken Conscientiousness to joint effort with modesty, and save nearly all. But ignorance lulls conscience, and persuasion and imitation overcome shame, and they enter the broad road, and soon find that death is in the practice. The simple knowledge of the fact that these practices sap their capabilities of enjoying this same pleasure in wedlock, would also prevent personal indulgence, as in 'Love and Parentage,' it was shown to be a preventive of licentiousness. Diffusing appropriate knowledge, and circulating appropriate books, on this subject, will work an effectual cure. And I anticipate great good from the means and efforts now in progress touching this matter.

THE PREMATURE DEVELOPMENT OF AMATIVENESS,

Is, however, the great hot-house of sensuality in all its forms. Nature has taken special pains to postpone the development of this instinct until intellect has attained sufficient strength to guide it, the moral sentiments power enough to sanctify and restrain it, and the body sufficient maturity to sustain its drain with impunity. Is not this postponement a most beautiful provision? If it had made its appearance as early as the others, it would

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have withdrawn those energies from the system required for growth, yet have done no good. As it is, however, nature postpones the matrimonial desires till the subject is prepared to regulate this instinct, and convert it into a means of incalculable enjoyment. At precisely what age it should develop itself, it may be difficult to say, but certainly not till from the eighteenth to the twentieth year; and then it is held in effectual check by native modesty for a considerable time before it acquires sufficient impetus to make love outright; and finally takes years to ripen into a state prepared for marriage - at least for its ultimate rights.

"Would to God and humanity that nature were allowed to have her perfect work in this respect. But, alas! our youth are reared in a hot-bed of Amativeness. This impulse is developed several years before its time, and hence, mainly, its perversion. Ye who labor and pray for the banishment of lust, and the moral purity of man, mark well the CAUSE OF CAUSES of man's carnality in all its forms. It is the ARTIFICIAL STIMULATION, and the PREMATURE DEVELOPMENT of the sexual instinct. Mark the following incentives of premature love, and its morbid, sensual direction, from Fowler on Matrimony:

" 'The conduct and conversation of adults before children and youth. How often have

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I blushed with shame and kindled with indignation at the conversation of parents, and especially of mothers, to their children! "John, go and kiss Harriet, for she is your sweetheart." Well may shame make him hesitate and hang his head. "Why, John, I did not think you so great a coward. Afraid of the girls, are you? That will never do. Come, go along, and hug and kiss her. There, that's a man. I guess you will love the girls yet."

" 'Continually is he teased about the girls, and being in love, till he really selects a sweetheart. I will not lift the vail, nor expose the conduct of children among themselves. And all this, because adults have filled their heads with those impurities which surfeit their own. What could more effectually wear off that natural delicacy, that maiden purity and bashfulness, which form the main barrier against the influx of vitiated Amativeness? How often do those whose modesty has been worn smooth, even take pleasure in thus saying and doing things to raise the blush on the cheek of youth and innocence, merely to witness the effect of these improper allusions upon them; little realizing that they are thereby breaking down the barriers of their virtue, and prematurely kindling the fires of animal passion!

" 'As puberty approaches, the evil magnifies.

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The prematurely kindled embers of love now burst forth into the unextinguishable flames of unbridled licentiousness or self-pollution. Most of the conversation of young people is upon love matters, or used in throwing or pretending to parry the shafts of love; and nearly all their plays abound in kissing, mock-marriages, etc., etc. The entire machinery balls and parties, of dances, and the other amusements of young people, tend to excite and inflame this passion. Thinking it a fine thing to get in love, they court and form attachments long before either their mental or physical powers are matured. Of course, these young loves, these green-house exotics, must be broken off, and their miserable subjects left burning up with the fierce fires of a flaming passion, which, if let alone, would have slumbered on for years, till they were prepared for its proper management and exercise.

" 'Nor is it merely the conversation of adults, that does all this mischief; their manners also increase it. Young men take the hands of girls from six to sixteen years old, kiss them, press them, and play with them, so as, in a variety of ways, to excite this organ combined, I grant, with friendship and refinement - for all this is genteelly done. They intend no harm, and parents dream of none; and yet their embryo love is

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awakened, to be again still more easily excited, Maidens, and even married women, often express similar feelings towards lads, not perhaps positively improper in themselves, yet injurious in their ultimate effects.

READING NOVELS, LOVE TALES, ETC., INJURIOUS

" 'The fashionable reading of the day is still more objectionable. As to its amount, let publishers, and the editors of family newspapers, testify. Whose sales are the greatest? Whose patronage is the most extensive? Those who publish the most novels, and the best (? worst) love-tales. Let those weeklies that boast of their "30,000 subscribers." and claim "the largest circulation in the world," have a red line drawn across every column containing a story, the substance and seasoning of which is love, and more than half their entire contents will be crimsoned with the sign of Amativeness! Try this experiment and it will astonish you. Country newspapers also must have a part on the whole of some love-tale every week, or else run down. These stories, girls are allowed and encouraged to read. How often have I seen girls not twelve years old, as hungry for a story or novel as they should be for their dinners! A sickly sentimentalism is thus

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formed, and their minds are sullied with impure desires. Every fashionable young lady must of course read every new novel, though nearly all of them contain exceptionable allusions, perhaps delicately covered over with a thin gauze of fashionable refinement; yet, on that very account, the more objectionable. If this work contained one improper allusion to their ten, many of those fastidious ladies who now eagerly devour the vulgarities of Marryatt, and the double-entendres of Bulwer, and even converse with gentlemen about their contents, would discountenance or condemn it as improper. SHAME ON NOVEL-READING WOMEN! for they cannot have pure minds or unsullied feelings, but Cupid, and the beaux, and waking dreams of love, are first consuming their health and virtue.

" 'Not that I impute the lest blame to those respectable editors and publishers, who fill their coffers by feasting this diseased public appetite, especially of the ladies, even though they pander to, and increase, this worst vice of this our vicious age and nation; any more than I blame grog-sellers for making money out of another diseased public taste; because both are aiming mainly at dollars and cents, yet stabbing public virtue to the heart. But their money will be a curse to them, and their trash is a curse to its readers.'

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"A heating, stimulating diet still more prematurely develops this passion. By heating up and fevering the body, it of course fevers the propensities, but none more than this. We have already seen, that meats, teas, coffee, mustards, spices, etc., stimulate it in adults. Hence, they of course induce precocious sexuality in children. On this account, if on no other, these things, coffee in particular, are utterly unfit for the young. Rather feed them on what will allay this impulse, instead of prematurely exciting it. Nor can we expect the world to become pure morally till a correct system of dietetics is generally practiced. A heating diet, after all, is the most prolific cause of 'excessive and perverted sexuality.' Parents, mind what you feed your children. Youth, observe a correct regimen. Married and single, who would reduce this feeling, eat and drink cooling, calming articles only."

HYGIENIC TREATMENT

Perhaps no better matter could be employed to fill the closing pages of this work than a brief outline of the course of treatment which should generally be adopted by this class of unfortunates who have enfeebled themselves mentally and physically, and rendered

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their lives a burden, not only to themselves, but to every one with whom they have to do. The remarks by Prof. Fowler on this subject, in the foregoing pages, are valuable and important, as dealing in general principles; and should be carefully read by all sufferers from the causes named, who hope to better their condition. But a more explicit statement of methods and particulars is demanded. With few exceptions the class of patients for whom they are especially designed, are, unfortunately, so weakened in mind that to vigorously lay hold upon their own cases, study their own symptoms, and make a specific application of principles to their own individual selves, is out of the question. Thousands who read these pages will readily acknowledge the truthfulness of the picture, and admit that their own cases are faithfully pointed out, but will despairingly exclaim, What shall we do?

The fearful prevalence of sexual disorders, and their frequent complication with other diseases, has been rendered painfully prominent to the physicians and managers of the Health Reform Institute, at Battle Creek, and a large number of cases have been successfully treated here, while many more have been advised by letter, and through the Health Reformer. The advice which follows is therefore the result of experience, observation, and careful study.

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As just intimated, and as expressed by Dr. Trall, this class of patients are "fickle, vascillating, and unreliable." The greatest difficulty in their management consists in inducing them to adhere with any degree of tenacity to a prescribed course of treatment. On this account, such had better place themselves under the care of a hygienic physician, if this can possibly be done.

When this is impossible, the next best thing is to find a conscientious friend in whom to confide, and with whom to advise - one who possesses strength of mind, integrity of purpose, and love of humanity, and who can tolerate the whims and caprices of such as are so far unbalanced as to be whimsical and capricious, and who is willing to be burdened with the task of advising one who may at times be unthankful for the best of advice.

If this cannot be done, the patient must trust in God and himself alone, and strengthen his mind in the outset with a resolution to persevere in the use of means which Nature will recognize as aids in the great restorative work.

In giving the outlines for the hygienic treatment of these difficulties, it is not to be presumed that all cases are to be treated alike. Aside from the fact that sexual disorders are often complicated with other difficulties, of which they are frequently the

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cause, they also exist in every stage of advancement, from the first indications of weakness to a condition of complete and entire prostration and debility. The treatment must therefore be varied to suit the circumstances of the case.

1. Diet and Regimen. - The remarks of Prof. Fowler on this point, we heartily indorse. The diet of this class of invalids should be rigidly abstemious. Let us not be understood, however, as advising a meager or impoverished diet. The food should be nutritious, but non-stimulating. This point is of special importance, as this class of patients are nearly always dyspeptic, and like all dyspeptics, should eat all the food they can well dispose of, but no more. The two-meal system is of special advantage, as the presence of food in the stomach at night is often the exciting cause of nocturnal emissions.

2. Sleeping. - Sufferers from these difficulties should cultivate regular habits of sleeping and resting, and should never lie in bed to encourage a dreamy or unsound sleep. Better rise unreasonably early in the morning, than to lie in a state of dreaminess, as the dreams of such will assume a lascivious character, and aggravate the evil.

The bed should not be too soft, and on no account should feathers be tolerated. The covering should be as light as consistent with

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comfort, and the sleeping room should be thoroughly ventilated.

3. Bathing. - Doubtless harm has been done in some cases by overdoing in the matter of water treatment. In the earlier days of the so-called water-cure system, "heroic treatment" and a good deal of it, was advised for this class of complaints; but as an important point to be kept in view is the preservation of strength, this course has been generally abandoned.

The baths should be tonic, rather cool, but not too cold. A sitz bath may be taken from once to four times per week, of a few minutes' duration, at as low a temperature as can be tolerated without chilliness. Give at the same time a hot foot bath, and apply cool wet cloths to the head. The frequency of this treatment will depend upon the condition of the patient.

Local congestions or acute inflammations may be relieved by hot sitz baths of short duration, followed by cool applications. Occasional hot fomentations may sometimes be of benefit, but too much warm bathing must be guarded against as weakening in tendency.

The abdominal bandage or wet girdle may be worn a portion of the time, especially at night, to good advantage. Cool bathing of the parts affected is also beneficial.

4. Exercise. - Plenty of physical exercise

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should be enjoined upon this class of patients; not enough to produce exhaustion or excessive fatigue, but enough to induce good sound sleep. Much mental exercise should be strenuously avoided. The mind should not be taxed with cares, nor should much reading be indulged in. Especially should any exercise of the brain be avoided toward night, or in the evening. As congestion of the brain is often the exciting cause of spermatorrhea, by reason of the intimate relation between the brain and the sexual system, it will readily be seen that to keep the head cool is all important.

5. Social Surroundings. - The patient should be placed in circumstances favorable to the preservation of equanimity of temper, and of self-respect. Above all, let the surroundings, so far as associates are concerned, be of the highest moral character. Let the mind be elevated to dwell upon the purity and holiness of Heaven, rather than the groveling, sensual things of earth. Let a sense of moral responsibility fill the mind, to the exclusion of gloom and despondency, and with earnest, cheerful, and hopeful trust in God, go forward in the work of reform and restoration, till the traces of sin and shame are effaced, and God's noble gift of MANHOOD is restored, that you may fully glorify God in your body and spirit, which are his.

¹ The reader should be careful to observe that there are two senses in which the word "stimulate" is used. In the popular sense, all food is stimulating in that, by its use the vital machinery is set in motion, and the organs of the body are sustained in action. Strictly speaking, however, purely hygienic food is not stimulating, because it contains none of the exciting, irritating elements existing in impure food, the use of which so often inflames the mind and depraves the lower passions.

² This sending children to school however select, is a most grievous evil; because, as children are imitative creatures, all the bad habits of all the scholars are adopted by all the others. Our common schools are complete nuisances, by thus propagating vice, nor can the evil be remedied till parents educate their children.