Chapter 17—Masturbation
High Resolve and Spiritual Life Destroyed—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.—
Child Guidance, 445, 446
.
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Vital Energy Is Depleted—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, the brain, is so severely taxed at an early age that there is
a deficiency and great exhaustion, which leaves the system exposed to
disease of various kinds.
Foundation Laid for Various Diseases Later in Life—If the
practice is continued from the ages 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.—
Child Guidance, 444
.
The Results of Self-Abuse—Females possess less vital force than
the other sex, and are deprived very much of the bracing, invigorating
air by their indoor life. The results 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,
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