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Mind, Character, and Personality Volume 1
follow sins and crimes which drag beings formed in the image of God
down to a level with the beasts, sinking them at last in perdition. Avoid
reading and seeing things which will suggest impure thoughts. Culti-
vate the moral and intellectual powers.—
Testimonies for the Church
2:410
(1870).
The Mind the Determining Factor—Said Paul, “With my mind
serve I the law of God.” Becloud this mind through indulgence of
animal appetite and passions, and the moral powers are weakened so
that the sacred and common are placed upon a level.—
Letter 2, 1873
.
[230]
Masturbation[
Note: The author treats this subject at length in
Testimonies for the Church 2:346-353, 480-482
, and the out-of-print
pamphlet an Appeal to Mothers (1864). See Child Guidance, Section
XVII, “Preserving Moral Integrity,”
Patriarchs and Prophets, 439-468
,
for a comprehensive coverage of the subject drawn from all published
and unpublished sources.—Compilers.]—Youth and children of both
sexes engage in moral pollution [masturbation] and practice this dis-
gusting, soul-and-body-destroying vice.
Many professed Christians are so benumbed by the same practice
that their moral sensibilities cannot be aroused to understand that it
is sin, and that if continued its sure results will be utter shipwreck of
body and mind. Man, the noblest being upon the earth, formed in
the image of God, transforms himself into a beast! He makes himself
gross and corrupt.
Every Christian will have to learn to restrain his passions and be
controlled by principle. Unless he does this, he is unworthy of the
Christian name.
Some who make high profession do not understand the sin of self-
abuse and its sure results. Long-established habit has blinded their
understanding. They do not realize the exceeding sinfulness of this
degrading sin, which is enervating the system and destroying their
brain nerve power.
Moral principle is exceedingly weak when it conflicts with estab-
lished habit. Solemn messages from heaven cannot forcibly impress
the heart that is not fortified against the indulgence of this degrading
vice. The sensitive nerves of the brain have lost their healthy tone by
morbid excitation to gratify an unnatural desire for sensual indulgence.
The brain nerves which communicate with the entire system are the