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The Adventist Home
not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the
lusts thereof.” He urges us onward by telling us that “every man that
striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.” He exhorts all who
call themselves Christians to present their bodies “a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable unto God.” He says: “I keep under my body, and
bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached
to others, I myself should be a castaway.
It is not pure love which actuates a man to make his wife an
instrument to minister 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 marriage relation which God recognizes as holy.
Love is a pure and holy principle, but lustful passion will not admit of
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restraint and will not be dictated to or controlled by reason. It is blind
to consequences; it will not reason from cause to effect
Why Satan Seeks to Weaken Self-control—Satan seeks to lower
the standard of purity and to weaken the self-control of those who enter
the marriage relation, because he knows that while the baser passions
are in the ascendancy, the moral powers grow steadily weaker, and
he need have no concern as to their spiritual growth. He knows, too,
that in no way can he better stamp his own hateful image upon their
offspring, and that he can thus mold their character even more readily
than he can the character of the parents
Results of Excesses—Men and women, you will one day learn
what is lust and the result of its gratification. Passion of just as base a
quality may be found in the marriage relation as outside of it
What is the result of giving loose rein to the lower passions? ...
The bedchamber, where angels of God should preside, is made unholy
by unholy practices. And because shameful animalism rules, bodies
are corrupted; loathsome practices lead to loathsome diseases. That
which God has given as a blessing is made a curse
10
Testimonies For The Church 2, 381
.
11
Testimonies For The Church 2, 473
.
12
Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 130
.
13
Testimonies For The Church 2, 473
.
14
Manuscript 1, 1888
.