Purity of Heart and Life
141
weary and exhaust one-fifth part as much as the pernicious habit of
self-abuse. If simple, well-regulated labor exhausts your children, be
assured, parents, there is something, aside from their labor, which is
enervating their systems and producing a sense of constant weariness.
Give your children physical labor, which will call into exercise the
nerves and muscles. The weariness attending such labor will lessen
their inclination to indulge in vicious habits
Avoid reading and seeing things which will suggest impure
thoughts. Cultivate the moral and intellectual powers
Not only does God require you to control your thoughts, but also
your passions and affections. Your salvation depends upon your gov-
erning yourself in these things. Passion and affection are powerful
agents. If misapplied, if set in operation through wrong motives, if
misplaced, they are powerful to accomplish your ruin and leave you a
miserable wreck, without God and without hope.
If you indulge in vain imaginations, permitting your mind to dwell
upon impure subjects, you are, in a degree, as guilty before God as if
your thoughts were carried into action. All that prevents the action is
the lack of opportunity. Day and night dreaming and castle-building
are bad and exceedingly dangerous habits. When once established, it
is next to impossible to break up such habits, and direct the thoughts
to pure, holy, elevated themes. You will have to become a faithful
sentinel over your eyes, ears, and all your senses if you would control
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your mind and prevent vain and corrupt thoughts from staining your
soul. The power of grace alone can accomplish this most desirable
work
Excessive study, by increasing the flow of blood to the brain, cre-
ates morbid excitability that tends to lessen the power of self-control,
and too often gives sway to impulse or caprice. Thus the door is
opened to impurity. The misuse or nonuse of the physical powers is
largely responsible for the tide of corruption that is overspreading the
world. “Pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness,” are as
deadly foes to human progress in this generation as when they led to
the destruction of Sodom
161
Testimonies for the Church 2:348, 349
162
Testimonies for the Church 2:410
163
Testimonies for the Church 2:561
164
Education, 209