Cautions and Counsels
347
perform an impure action? No, indeed. But you do this in the presence
of your heavenly Father, who is so much more exalted, so holy, so
pure. Yes; you corrupt your own body in the presence of the pure,
sinless angels and in the presence of Christ; and you continue to do
this irrespective of conscience, irrespective of the light and warnings
given you. Remember, a record is made of all your acts. You must
meet again the most secret things of your life....
Again I warn you as one who must meet these lines in that day
when the case of everyone shall be decided. Yield yourself to Christ
without delay; He alone, by the power of His grace, can redeem you
from ruin. He alone can bring your moral and mental powers into a
state of health. Your heart may be warm with the love of God; your
understanding, clear and mature; your conscience, illuminated, quick,
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and pure; your will, upright and sanctified, subject to the control of
the Spirit of God. You can make yourself what you choose. If you will
now face right about, cease to do evil and learn to do well, then you
will be happy indeed; you will be successful in the battles of life and
rise to glory and honor in the better life than this. “Choose you this
day whom ye will serve.
Satan Works While Parents Sleep—This is a fast age. Little
boys and girls commence paying attentions to one another when they
should both be in the nursery, taking lessons in modesty of deportment.
What is the effect of this common mixing up? Does it increase chastity
in the youth who thus gather together? No, indeed! It increases the
first lustful passions; after such meetings the youth are crazed by the
devil and give themselves up to their vile practices.
Parents are asleep and know not that Satan has planted his hellish
banner right in their households. What, I was led to inquire, will
become of the youth in this corrupt age? I repeat, Parents are asleep.
The children are infatuated with a lovesick sentimentalism, and the
truth has no power to correct the wrong. What can be done to stay the
tide of evil? Parents can do much if they will.
If a young girl just entering her teens is accosted with familiarity
by a boy of her own age, or older, she should be taught to so resent this
that no such advances will ever be repeated. When a girl’s company is
frequently sought by boys or young men, something is wrong. That
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Testimonies For The Church 2:559-565
.