Social Purity
113
But few of the youth are free from corruption. Impure habits are
practiced to an alarming extent, and have done more than any other
evil to cause the degeneration of the race. Children who indulge secret
vice are often puny and dwarfed. The anxious parents seek a physician,
[133]
and drugs are administered; but the evil is not removed, for the cause
still exists.
The victims of this habit do not love work; and when engaged
in it, they complain of fatigue,—they have backache, headache, and
what not? Be sure, parents, if simple, well-regulated labor exhausts
your children, there is something else that is enervating their system.
Do not be hasty to excuse them from physical exercise. Do not lift
the burdens they should bear. Overwork is hurtful, but indolence is
much more to be dreaded. Do not release them from responsibility,
and indulge their complaints. It would be the worst thing you could
possibly do for them. It would remove almost the only barrier against
Satan’s free access to their weakened minds. The weariness attending
useful labor lessens the inclination to indulge in vice. Active hands
and minds do not find time to heed every temptation which the enemy
suggests; but idle hands and brains are all ready for him to control. The
mind, when not occupied, is inclined to dwell upon improper things.
“Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of
bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters.”
[
Ezekiel 16:49
.]
Children tend naturally to evil. Unless parents keep their children
under firm control, with the fear of God before them, Satan will take
possession of their young minds, and corrupt them. As they increase
in years, the lustful passions grow with their growth and strengthen
with their strength. And they cannot rest until their guilty secret is
imparted to those with whom they associate. Curiosity is aroused,
and the knowledge of vice is passed from youth to youth, from child
to child, until there is scarcely one to be found who is ignorant of it.
Why do fathers and mothers act as though a lethargy were upon them?
They do not mistrust that Satan is sowing evil seed in their families.
They are as blind and reckless in regard to these things as it is possible
for them to be. Why do they not awake, and inform themselves upon
[134]
these subjects? Why do they not try to become intelligent in regard to
the laws of life, that they may be prepared to care for their own and
their children’s bodies in a way to promote physical health?