Social Purity
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not overworked, how can weariness harm them more than it harms
you? There is quite a difference between weariness and exhaustion.
Children need more frequent change of employment and intervals of
rest than grown persons do; but even when quite young, they may
begin learning to work, and they will be happy in the thought that they
are making themselves useful. Their sleep will be sweet after healthful
labor, and they will be refreshed for the next day’s work.
Some do not realize the sinfulness of impure habits, and the sure
results. Long indulgence in evil has blinded their understanding. The
sensitive nerves of the brain have lost their healthy tone, and the result
is a deadening of the moral sensibilities. The solemn message from
heaven cannot forcibly impress the heart. Moral power is exceed-
ingly weak when it comes in conflict with established habits. Impure
thoughts have control of the imagination, and temptation is almost
irresistible. If the mind were accustomed to contemplate elevating sub-
jects, the imagination trained to behold pure and holy things, it would
be fortified against temptation. It would linger upon the heavenly, the
pure, the sacred, and could not be attracted to the base, corrupt, and
vile.
I have some knowledge of Satan’s manner of working, and know
how well he succeeds in it. He has caused a paralysis to come upon
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the minds of parents, and they are slow to suspect evil habits in their
children. Some of these youth profess to be Christians, and the parents
sleep on, fearing no danger, while their children are wrecking both
body and mind.
It is the special work of Satan in these last days to take possession
of the minds of youth, to corrupt the thoughts, and inflame the passions;
for he knows that by so doing he can lead to impure actions, and
thus all the noble faculties of the mind will become debased, and
he can control them to suit his own purposes. All are free moral
agents, and as such they must train their thoughts to run in the right
channel. The first work of those who would reform is to purify the
imagination. Our meditations should be such as will elevate the mind.
“Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever
things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are
lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and
if there be any praise, think on these things.” [
Philippians 4:8
.] Here is
a wide field in which the mind can safely range. If Satan seeks to turn