Social Purity
117
Many of the young are eager for books. They read everything
they can obtain. Exciting love stories and the specimens of nude art
displayed in art galleries, have a corrupting influence. The imagination
becomes defiled. Then follow sins and crimes which drag beings
formed in the image of God down below the level of the brutes, and
sink them at last in perdition. Avoid reading and seeing things which
will suggest impure thoughts. Cultivate a love for high moral and
intellectual themes. Let not the noble powers of the mind become
enfeebled and perverted by much reading of even story-books. I know
[138]
of strong minds that have been unbalanced and almost paralyzed, by
intemperate and indiscriminate reading.
It requires skill and patient effort to mould the young in the right
manner. Especially do children who have come into the world bur-
dened with a heritage of evil, the direct result of the sins of their
parents, need the most careful culture to develop and strengthen their
moral and intellectual faculties. And the responsibility of the parents
is heavy indeed. Evil tendencies are to be carefully restrained and
tenderly rebuked; the mind is to be stimulated in favor of the right. The
child should be encouraged in attempting to govern himself. And all
this is to be done judiciously, or the purpose desired will be frustrated.
Parents may well inquire, “Who is sufficient for these things?”
God alone is their sufficiency; and if they do not seek his aid and
counsel, hopeless indeed is their task. But by prayer, by the study of
the Bible, and by earnest zeal on their part, they may succeed nobly in
this important duty, and be repaid a hundred-fold for all their time and
care. Gossiping and anxiety concerning the external appearance have
often taken the precious time that should have been devoted to prayer
for wisdom and strength from God to fulfill this most sacred trust.
Fathers and mothers who are wise unto salvation will seek to make
their surroundings such that they will be favorable to the formation of
correct character in their children. The source of wisdom is open to
them, and from it they may draw the knowledge which they need. The
Bible, a volume rich in instruction, should be their text-book. If they
train their children according to its precepts, they are not only setting
their young feet in the right path, but are educating themselves in their
holy duties as well.
The young should not be suffered to learn good and evil indiscrimi-
nately, with the idea that at some future time the good will predominate