SELF ABUSE

1. SELF ABUSE

2. Parents do not generally suspect that their children understand anything about this vice. In very many cases the parents are the real sinners. They have abused their marriage privileges and by indulgence have strengthened their animal passions. And as these have strengthened, the moral and intellectual faculties have become weak. The spiritual has been overborne by the brutish. Children are born with the animal propensities largely developed, the parents' own stamp of character having been given to them. . . . Children born to these parents will almost invariably take naturally to the disgusting habits of secret vice. . . . The sins of the parents will be visited upon their children, because the parents have given them the stamp of their own lustful propensities. {CG 442.1}

3. Moral pollution has done more than every other evil to cause the race to degenerate. It is practiced to an alarming extent and brings on disease of almost every description. Even very small children, infants, being born with natural irritability of the sexual organs, find momentary relief in handling them, which only increases the irritation and leads to a repetition of the act, until a habit is established which increases with their growth. {CG 441.3}

4. The time will come when milk can not be used as freely as it is now used; but the present time is not the time to discard it. And eggs contain properties which are remedial agencies in counteracting poisons. And while warnings have been given against the use of these articles of diet in families where the children were addicted to, yes, steeped, in habits of self abuse; yet we should not consider it a denial of principle to use eggs of hens which are well cared for and suitably fed. {TSDF 49.3}

5. Their children should not be allowed to make eggs their diet, for this kind of food--eggs and animal flesh-- feeds and inflames the animal passions. This makes it very difficult for them to overcome the temptation to indulge in the sinful practice of self-abuse which in this age is almost universally practiced. This practice weakens the physical, mental, and moral powers and bars the way to everlasting life. {3SM 286.1}

6. How to know that they practice self abuse? Some children begin to practice self-pollution in their infancy; and as they increase in years, the lustful passions grow with their growth and strengthen with their strength. Their minds are not at rest. Girls desire the society of boys, and boys that of the girls. Their deportment is not reserved and modest. They are bold and forward, and take indecent liberties. The habit of self-abuse has debased their minds and tainted their souls. Vile thoughts, and the reading of novels, love stories, and vile books excite their imagination, and just such suit their depraved minds. {1MCP 290.1}

7. His case was shown me in vision. I saw that he was deceived in regard to himself, that he was not in favor with God. He had practiced self-abuse until he was a mere wreck of humanity. This vice was shown me as an abomination in the sight of God. No matter how high a person's profession, those who are willing to be employed in gratifying the lust of the flesh, cannot be Christians. As servants of Christ, their employment, and meditations, and pleasure, should consist in things more excellent. {ApM 25.1}

8. The results of self-abuse in them is seen in various diseases, such as • catarrh, • dropsy, • headache, • loss of memory and sight, • great weakness in the back and loins, • affections of the spine, the head often decays inwardly.

9. 7. Cancerous humor, which would lay dormant in the system their life-time, is inflamed, and commences its eating, destructive work. 8. The mind is often utterly ruined, and insanity takes place. {ApM 27.1}

10. The minds of some of these children are so weakened that they have but one half or one third of the brilliancy of intellect that they might have had, had they been virtuous and pure. They have thrown it away in self-abuse. {CG 445.3}

11. Idleness leads to the indulgence of corrupt habits. Industry does not 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. Idleness is a curse. It produces licentious habits. {CH 618.1}

12. This practice weakens the physical, mental, and moral powers and bars the way to everlasting life. {3SM 286.1}

13. The brain force is weakened, and memory becomes deficient. Children born to these parents will almost invariably take naturally to the disgusting habits of secret vice {RH, September 19, 1899 par. 7}

14. Mothers, the great cause of these physical, mental and moral evils is secret vice which inflames the passions, fevers the imagination, and leads to licentiousness. This vice is laying waste the constitution, and preparing the young for disease of almost every description. And shall we permit our children to pursue a course of self-destruction? {ApM 8.1}

15. Children who indulge secret vice are often puny and dwarfed. The anxious parents seek a physician, and drugs are administered; but the evil is not removed, for the cause still exists. {CTBH 132.5}

16. 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.] {CTBH 133.1}

17. Those who practice secret vice will lie and deceive. Your children may deceive you, for you are not in a condition where you can know if they attempt to lead you astray. You have so long been blinded by the enemy that you have scarcely a ray of light to discern darkness. There is a great, a solemn, and an important work for you to do at once, to set your own hearts and house in order. Your only safe course is to take right hold of this work. Do not deceive yourselves into the belief that, after all, this matter is placed before you in an exaggerated light. I have not colored the picture. I have stated facts which will bear the test of the judgment. Awake! awake! I beseech you, before it shall be too late for wrongs to be righted, and you and your children perish in the general ruin. Take hold of the solemn work, and bring to your aid every ray of light you can gather that has shone upon your pathway and that you have not cherished, and, together with the aid of the light now shining, commence an investigation of your life and character as if you were before the tribunal of God. "Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul," is the exhortation of the apostle. Vice and corruption abound on every hand, and unless you have more than human strength to rely upon to stand against so powerful a current of evil, you will be overcome and borne down with the current to perdition. Without holiness no man shall see God. {2T 400.2}

18. I have been shown that children who practice self-indulgence previous to puberty, or the period of merging into manhood and womanhood, must pay the penalty of nature's violated laws at that critical period. {ApM 18.1} Many sink into an early grave, while others have sufficient force of constitution to pass this ordeal. If the practice is continued from the ages of fifteen and upward, nature will protest against the abuse she has suffered, and continues to suffer, and will make them pay the penalty for the transgression of her laws, especially from the ages of thirty to forty-five, by numerous pains in the system, and various diseases, such as affection of the liver and lungs, neuralgia, rheumatism, affection of the spine, diseased kidneys, and cancerous humors. Some of nature's fine machinery gives way, leaving a heavier task for the remaining to perform, which disorders nature's fine arrangement, and there is often a sudden breaking down of the constitution, and death is the result. {ApM 18.2}

19. The results of self-abuse in them is seen in various diseases, such as catarrh, dropsy, headache, loss of memory and sight, great weakness in the back and loins, affections of the spine, the head often decays inwardly. Cancerous humor, which would lay dormant in the system their life-time, is inflamed, and commences its eating, destructive work. The mind is often utterly ruined, and insanity takes place. {ApM 27.1}

20. If the practice is continued from the ages of fifteen and upward, nature will protest against the abuse she has suffered, and continues to suffer, and will make them pay the penalty for the transgression of her laws, especially from the ages of thirty to forty-five, by numerous pains in the system and various diseases, such as affection of the liver and lungs, neuralgia, rheumatism, affection of the spine, diseased kidneys, and cancerous humors. Some of nature's fine machinery gives way, leaving a heavier task for the remaining to perform, which disorders nature's fine arrangement; and there is often a sudden breaking down of the constitution, and death is the result. {CG 444.2}

21. Let us view the results of this vice upon the physical strength. Have you not marked the lack of healthy beauty, of strength and power of endurance, in your dear children? Have you not felt saddened as you watched the progress of disease upon them, which has baffled your skill and that of physicians? You listen to numerous complaints of headache, catarrh, dizziness, nervousness, pain in the shoulders and side, loss of appetite, pain in the back and limbs, wakeful, feverish nights, tired feelings in the morning, and great exhaustion after exercising. As you have seen the beauty of health disappearing, and have marked the sallow countenance or the unnaturally flushed face, have you been aroused sufficiently to look beneath the surface, to inquire into the cause of this physical decay? Have you observed the astonishing mortality among the youth?-- S.A., p. 49. {HL 220.3} 944. In those who indulge in this corrupting vice before attaining their growth, the evil effects are more plainly marked, and recovery from its effects is more nearly hopeless. The frame is weak and 221 stunted, the muscles are flabby; the eyes become small, and appear at times swollen; the memory is treacherous, and becomes sieve-like; and the inability to concentrate the thoughts upon study increases.-- T., V. II, p. 402. {HL 220.4}

22. Have you not noticed that there was a deficiency in the mental health of your children? that their course seemed to be marked with extremes? that they were absent-minded? that they started nervously when spoken to, and were easily irritated? Have you not noticed that, when occupied upon a piece of work, they would look dreamingly, as though 222 the mind was elsewhere? And when they came to their senses, they were unwilling to own the work as coming from their hands, it was so full of mistakes, and showed such marks of inattention. Have you not been astonished at their wonderful forgetfulness? The most simple and oft-repeated directions would often be forgotten. They might be quick to learn, but it would be of no special benefit to them; the mind would not retain it. What they might learn through hard study, when they would use their knowledge, is missing, lost through their sieve-like memories. Have you not noticed their reluctance to engage in active labor, and their unwillingness to perseveringly accomplish that which they have undertaken, which taxes the mental as well as the physical strength?-- S. A., p. 50. {HL 221.3} 948. Have you not witnessed the gloomy sadness upon the countenance, and frequent exhibitions of a morose temper in those who once were cheerful, kind, and affectionate? They are easily excited to jealousy, disposed to look upon the dark side, and when you are laboring for their good, imagine that you are their enemy, that you needlessly reprove and restrain them.-- S. A., p. 50. {HL 222.1}

23. The use of flesh and pork

24. The eating of pork has produced scrofula, leprosy and cancerous humors. Pork-eating is still causing the most intense suffering to the human race. Depraved appetites crave those things which are the most injurious to health. The curse, which has rested heavily upon the earth, and has been felt by the whole race of mankind, has also been felt by the animals. The beasts have degenerated [in] size, and length of years. They have been made to suffer more than they otherwise would by the wrong habits of man. {4aSG 146.2}

25. The eating of pork has produced scrofula, leprosy and cancerous humors. Pork-eating is still causing the most intense suffering to the human race. Depraved appetites crave those things which are the most injurious to health. The curse, which has rested heavily upon the earth, and has been felt by the whole race of mankind, has also been felt by the animals. The beasts have degenerated in size, and length of years. They have been made to suffer more than they otherwise would, by the wrong habits of man. {TSDF 70.7}

26. Many people are eating meat filled with consumption and cancerous germs. At the present day animals are suffering from all kinds of deadly diseases. {PC 1.1}