Searchlights on Health, 1920

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Searchlights on Health

by B. G. Jefferis and J. L. Nichols 

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net 

Title: Searchlights on Health

       The Science of Eugenics 

Author: B. G. Jefferis and J. L. Nichols
Release Date: September 12, 2004 [EBook #13444]

A Guide to Purity and Physical Manhood Advice to Maiden, Wife and Mother Love, Courtship, and Marriage

PERSONAL PURITY.

"Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control,

These three alone lead life to sovereign

power."—Tennyson

1. Words of the Great Teacher.—Mark the words of the Great Teacher: "If thy

right hand or foot cause thee to fall, cut it off and cast it from thee. If thy

right eye cause thee to fall, pluck it out. It is better for thee to enter into

life maimed and halt, than having two eyes to be cast into hell-fire, where the

worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."

2. A Melancholy Fact.—It is a melancholy fact in human experience, that the

noblest gifts which men possess are constantly prostituted to other purposes

than those for which they are designed. The most valuable and useful organs of

the body are those which are capable of the greatest dishonor, abuse, and

corruption. What a snare the wonderful organism of the eye may become, when used

to read corrupt books, or to look upon licentious pictures, or vulgar theater

scenes, or when used to meet the fascinating gaze of the harlot! What an

instrument for depraving the whole man may be found in the matchless powers of

the brain, the hand, the mouth, or the tongue! What potent instruments may these

become in accomplishing the ruin of the whole being, for time and eternity!

3. Abstinence.—Some can testify with thankfulness that they never knew the sins

of gambling, drunkenness, fornication, or adultery. In all these cases

abstinence has been, and continues to be, liberty. Restraint is the noblest

freedom. No man can affirm that self-denial ever injured him; on the contrary,

self-restraint has been liberty, strength and blessing. Solemnly ask young men

to remember this when temptation and passion strive as a floodtide to move them

from the anchorage and peace of self-restraint. Beware of the deceitful stream

of temporary gratification, whose eddying current drifts towards license, shame,

disease and death. Remember how quickly moral power declines, how rapidly the

edge of the fatal maelstrom is reached, how near the vortex, how terrible the

penalty, how fearful the sentence of everlasting punishment!

4. Frank Discussion.—The time has arrived for a full and frank discussion of

those things which affect the personal purity. Thousands are suffering to-day

from various weaknesses, the causes of which they have never learned. Manly

vigor is not increasing with that rapidity which a Christian age demands. Means

of dissipation are on the increase. It is high time, therefore, that every lover

of the race should call a halt, and inquire into the condition of things.

Excessive modesty on this subject is not virtue. Timidity in presenting

unpleasant but important truths has permitted untold damage in every age.

5. Man Is a Careless Being.—He is very much inclined to sinful things. He more

often does that which is wrong than that which is right, because it is easier,

and, for the moment, perhaps, more satisfying to the flesh. The Creator is often

blamed for man's weaknesses and inconsistencies. This is wrong. God did not

intend that we should be mere machines, but free moral agents. We are privileged

to choose between good and evil. Hence, if we perseveringly choose the latter,

and make a miserable failure of life, we should blame only ourselves.

6. The Pulpit.—Would that every pulpit in the land might join hands with the

medical profession and cry out with no uncertain sound against the mighty evils

herein stigmatized! It would work a revolution for which coming society could

never cease to be grateful.

7. Strive to Attain a Higher Life.—Strive to attain unto a higher and better

life. Beware of all excesses, of whatever nature, and guard your personal purity

with sacred determination. Let every aspiration be upward, and be strong in

every good, resolution. Seek the light, for in light there is life, while in

darkness there is decay and death.

Next Chapter: How to write a love letter and other types of letters