378 PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG 



are so ignorant or so innocent as to be unacquainted 

 with it. To this sin and its awful consequences we now 

 wish to call the attention of all who may read these 

 lines. 



A Dreadful Sin.— The sin of self -pollution is one 

 of the vilest, the basest, and the most degrading that 

 a human being can commit. It is worse than beastly. 

 Those who commit it place themselves far below the 

 meanest brute that breathes. The most loathsome 

 reptile, rolling in the slush and slime of its stagnant 

 pool, would not bemean itself thus. It is true that 

 monkeys sometimes have the habit, but only when they 

 have been taught it by vile men or boys, A boy who 

 is thus guilty ought to be ashamed to look into the eyes 

 of an honest dog. Such a boy naturally shuns the com- 

 pany of those who are pure and innocent. He cannot 

 look with assurance into his mother's face. It is diffi- 

 cult for any one to catch his eye, even for a few seconds. 

 He feels his guilt, and acts it out, thus making it known 

 to every one. Let such a boy think how he must appear 

 in the eyes of the Almighty. Let him only think of the 

 angels, pure, innocent, and holy, who are eye-witnesses 

 of his shameful practices. Is not the thought appalling? 

 Would he dare commit such a sin in the presence of his 

 father, his mother, or his sisters? How, then, will he 

 dare to defile himself in the presence of Him from 

 whose all-seeing eye nothing is hid? 



The Bible utters the most solemn warnings against 

 sexual sins. The inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah 

 were destroyed by fire and brimstone for such trans- 

 gressions. Onan was struck dead in the act of commit- 

 ting a vileness of this sort. For similar vices the 

 wicked inhabitants of Palestine were destroyed, and 

 their lands given to the Hebrews. For a single viola- 



