A CHAPTER FOR BOYS 379 



tion of the seventh commandment, one of the most 

 notable Bible characters, David, suffered to the day 

 of his death. Those who imagine that this sin is not 

 a transgression of the seventh commandment may be 

 assured that this most heinous, revolting, and unnat- 

 ural vice is in every respect more pernicious, more de- 

 basing, and more immoral than what is generally con- 

 sidered as violation of the commandment which says, 

 ''Thou shalt not commit adultery," and is a most fla- 

 grant violation of the same commandment. 



Those who imagine that they ''have a right to do as 

 they please with themselves, ' ' so long as no one ^se is 

 immediately affected, must learn that we are not our 

 own masters; we belong to our Creator, and are ac- 

 countable to God, not only for the manner in which we 

 treat our fellowmen, but for how we treat ourselves, 

 for the manner in which we use the bodies which he 

 has given us. The man who commits suicide, who takes 

 his own life, is a murderer as much as he who kills a 

 fellowman. So, also, he who pollutes himself in the 

 manner we are considering violates the seventh com- 

 mandment, although the crime is in both cases com- 

 mitted against himself. Think of this, ye youth who 

 defile yourselves in secret, and seek to escape the pun- 

 ishment of sin. In heaven a faithful record of your 

 vile commandment-breaking is kept, and you must meet 

 it by and by. You are fixing your fate for eternity; 

 and each daily act in some degree determines what it 

 shall be. Are you a victim of this debasing vice? Stop, 

 repent, reform, before you are forever ruined,— a men- 

 tal, moral, and physical wreck. 



Self -Murderers.— Of all the vices to which human 

 beings are addicted, no other so rapidly undermines 

 the constitution and so certainly makes a complete 



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