FATHER’S FOURTH TALK--HOW TO LIVE A PURE LIFE
=The adolescent period.=--The first distinct period of a boy’s life is his
boyhood. This closes when puberty dawns. This usually occurs when he is
about fourteen and a half. This is followed by a period of ten years,
called adolescence. During these years he is changing from boyhood to
manhood. In his feelings, thoughts, looks and ways, he resembles the boy
he was and the man he is to be. In this mixed state, he is a problem.
His whole after life is to be largely determined by this period. The
most important part of this period is the first three years, from
fourteen to seventeen. These three years are called puberty period.
During these three years his sexual nature develops rapidly. Still he is
much more a boy, during this period, than he is a man. This is the most
critical period of a boy’s life. He is coming into possession of powers
that are new to him, he does not understand them, he is not prepared by
nature to control them. He needs the advice and instruction of a wise
father, teacher or book at this period of his life. If a boy is wisely
trained during these three years and he follows the good advice given
him, there is little danger of his going wrong in the future.
=A boy can live pure.=--There is an idea among boys and men, that it is
not best for them to live a pure life. Some of them think that doctors
teach that they should gratify themselves in some way. There is not one
intelligent, honorable doctor who teaches this lie. There are a few
“quack” doctors, whose practice is largely among wicked men, who teach
this lie. When one of these “quacks” tells a boy this, the boy tells
twenty other boys and each of them whispers it to twenty more boys, and
in this way many come to believe the lie. They reason like this, “If I
put my arm in a sling for a year or more, I lose the use of my arm
through the non-use of it. Therefore, if I do not gratify my passions, I
will lose my sexual powers.” To one, who does not understand his sexual
nature, this looks like good reasoning. But it will not stand the test
of a simple illustration. Here is a woman who gives birth to a child
when she is twenty and nurses it perfectly at her breast. This is the
first time her breasts have performed this function, though they have
been capable of doing so for five years. Suppose she does not become a
mother again until she is forty. Again she nurses her baby as perfectly
as she did the first time. But, there were nineteen years in her life,
during which these glands did not feed a child. The breasts of a woman
are a part of her sexual system. These organs have a double function.
One is being performed all the time, day and night; that of secreting an
energy that is absorbed back into her body and that adds to her
strength, health and beauty. The second function is to secrete milk for
her baby when she becomes a mother. The first function helps to keep her
in a condition where the second function can be performed when she
becomes a mother.
=The sexual organs have two functions.=--Now, in the case of a boy or a
man, the sexual organs have a double function. The first function is to
secrete a peculiar energy that is absorbed by the body. It is this
energy that makes a boy a perfect boy when he is fourteen or fifteen,
that changes him from a perfect boy into a perfect man, and that keeps
up his perfect manhood through life. We usually speak of a boy’s sexual
glands as being wholly inactive, having nothing to do until he reaches
puberty. This is not true. It is true however that what we call semen is
not formed by his glands until puberty. If two boys were made eunuchs,
one when only a few days old and the other when puberty came, there
would be quite a difference between them at the age of twenty-five. Both
would be inferior men, but the second would be in many respects superior
to the first. This can be explained only on the ground that the glands
of the second boy formed a vital energy before puberty, and it was this
energy that made the difference between them. Now we see that this first
function of our sexual nature is going on all the time. It is this
function that keeps the sexual system in a condition, when at the proper
age and under proper conditions, the man can become a father. These
illustrations absolutely show that a boy, or a young man, does not have
to gratify his passions. A boy can live as pure a life as a girl.
=The effects of impure thinking.=--The secret of living a pure life is in
controlling the mind and knowing how to use this energy. The mind has
the power to stimulate many of the glands of the body to greater
activity. For example, suppose that you have been hard at work for six
hours, then you come into the presence of some fine fruit or a table
spread with good things. What happens? Your mouth begins to water. What
causes this? The sight of food. Not exactly. The sight of the food
caused your mind to think of the food, to long for it. You remember how
the different things taste. The longer you have to wait, the more your
mouth waters. Now the philosophy of it is this, your mind is stimulating
the little salivary glands in your mouth and causing them to secrete the
saliva rapidly. Just now you hear some one crying, Fire! Fire! Looking
through the window, you see the neighbor’s building is on fire. You
rush over and for one hour you try to put out the flames, save some
property or someone’s life. Your mind is wholly withdrawn from all
thought of food. During that hour your salivary glands secrete just
enough saliva to keep your mouth moist, perhaps the heat and labor left
your mouth dry. Now you return home and your attention is called back to
the food. Again the saliva is formed rapidly, ten or twenty times as
fast as while you were fighting the fire. Now, when a boy has impure
thoughts in relation to his sexual organs, the mind stimulates passion.
If he is under the age of puberty, constant passion will injure his
nervous system, lead him to form the secret sin and will misdirect that
energy so that he will fail to be a perfect boy, when puberty dawns.
After puberty dawns, impure thinking and all impure states of the mind
will so stimulate the sexual glands that they will secrete more semen
than the body can absorb. What cannot be absorbed will in some way be
wasted from the body. It is in this way that boys become imperfect men.
Nothing that a boy can do is more important than for him to keep his
mind pure. Two things will help him; a Christian life and a strong will.
One is a gift; the other must be cultivated.
=Ways of using up this energy.=--It is very important for a boy or young
man to know how to use this energy. We know that if this energy is
wasted, it leaves the body weak, makes the mind stupid and hurts us
morally. We have learned that when this energy is retained, our physical
strength is increased, our minds are more alert and our moral natures
develop better. This shows that this energy can be directed to these
parts of our being. How is this to be done? Let a boy who is conscious
of sexual desire, tempted to practice the secret sin, take a brisk walk
for three or four miles and his passion is gone. What became of it? He
directed the energy to his muscles and expressed it in labor. Here is
another boy with passion, he too is tempted to waste this energy. He has
a hard lesson in mathematics. Let him will to take his mind off sex and
force it to solve those problems. In an hour or two passion is gone.
What became of it? This time he directed it to his brain and it
increased his mental power. Here is another boy. His body is healthy and
strong, his mind is bright, but he is cold, unkind, unsympathetic and
indifferent to the claims of the needy. He has passion and is tempted to
waste his energy. What should he do? Let him spend an hour loving the
unlovely, boosting the discouraged, speaking kind words and doing noble
deeds and his passion will be gone. What became of it? He built his
energy into his sentiments, feelings and moral nature.
=The meaning of passion.=--The consciousness of passion is the voice of
nature telling you that you have an extra supply of creative energy on
hand, that you can use in performing physical, mental and moral service.
If this energy is wasted, it will unfit you to perform the service. It
is for you to decide what use you will make of this energy. Would you
prefer momentary pleasure? Then, you can find it in sexual
gratification. But you should remember that pay-day comes later.
Inferior manhood, disease, suffering, sorrow, regret and failure lie in
the road of all who live in vice. Only perverted ideals and views of
life would lead one to seek pleasure on the plane of an animal. Man’s
highest, truest and sweetest pleasures come from the consciousness of
perfect physical, mental and moral development. Self-management,
self-control, self-government will keep us in harmony with nature and
God and result in true happiness and success.