Testimonies for the Church, Volume 2 - Ellen G. White

anything of a spiritual character. You have charged
this to your surroundings, but you have not known
the real cause. Your son can be said to bear the
impress of the satanic instead of the divine. He
loves sin and evil rather than true goodness, purity,
and righteousness. It is a deplorable picture.
The effect of such debasing habits is not the
same upon all minds. There are some children who
have the moral powers largely developed, who, by
associating with children that practice self-abuse,
become initiated into this vice. The effect upon
such will be too frequently to make them
melancholy, irritable, and jealous; yet such may not
lose their respect for religious worship, and may
not show special infidelity in regard to spiritual
things. They will at times suffer keenly from
feelings of remorse, and will feel degraded in their
own eyes, and lose their self-respect.
Brother and sister, you are not clear before
God. You have failed to do your duty at home, in
your own family. You have not controlled your
children. You have greatly failed to know and do
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