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

community, and their pernicious influence will
endanger all who are brought in contact with them
in school capacity. Your children are corrupt in
body and in mind. Vice has placed its marks upon
your elder children. They are tainted, deeply
tainted, with sin. The animal propensities
predominate, while the moral and intellectual
faculties are very weak. The baser passions have
gained strength by exercise, while conscience has
become hardened and seared. This is the influence
which vice will have upon the mental powers.
Those who give themselves up to work the ruin of
their own bodies and minds do not stop here.
Eventually they will be found ready for crime in
almost any form, for their consciences are seared.
Parents have not been half aroused to realize their
responsibility in becoming parents. They are remiss
in their duty. They do not teach their children the
sinfulness of these dangerous, virtue-destroying
habits. Until parents arouse, there is no hope for
their children.
I might mention the cases of many others, but
will forbear, except in a few instances. J is a
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