3. TRIFLING WITH HEARTS.--TO TRIFLE
WITH HEARTS IS A CRIME OF NO
SMALL MAGNITUDE IN THE SIGHT OF
A HOLY GOD. AND YET SOME WILL
SHOW PREFERENCE FOR YOUNG
LADIES/YOUNG MEN AND CALL OUT
THEIR AFFECTIONS, AND THEN GO
THEIR WAY AND FORGET ALL ABOUT
THE WORDS THEY HAVE SPOKEN
AND THEIR EFFECT. A NEW FACE
ATTRACTS THEM, AND THEY REPEAT
THE SAME WORDS, DEVOTE TO
ANOTHER THE SAME ATTENTIONS.
{AH 57.1}
4. Confide in Godly Parents.--If you are blessed with God-fearing
parents, seek counsel of them. Open to them
your hopes and plans; learn the lessons which their life
experiences have taught. {AH 73.2} If children would be
more familiar with their parents, if they would confide in
them and unburden to them their joys and sorrows, they
would save themselves many a future heartache. When
perplexed to know what course is right, let them lay the
matter just as they view it before their parents, and ask
advice of them. Who are so well calculated to point out
their dangers as godly parents? Who can understand
their peculiar temperaments so well as they? Children
who are Christians will esteem above every earthly
blessing the love and approbation of their God-fearing
parents. The parents can sympathize with the children
and pray for and with them that God will shield and guide
them. ABOVE EVERYTHING ELSE THEY WILL POINT
THEM TO THEIR NEVER-FAILING FRIEND AND
COUNSELOR. {AH 73.3
5. Attachments formed in childhood
have often resulted in a very
wretched union, or in a disgraceful
separation. Early connections, if
formed without the consent of
parents, have seldom proved
happy. The young affections should
be restrained until the period
arrives when sufficient age and
experience will make it honorable
and safe to unfetter them. Those
who will not be restrained, will be in
danger of dragging out an unhappy
existence. {SA 52.1}
6. Since both men and women have a part
in home-making, boys as well as girls
should gain a knowledge of household
duties. To make a bed and put a room in
order, to wash dishes, to prepare a
meal, to wash and repair his own
clothing, is a training that need not make
any boy less manly; it will make him
happier and more useful. And if girls, in
turn, could learn to harness and drive a
horse, and to use the saw and the
hammer, as well as the rake and the
hoe, they would be better fitted to meet
the emergencies of life. {Ed 216.3}
7. Most of men and women
have acted, in entering the
marriage relation, as though
the only question for them to
settle was, whether they
loved each other. But they
should realize that a
responsibility rests upon
them in the marriage
relation farther than this. {SA
104.1}
8. Some children begin to excite their animal passions
in their infancy; and, as they increase in years, the
lustful passions grow with their growth, and
strengthen with their strength. Their minds are not
at rest. Girls desire the society of boys; and boys,
that of the girls. Their deportment is not reserved
and modest. They are bold and forward, taking
indecent liberties. Their corrupt habits of self-abuse
have debased their minds, and tainted their souls.
Vile thoughts, novel-reading, low books, and love-stories,
excite the imagination, and just suit their
depraved minds... Their corrupt habits of self-abuse
have debased their minds, and tainted their souls.
Vile thoughts, novel-reading, low books, and love-stories,
excite the imagination, and just suit their
depraved minds. They do not love work. They
complain of fatigue when engaged in labor. Their
backs ache. Their heads ache. Is there not
sufficient cause? Are they fatigued because of their
labor? No. {SA 180.1}
9. Young men and women are
arising to engage in the work of
God, some of whom have
scarcely any sense of the
sacredness and responsibility
of the work. . . . They talk
nonsense, and sport with
young girls and boys, while
almost daily listening to the
most solemn, soul-stirring
truths.--Testimonies, vol. 3, p.
473. (1875) {Ev 639.3}
10. Young men and women are
arising to engage in the work of
God, some of whom have
scarcely any sense of the
sacredness and responsibility
of the work. . . . They talk
nonsense, and sport with
young girls and boys, while
almost daily listening to the
most solemn, soul-stirring
truths.--Testimonies, vol. 3, p.
473. (1875) {Ev 639.3}
11. Sentimentalism to Be Shunned as Leprosy.--
Imagination, lovesick sentimentalism, should be
guarded against as would be the leprosy. Very
many of the young men and women in this age
of the world are lacking in virtue; therefore
great caution is needed. . . . Those who have
preserved a virtuous character, although they
may lack in other desirable qualities, may be of
real moral worth. {AH 51.4}. Courtship and
marriage occupy the mind, to the exclusion of
higher and nobler thoughts. {AH 51.5}. The
young are bewitched with the mania for
courtship and marriage. Lovesick
sentimentalism prevails. Great vigilance and
tact are needed to guard the youth from these
wrong influences. {AH 52.1}
12. Turn your mind away from romantic
projects. You mingle with your religion a
romantic, lovesick sentimentalism, which
does not elevate, but only lowers. It is
not yourself alone who is affected;
others are injured by your example and
influence. . . . Daydreaming and
romantic castle building have unfitted
you for usefulness. You have lived in an
imaginary world; you have been an
imaginary martyr and an imaginary
Christian. {AH 52.4}
13. If a young girl just entering her
teens is accosted with familiarity by
a boy of her own age, or older, she
should be taught to so resent this
that no such advances will ever be
repeated. When a girl's company is
frequently sought by boys or young
men, something is wrong. That
young girl needs a mother to show
her her place, to restrain her, and
teach her what belongs to a girl of
her age. {CG 455.3}
14. If a young girl just entering her
teens is accosted with familiarity by
a boy of her own age, or older, she
should be taught to so resent this
that no such advances will ever be
repeated. When a girl's company is
frequently sought by boys or young
men, something is wrong. That
young girl needs a mother to show
her her place, to restrain her, and
teach her what belongs to a girl of
her age. {CG 455.3}