St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-04-30
PERSONAL PURITY.
A Sermon to Young Men by Rev.
Charles F. ThWing.

A Sermon to Young Men by Rev.
Charles f. Thwing.
At Plymouth church last evening Rev.
Mr.. Thwing spoke on personal Pu-
rity,' from the text:
Proverbs vi, 81, "Can a man take fire
in his bosom and his clothes and not be
burned?"
81 want to speak this evening"" said
he, ION personal theme. 1t is theme
on which it is easy to speak with poetry
and figure and defamation; but poetry
and figure and defamation may be the
indirect aids of the futherance of the
vices that should be crushed. 1t is a
theme on which it is hard to speak with
such plainness as to be at once clear and
inOffensive. 1t is the theme of personal
purity, purity in act, purity In mood, pu-
rity in thought, in appetite, desire and af
lection, purity in choice and preference,
purity in every part and faculty and
function of manhood. The subject of
purity is of first Importance, because
the indulgence of impurity is SO diSas-
trous. Sins there are that strike char
acter as the lightning strikes the BRAN
ches of a thee. The blight does not
shiver the trunk and all the branches
and the seasons fostering care allows it
to put forth new twigs and branches to
remedy the disaster. Such sin is
forgery. There are other sins, however,
like the tree to the root of which the ak
is laid. That sin sewers all connection
of the man with recuperative and re-
formative forces; he is killed. I'm
purity is such a sin. 1t cuts the nerve
of moral life. 1t cuts the motor nerve
and paralyZes the energy, it cuts the
sensitory nerve and blinds the mind.
Impurity is the most dangerous vice to
manhood; it is ruin. In the avoidance
of these awful consequences, in the pro-
motion of purity, shall suggest two or
three means or methods. In behalf of
purity l would say, select pure COM
Partnerships, let your associates be the
noblest men and women. If you are
obliged to pass days in evil surround
ingS, one of three effects will follow:
them; second, they will yield and be-
come like you; or, third, you will re-
move yourself entirely from them. If
you are strong man you may win. If
you are not strong man you will sur
render the place, a place so beset with
moral peril. want to say word to the
Christian mothers who listen to me.
The sons of other mothers are with us.
Try to know them, invite them to your
homes, let them stand within the circle
of all your womanly influence. say
again, to promote purity and to avoid
impurity, read the best books and look
at the best pictures. plead for the
reading of books, for the reading of
the best books, because of the benefits
it confers, for the amusement 1t gives,
and for the improvement it assures.
Never read novel which treats evil as
meritorious. Let no page which de-
flames virtue and which treats vice as
necessary, or trifling, pass under your
eye. Never look upon the foul in art.
that is base can be artistic. Base pict-
ures are paraded upon the ground that
they are eSthetic. 1t is said in defense
of it that to the pure all things are pure.
True; but most men are not so pure
that they can look upon certain scenes
without feelings of impurity. They are
art, but they are immoral. | have seen
in the rooms of young men photographs,
which they said, unblushingly. were
copies of pictures in the French salons,
pictures of great painters, per-
haps great pictures, but pictures
which in most men would excite
base passion, not esthetic admiration.
l need not, suppose, say word as to
looking into such papers as are found
hanging up in the windows of some re-
spectacle newsdealers. Their names
are too familiar, and no self-reSpectlng
man will ever want to look at them
second time. They are low every way.
While am thus speaking of books and
pictures, want to say word as to the
nf
theater question is very broad one.
Whether you or 1 shall attend the rep
resentation of certain plays may be an
open question, but whether you or l
will attend the representation of certain
plays is not an open question. You
know as well as l know to what classes
l refer. Comedies which draw their
chief interest from the display of the
nude no man who respects himself will
ever witness. In this city are certain
lighthouses which seem to delight in
putting such spectacleS upon their
boards. No true man will ever darken
their doors.
Third-A most useful help in the nur
ture of purity is pure imagination.
The Imagination is the creative faculty
of the human mind. The imagination,
like all the intellectual and emotional
IdCulGlcS, Is pOWCl VI UiC Will
The will lets the imagination produce
the base and the corrupt, or the high
and the noble.
But not only through pure compan-
ionships, wise culture in books and art,
and right use of the imagination may
Young man foster life of purity. l
want to suggest fourth method; that is
the cherishing of high ideals for him
self for his own improvement. | want
to urge the influence of these high
ideals. want to urgeahim to desire the
best things, strive after the best things;
and in desiring and striving, whether
winning or losing, you will progress
toward making yourself the best. /
want to speak of two or three ideals
which may help young man in hisllife
of purity. First is the ideal of the eS-
Establishment of home. One of the
young men of our church expressed my
thought very clearly in saying: "The
great result to be aimed at by every
young man who would be good.citiZen,
iljShment of a good comfortable home,
where he may train his children as
good men and women. Every young
man becoming the head of a family
gains at once the same standing as a
man among menu lin the social world,
that ones establishment in business for
himself gives in the commercial world"
To establish home and win the heart
of noble woman is worthy ideal.
Such an ideal cherish. You may know
who that woman is, whose heart you
pray: to win. But known OF unknown.
cherish that ideal. When you are
tempted to think base things, when you
are tempted to let your Imagination run
riot in evil suggestions, let the vision
of that future home pass before you.
The second ideal which every man
should cherish in his battle for purity is
self-respecting manhood. Respect
paid to man is important. and lack OF