Henry N. Guernsey

“ I declare emphatically that no symptoms of sexual suffering, no matter how feelingly described or cunningly insinuated, should ever lead a physician to prescribe for a young man that fatal remedy, illicit intercourse. Medically as a physician, morally as a Christian, and sympathizingly as a fellow being, I record a solemn protest against such false treatment. It is better for a youth to live a continent life. ”

“ Here reside the knowledge and the power to govern all below it. No matter what the stomach craves or how strongly the appetite begs for this or that; no matter how much one may be tempted to steal, to lie or to swear; no matter how much the sexual organs may lead one to think about or handle them—here is the great and good brain, the home of the will-power, which says: “Touch not, taste not, handle not.” So long as these commands are listened to and obeyed, one is safe. The desire need not and should not control the act—but the rational faculty can and will control, when early taught to do so. ”

“ Cultivation of merely external manners will not do; they must spring from the mind and thence they shine throughout the whole, in every fibre and movement of the body. Such an one is truly beloved wherever she goes; she has a real affection for her father and mother, brothers and sisters; and she is fully prepared to appreciate and love one of the opposite sex whose purity of life and nobleness of mind fully corresponds to her own.
To retain this charm of excellence will cost her many a trial and her temptations will be innumerable and very great. ”

“ Sexuality has been ordained by God in his wisdom as the means of creation. It exists throughout all nature, in every tree, plant and shrub, in every animal and insect; in every bird that flies, in every fish that swims, in every man and woman. The very best and purest of husbands and wives, all the world over, indulge in sexuality to their united satisfaction, in full acknowledgment that it is of God and from God. Every wife who is unreasonable or derelict in this duty is untrue to her husband and commits a sin against the God of Heaven and earth. ”

“ To their shame and confusion be it said, there are many physicians who, when consulted by their patients for medical assistance in such trials, “deliberately encourage the early indulgence of the passions, on the false and wicked ground that self-restraint is incompatible with health. What abhorrence can be too deep for a doctrine so destructive, or for the teachers who thus, before the eyes of those whose youthful ignorance, whose sore natural temptation, rather call for the wisest and tenderest guidance and encouragement, put darkness for light, evil for good, and bitter for sweet.” ”

“ After this acquaintance has ripened into love, and she has become convinced of the purity of his heart, she enjoys being with him, in sitting by his side, and is unhappy in his absence. When betrothed, owing to her great and pure love for him, she takes pleasure in receiving such marks of affection from him as are shown by a tender father or brother, but nothing more. After marriage, she feels that she is really his and that he has become a part of herself—that they are no more twain but are one flesh. ”

“ Home is the soil in which the tree is to grow; and the richer the soil, the better for the tree, and the more numerous will be the branches, all of them vigorously developing buds and leaves, blossoms and fruit, which will be most fragrant, beautiful and useful. When amusement outside of home is sought let it be, as far as possible, of a nature that both may enjoy it equally. ”

“ The love which brings them together and binds them together, flows into their minds from the Divine Love, from the love which has operated hitherto, and which now operates, in creating and forming a Heaven of human beings. ”

“ What is more beautiful than to see a married couple engaged in rearing a new human being destined to become an angel in Heaven! For this indeed is the prime object of sexuality and of the marriage covenant. As has been well said, life on earth is Heaven's seminary. And yet, so many wives, to their shame be it said, use preventives to conception, thus attempting to controvert the order of Nature and Nature's God; this is one of the greatest crimes of the present age and vengeance will surely be taken on every transgressor in this sacred matter. ”

“ Such absences distress a wife greatly, though her love often restrains any expression of disapproval. These habits increase, she suffers more and more, loses sleep on his account and her health fails. The husband's dissipations grow upon him—all such desertions are dissipations when they become habitual—until he loses all relish for the company of his faithful wife and for the caresses of his young and lovely children, until finally to stay at home a single evening is a restraint and unhappiness to him. ”

“ If they pervert marriage in false practices, the love of God, conjugal love, and the love of infants, the three holiest and noblest inspirations of life, perish together. No woman then should ever marry without a full knowledge of her duties to her husband, particularly in the sexual respect; for without granting this privilege to her husband in full and free accord, there cannot be maintained a happy married life. ”

“ The man or woman who perverts it must and will, sooner or later, suffer a penalty equal to the transgression.
The husband rightfully expects to find in his wife, as a seal of the marriage covenant, his greatest possible delight. It should be her greatest delight to give him that pleasure; and if she loves her husband according to her avowal, she will not fail to do this. The feeling, each of the other's nearness—in thought, word and act, as though each one were intertwined with the other in the most complete union, is a very great delight ”

“ It is obvious, therefore, that a girl upon whom Nature, for a limited period and for a definite purpose, imposes so great a physiological task, will not have as much power left for the tasks of school as a boy, of whom Nature requires less at the corresponding epoch. The functions of circulation, respiration, digestion, perspiration, nutrition and menstruation, though involuntary, are all important, dependent one upon another, and all develop at the proper time. Puberty is the proper time for the appearance of menstruation, one of the most important and sacred of her functions. ”

“ Man and woman, who represent the crown and glory of all created beings, in whom are embodied all the lower orders, were and are still created to associate in pairs—each created for the other, the one to help the other; the two to love and to belong to one another. This principle, fully carried out, justifies and shows the necessity for the creation of man and woman precisely as they are, having bodies, parts and passions, will and understanding. ”

“ So the wife, the good, must conjoin herself to her husband, the truth, in order that every truth may result in good; and the husband, the truth, should seek to be conjoined to the wife, the good, that every good may become true. In this there is much wisdom: if the husband be truly wise he will always be sure that all his projects are tempered with good; while if the wife be truly good, all her doings will be enlightened by truth. As hand in hand they thus go through life's planning and doing, the husband will always be assisted by his good, the wife ”

“ The mother in clothing this germ of life commingles, intertwines, and insinuates her own spirit, at the same time educating, instructing, and determining its development according to the influence she imparts to it. So the offspring partakes largely of the nature of both its parents. The determination as to whether he begets a male or female depends entirely upon the inmost vital state of the male at the time of giving, although he is unconscious of the fact, so that he can have no choice and no regulation, as some writers most absurdly claim, in the matter of the forth-coming sex. ”

“ Ever since the primal creation of man and woman, the human race has been perpetuated by a series of births. Children have been conceived in harmony with the natural order of events, in such matters, and have been born boys and girls. A boy is a boy to all intents and purposes from his very conception, from the very earliest moment of his being; begotten by his father he is a boy in embryo within the ovule of his mother. ”

“ The sexual act itself is really a type of the perfect harmony in which the married pair should dwell throughout their lives. It teaches a mutual yielding so that the honeymoon, rising so beautifully and lovingly, may continue to wax lighter and brighter and its fullness be attained in this world only at the dissolution, by a natural death, of a union so orderly and happily formed. ”

“ In the creation of the world and all that therein is, we should consider it an axiom that “Everything was created for use.” All individual substances, or beings, that come to our notice bear certain relations to one another, have connection one with another, and are dependent upon and useful to each other; and nothing could possibly exist or subsist without this co-relation: connection with and use to each other. This is a law which needs only a little reflection to be accepted as a truth in every particular—in the greatest as well as in the least created form. ”

“ All young men, on arriving at the age of twenty-five, other circumstances being favorable, should conform to the laws of Divine order and marry. “Whom shall we marry? Young ladies now-a-days require such an outfit and it costs so much to support a wife in the style she wishes to live, or has been accustomed to, that, to say nothing of the extra expense of children, we cannot afford to marry.” This is a wrong view to take, because pomp, style and show are not the true objects of marriage! ”

“ A perfectly pure and chaste mind, unsullied by impure thoughts or acts, and cultivated by the exercise of all the Christian virtues, lends enchantment to the eye, sweetness of expression to the face, music to the voice, and gracefulness of carriage. ”

“ And is it true that some young ladies, the sweetest and fairest of our race, play with one another in an immodest and indecent way, teaching immorality to the pure and innocent? I fear it is, I know it is. Such things need not, must not, and will not be tolerated. ”

“ Young married people should begin like young married people; it is more orderly and more conducive to the welfare and true happiness of each that, as time passes on, they build up their fortunes together, each helping the other—thus affording new charms that no other course will or can yield.
In the choice of a wife, a man should especially seek congeniality. He should make the acquaintance of a young lady living and moving in the same sphere of life as his own, such as is congenial to his tastes; he should see her in company with other young people and observe how she treats them ”

“ The battle of life really begins as soon as the child is born. Its cleanliness, its clothing, its temperature and its food are matters for daily observance and care, as also are the light, sunshine and air which it is to breathe. ”

“ Whatever the temptation may be, in thought or in deed, let no one persuade her into wrong-doing—not even her apparently best friend; for it would only be an appearance of friendship if he tempted to anything of a vicious nature. She will be beset with hosts of admirers, some of them pure and having honorable intentions; but (I am sorry to sound the note of warning here,) others will come with the most dishonorable intentions possible, though with an air of sincerity, and apparently as artless as doves. Study all men long and carefully, keeping them meanwhile at a respectful distance ”

“ Now, as shown above, since sexual matters are so thoroughly interwoven with the highest destinies of the human race, physically, mentally and spiritually, there is scarcely any function of higher import, allotted to any individual, than that assigned to the genital organs. No function more deeply concerns the healthfulness of the body, the clearness and brilliancy of the intellect, or the purity and sincerity of the soul itself. ”

“ As if the above sufferings were not a sufficient penalty for the transgression against the law—“Be ye pure,” we find yet another. Coincident with the physical wreck, which syphilis makes of the man who becomes thoroughly tainted with its poison, comes his moral wreck. He loses all respect for the truth and all regard for his word; no dependence of any kind can be placed upon him, and he will not pay his debts or fulfil any moral obligation ”