dy is lost in a disorderly or unnatural way, he injures the
finest textures of his brain correspondingly, as well as the finest and
most exalted condition of his mind and soul, because the act proceeds in
its incipiency from a willful prostitution of these higher powers.

When sexual thoughts and temptations arise in one's mind, even very
young men are capable of putting them away, urged by the thought that
tampering with one's generative organs is wrong. He should intuitively
feel that it is something akin to theft, or a crime of some worse sort,
for him to indulge in solitary vice and he should intuitively feel an
inward reproach for all such meditations. When one is sorely tempted in
these matters, as is often the case, let him reflect that he was not
created to indulge in such pleasures by himself, and that to do so is a
crime, a sin against the God of Heaven; that it is his destiny, his
privilege and one of the uses of his life to share such enjoyments with
the wife of his bosom; and that all excitement or dallying with this
part of his nature before marriage only serves to weaken his sexual
powers, as well as his mind and body; also, that it mars his sexual uses
and will detract from his sexual pleasures in the married life. Sexual
indulgence of any sort in a young man is a loss, not only to himself but
also, prospectively, to that dear girl whom he will some day make his
wife. Such reflections will often drive away the temptation entirely. If
they are not sufficient to do so let him read some interesting book that
shall take his mind away from the subject; or, that failing, let him
take exercise, vigorous exercise--pushed to fatigue, if necessary. If
these states of temptation occur in bed at night, let him rise and read,
plunge his arm into very cold water, or if necessary go forth into the
open air and seek relief in a rapid walk. It is better to go to any
amount of trouble and to endure any physical discomfort, than to
sacrifice one's chastity, the loss of which can never be replaced.

A young man naturally desires and expects chastity of the strictest
order in the young woman of his choice for a wife. Who would marry a
girl, no matter how beautiful or how many and varied her accomplishments
if it were known that she had granted her favors to any other man? And
yet, what less has _she_ a perfect right to require from a young man who
presumes to pay his addresses to her? This consideration, too, should
serve as