closing paragraph. The writer had been
treating the subject, much in the manner I have done, only at greater
length, and had enumerated the diseases to which it leads, at the same
time insisting on the importance of informing the young, in a proper
manner, of their danger, wherever the urgency of the case required it.
After quoting numerous passages of Scripture, which, in speaking of
impurity, evidently include this practice, and denouncing it in severe
terms, he closes with the following striking remarks.

'There can be no doubt that God has forbidden it by the usual course of
providence. Its moral effects, in destroying the purity of the mind, in
swallowing up its best affections, and perverting its sensibilities
into this depraved channel, are among its most injurious consequences;
and are what render it so peculiarly difficult to eradicate the evil.
In proportion as the habit strengthens the difficulty of breaking it,
of course, increases; and while the tendency of the feelings to this
point increases, the vigor of the mind to effect the conquest of the
habit gradually lessens.

'We would tell him (the misguided young man) that whatever might be
said in newspapers respecting the power of medicine in such cases,
nothing could be done without absolute self-control; and that no
medicine whatever could retrieve the mischiefs which the want of it had
caused: and that the longer the practice was continued, the greater
would be the bodily and mental evils it would inevitably occasion.

'We would then advise him to avoid all situations in which he found his
propensities excited; and especially, as far as possible, all in which
they had been gratified; to check the thoughts and images which excited
them; to shun those associates, or at least that conversation, and
those books, which have the same effect; to avoid all stimulating food
and liquor; to sleep cool on a hard bed; to rise early, and at once;
and to go to bed when likely to fall asleep at once; to let his mind be
constantly occupied, though not exerted to excess; and to let his
bodily powers be actively employed, every day, to a degree which will
make a hard bed the place of sound repose.

'Above all, we would urge him to impress his mind (at times when the
mere thought of it would not do him harm) with a feeling of horror at
the practice; to dwell upon its sinfulness and most injurious effects;
and to cultivate, by every possible means, an habitual sense of th