15. PROSTITUTION.--Men who inherit strong passions easily argue themselves
into the belief, either to practice {138} masturbation or visit places of
prostitution, on the ground that their health demands it. Though medical
investigation has proven it repeatedly to be false, yet many believe it.
The consummation of marriage involves the mightiest issues of life and is
the most holy and sacred right recognized by man, and it is the Balm of
Gilead for many ills. Masturbation or prostitution soon blight the
brightest prospects a young man may have. Manhood is morality and purity of
purpose, not sensuality.

* * * * *

Disadvantages of Celibacy.

[Illustration: Disadvantages of Celibacy.
Keeping Bachelor's Hall.
The Old Bachelor Sewing on His Buttons.]

1. To live the life of a bachelor has many advantages and many
disadvantages. The man who commits neither fornication, adultery nor secret
vice, and is pure in mind, surely has all the moral virtues that make a
good man and a good citizen, whether married or unmarried.

2. If a good pure-minded man does not marry, he will suffer no serious loss
of vital power; there will be no tendency to spermatorrhoea or congestion,
nor will he be afflicted with any one of those ills which certain vicious
writers and quacks would lead many people to believe. Celibacy is perfectly
consistent with mental vigor and physical strength. Regularity in the
habits of life will always have its good effects on the human body.

3. The average life of a married man is much longer than that of a
bachelor. There is quite an alarming odds in the United States in favor of
a man with a family. It is claimed that the married man lives on an average
from five to twenty years longer than a bachelor. The married man lives a
more regular life. He has his meals more regularly and is better nursed in
sickness, and in every way a happier and more contented man. The happiness
of wife and children will always add comfort and length of days to the man
who is happily married.

4. It is a fact well answered by statistics that there is more crime
committed, more vices practiced, and more immorality among single men than
among married men. Let the young man be pure in heart like Bunyan's
Pilgrim, and he can pass the deadly dens, the roaring lions, and overcome
the ravenous fires of passion, unscathed. The vices of single men support
the most flagrant of evils of modern society, hence l