206 PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG 



likely to gain the mastery over any man who is not 

 thoroughly in earnest to secure a physical as well as 

 a mental and moral reform. But one who will engage 

 earnestly and persistently in the effort will find him- 

 self uniformly successful in conquering the clamorings 

 of a depraved instinct, and each effort will give him 

 new courage, and add to his ability to win future vic- 

 tories. 



Bathing.— A daily bath with cool or tepid water, 

 followed by vigorous rubbing of the skin with a coarse 

 towel and then with the dry hand, is a most valuable 

 aid. The hour of first rising is generally the most con- 

 venient time. How to take different kinds of baths is 

 explained in other works devoted to the subject.* Gen- 

 eral and local cleanliness are indispensable to general 

 and local health. 



Religion.— After availing himself of all other aids 

 to continence, if he wishes to maintain purity of mind 

 as well as physical chastity,— and one cannot exist long 

 without the other,— the individual must seek that most 

 powerful and helpful of all aids, Divine grace. 



The struggling soul, beset with evil thoughts, will 

 find in prayer a salvation which all his force of will, 

 and dieting, and exercising will not, alone, insure him. 

 Yet prayer alone will not avail; faith and works must 

 always be associated. All that one can do to work out 

 his own salvation, he must do ; then he can safely trust 

 in God to do the rest, even though the struggle seems 

 almost a useless one; for when the soul has been long 

 in bondage to concupiscence, the mind a hold of foul 

 and lustful thoughts, a panorama of unchaste imagery, 

 these hateful phantoms will even intrude themselves 

 upon the sanctity of prayer, and make their victim 

 mentally unchaste upon his knees. But Christ can save 



* See " Rational Hydrotherapy, " " Home Book of Modern Medi- 

 cine," and other works by the author. 



