SEXUAL HYGIENE 207 



even such ; and these degraded minds may yet be pure 

 if, with the psalmist, they continue to cry with a true 

 purpose and unwavering trust, '' Create in me a clean 

 heart, God, and renew a right spirit within me." 

 "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash 

 me and I shall be whiter than snow." 



At the first suggestion of an evil thought, send up 

 a mental prayer to Him whose ear is always open. 

 Prayer and impurity are as incompatible as oil and 

 water. The pure thoughts that sincere prayer will 

 bring, displace the evil promptings of excited passion. 

 But the desire for aid must be sincere. Prayer will 

 be of no avail while the mind is half consenting to the 

 evil thought. The evil must be loathed, spurned, de- 

 tested. 



"He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have 

 sinned and perverted that which was right, and it 

 profited me not; He will deliver his soul from going 

 into the pit, and his life shall see the light." Job 

 33:27, 28. 



It would seem almost unnecessary to suggest the 

 impropriety of resorting to prayer alone when sexual 

 excitability has arisen from a culjDable neglect to re- 

 move the physical condition of local excitement by the 

 means already mentioned. Such physical causes must 

 be well looked after, or every attempt to reform will 

 be fruitless. God requires of every individual to do 

 for himself all that he is capable of doing; to employ 

 every available means for alleviating his sufferings. 



