This, then, is how you will war with uncleanness.
Not by prayer and holy living.

Not by pouring of your superfluity into the lap of the poor, and entering by the strait gate upon the narrow path in a garment without seam.No.By the dead and damning gold; by the purple and by the scarlet; by the brightness of the eyes that is born of new wine; by the mincing gait and the gloved fingers; and by the musk and civet instead of the myrrh and frankincense: by these things are you fain to purge your uncleanness.

And will they suffice?
Can Satan cast out Satan?
Beware! '_For though thou wash thee with nitre and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God_.' There shall come a day when your lace and feathers shall hang on you as heavy as your chains of gold, to drag you down to him in whose name you have thought to cast out devils.

Do not think that these things are harmless vanities.

Nothing can fill the human heart and be harmless.
If your thoughts be not of God, they will keep your minds distraught from His grace as effectually as the blackest broodings of crime.