I shall deal with matters often handled only with much diffidence, and
thought of with uncomfortable reserve. And I address myself to men and
women alike.

I do it all on the basis of one assumption, namely, that a God of love
in designing our human nature cannot have put into it anything which is
incapable of a pure and happy exercise; and in particular that in
making the sex interest so central, permanent, and powerful in human
beings He must have had some great and beautiful purpose. I start, in
fact, with the faith that the sexual elements in our humanity, once
rightly understood and finely handled, make for the enrichment of human
life, for the increase of our health and efficiency, and the
heightening of our joy. I believe that nothing is more necessary for
the world to-day than that we should trace out the ways in which this
tremendous life force that is implanted in us all may be used to
forward the higher aims of our common life, and to help the race on its
upward march. And yet even as I write the word "sexual" I cannot but
remember that the mere word will for many good people produce a
sensation of distaste. Partly because they have a sincere passion for
purity, and partly because this whole subject has been defiled for them
by the excesses and indecencies of mankind, they doubt whether it can
be right or useful to think about it at all. They regard the facts of
sex with a mixture of fear, perplexity, and shame, and take themselves
to task if still some curiosity about them lingers in their minds.
Therefore before I go any further I would like to ask such people to
realize that they are denying my initial assumption. They have not yet
come to believe that there is any divine and holy purpose enshrined in
the sexual side of life, although God is responsible for its place in
our humanity; and I would beg them forthwith to think this matter out.