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THE PEARL AMONG THE VIRTUES
Faded, colorless and soiled, is the unchaste youth—loathsome to God, and pitied, or despised and rejected, by all who have a knowledge of his crimes. No rich garment, no odorous ointment, no snowy pearl-white, no precious ornament, can cover his deformity. He who is not chaste, is not beautiful before God; there is no beauty without purity. What enchanting fragrance does not the lily send forth! Every passer by enjoys it.
Chastity exhales the most precious odors before God and man. The heavenly Bridegroom, as the Bible informs us, "loves to linger among the lilies." Even the most sensual persons are wonderfully attracted by
