engrossing thought, to follow with entire submission the attraction presented to it, recognising that it deserves nothing on the part of God. In following that attraction my soul finds God, and, finding God, it finds grace and happiness. I am attached to nothing ; I desire only the perfect accomplishment of the will of God. All else is indifferent to me, even what interests me most.

Kindly receive this effusion of my soul, and let it assure you, Monsieur le Curé, revered father in our Lord Jesus Christ, of my veneration and of my most submissive and respectful sentiments.

Your very humble and most unworthy servant,

MIMBASTE, 20th September, 1843.

MARIE.

LETTER XXI.

The nature, effects, and practice of chastity.

MONSIEUR LE CURÉ,

In obedience and entire submission to your will, I will express to you what I think, not as of myself, but according to the instructions of the Saviour Jesus, on the holy virtue of chastity. In order to give a clear answer to your question, I will consider chastity, first in itself, secondly in its advantages and its effects, and lastly in its practice.

1. Chastity is a Divine virtue it comes from God, it gives man a resemblance to God, who is the Being sovereignly pure, without any admixture or participation in anything not Divine, it leads him to God and gives him the possession of Him for ever.

Chastity is a sublime virtue, its source is infinitely exalted, since it comes from God; its efficacy prevents man from sinking to the level of irrational animals; it elevates him to the very Author of reason, God, King of the world and of the heavens.

Chastity is a powerful virtue : it makes man master of himself, gives him strength to resist his evil propensities and perverse inclinations, to despise and tread under foot all criminal enjoyment, all forbidden pleasure, generously to overcome the attraction to all that is impure and turn his soul away from libertinage and corruption. Chastity is the virtue opposed to the vice of impurity.

Chastity is a necessary virtue: for it is written* that nothing defiled shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; and without chastity it is impossible not to defile both body and soul.

Chastity is a virtue which befits all sorts of persons : it befits all ages, man as well as woman, the aged as well as the child, the rich as well as the poor, the ignorant as well as the learned, virgins as well as the married, the most illustrious and most powerful monarch as well as the lowest of his subjects.

Chastity is a virtue which all must possess ; it matters not what may be their state and condition, all must be chaste.

2. Such is the virtue of chastity considered in its nature here is how it may be regarded in its advantages:

Chastity is a marvellous, an admirable, an inestimable virtue. It merits our deepest love, our warmest esteem; it demands our anxious solicitude, and all our

*Apoc. xxi. 27.

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endeavours to acquire it, if we are not so happy as to possess it, or to increase it daily more and more by avoiding everything which could injure or soil it.

How profitable to the spiritual interests of man is this virtue of chastity! Chastity delivers him from a shameful passion which agitates and tyrannises over him unceasingly, which devours and consumes him by that thirst for impure and criminal pleasures and enjoyments which he can neither quench nor satisfy, even by giving it everything it asks of him.

What a difference between two men, one of whom is chaste, and the other not so! What do you find in the latter? Trouble, disquiet, suffering, and misery. And what in the former? Calmness, peace, tranquillity, happiness. The one has his mind always occupied with shameful images and ideas, which weigh upon his soul and prevent it from raising itself towards God, which incline and bow it down miserably to the earth, degrade it, and plunge it into corruption and wretchedness, deprive it of the love of God and of the taste for piety, by making it like the irrational animals. The life this man has led often becomes the cause of despair to him at the hour of death, and he sinks into the depths of everlasting malediction.

He who is chaste, on the contrary, keeps his mind free from all shameful thoughts; he shakes off and puts away from him everything that could trouble or harass his soul, even to the slightest immodest thought, the moment he is aware of it. He raises himself towards God in proportion as he disengages himself from creatures. He keeps his heart pure, and God regards him with complacency. He bestows upon him His benedictions, pours down upon him His graces in abundance, imparts to him His most loving

consolations; or if He tries him in order to add to his crown in Heaven, He does not torture his heart with the sharp sting of remorse. Then, when the hour of death comes, what happiness and what peace in his countenance! His soul will fly with confidence to God, to go and receive the crown of glory and immortality which it will have merited by its conflicts, its struggles, and its triumphs of each day.

The spiritual advantages of chastity, then, are the happiness and peace of the soul during life, tranquillity at the hour of death, the glory and felicity of Heaven when life is over.

The temporal advantages are not less considerable. Chastity surrounds him who possesses it with respect and honour; for it is esteemed of angels and of men, of good people, and even of libertines themselves. He, on the contrary, who is wanting in chastity is despised by all and looked upon as a vile dunghill, which is not indeed trampled under foot because men loathe it and avoid it to escape its defilement.

Chastity secures the happiness of the family. It draws closer and sanctifies the sacred bonds of marriage by a mutual fidelity between husband and wife, and makes them fulfil the obligations of their state.

Chastity forms the glory and honour of the youth of both sexes, and is the consolation of parents in their children.

Chastity extends its benefits even to temporal possessions.

Chastity brings to the family peace and concord, promotes economy, and makes it prosperous, because they who love chastity always love labour. For if it is possible for a man to love labour without being chaste, he must necessarily love labour when he practises

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chastity; and this labour, on these conditions, is always rendered fruitful by God, who is ever rich in blessings to the chaste.

On the contrary, they who do not practise chastity very often fall from an exalted and brilliant position, or, at least, from one of ease and competency, into a state bordering on destitution--sometimes into absolute ruin. The vice opposed to chastity brings with it forgetfulness of a man's duties in his state of life, makes labour unendurable, economy and order impossible, and then all goes rapidly to destruction.

God does not pour down His benedictions on families where chastity does not reign; so far from it, He strikes them with the scourge of His justice in a remarkable manner. He strikes kingdoms and cities, monarchs and subjects, fathers and children. What examples has not God given in past times, to nations, to kings, and to individuals! Was it not He who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha by fire from Heaven, and struck David, and Solomon, and a thousand others on account of the vice opposed to the virtue of chastity?

3. It is not sufficient to admire the beauty and the excellence of chastity, and acknowledge its advantages; it is necessary also to practise it. But, alas! it is but too true that the greater part admire, love, and respect it in others very few possess it and practise it as it ought to be possessed and practised.

This virtue is of an exceeding delicacy; a little thing soils it; it is only by continual watchfulness that it can be preserved. A thought, a word, a look, an act in regard to oneself or another, is sufficient to injure it. I do not mean by this that every thought against modesty is a sin; every one is liable to thoughts of this kind, even the greatest saints. Now, so far from these

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