IMPURITY
Once in California I visited the beautiful gardens of San Francisco and saw a very lovely flower.
Its petals were white, and when you opened up the heart, away down at the very centre was a shape made by the base of the pistil that looked exactly like a dove. It was a flower with a white dove at its heart. They called it the Holy Ghost plant of South America.
It is a fine thing when a girl or boy carries within them a white heart!
There is no sin that leaves a worse stain than the sin of impurity.
It comes by unclean thoughts and words and deeds; and when it comes, it is next to impossible to wash it out.
A man once looked at a dirty picture, and years after he had not forgotten it! It made for him a lifelong fight!
It is almost like putting nails in a post. You may draw them out, but you can never quite fill out the holes left. A growing tree may fill them and a growing life may, but there is always a scar left where the nail entered.
Some boys like to tell nasty stories, and if the boys to whom I talk want to have white souls they should turn from nasty story-tellers the way they would from drinking poison.
It is awful the way a dirty story sticks. It is so hard to get rid of its memory. It is like indelible ink that you use when you want some writing not to wear out.