unknown to the proud children of Adam. Such also is the Cross of Christ, and to suffer for Christ. See Hab. chap. 3:4: “There were horns in His hands; there was His strength hid.” (Vulg.) The chief and most precious pearl of all, from which all virtues and all the Saints, like pearls are sprung, and from which they derive their beauty and their value, is Christ Himself. For His Deity in His Humanity is as a pearl hid in a shell. It issued forth of the substance of the Virgin, and the dew of the Spirit,