sent into the world about and so faithfully pursues it that not content to be wise and good her self alone she endeavours to propagate Wisdom and Piety to all about her But neither this Prudence nor heroic Goodness are easily attainable amidst the noise and hurry of the world we must therefore retire a while from its clamour and importunity if we generously design to do it good and having calmly and sedately observ'd and rectify'd what is amiss in our selves we shall be fitter to promote a Reformation in others A devout Retirement will not only strengthen and confirm our Souls that they be not insected by the worlds Corruptions but likewise so purity and resite them that they will become Antidotes to expel the Poyson in others and spread a salutary Air round about them If any object against a Learned Education that it will make Women vain and assuming and instead of correcting encrease their Pride I grant that a smattering in Learning may for it has this effect on the Men none so Dogmatical and so forward to shew their Parts as your little Pretenders to Science But I wou'd not have the Ladies content themselves with the shew my desire is that they shou'd not rest till they obtain the Substance And then she who is most knowing will be forward to own with the wise Socrates that she knows nothing nothing that is matter of Pride and Ostentation nothing but what is attended with so much ignorance and imperfection that it cannot reasonably elate and puff her up The more she knows she will be the less subject to talkativeness and its sister Vices because she discerns that the most difficult piece of Learning is to know when to use and when to hold ones Tongue and never to speak but to the purpose But the men if they rightly understand their own interest have no reason to oppose the ingenious Education of the Women since 't wou'd go a great way towards reclaming the men great is the influence we have over them in their Childhood in which time if a Mother be discreet and knowing as well as devout she has many opportunities of giving such a Form and Season to the tender Mind of the Child as will shew its good effects thro' all the stages of his Life But tho' you should not allow her capable of doing good 't is certain she may do hurt If she do not make the Child she has power to marr him by suffering her fondness to get the better of discreet affection But besides this a good and prudent Wife wou'd wonderfully work on an ill man he must be a Brute indeed who cou'd hold out against all those innocent Arts those gentle persuasives and obliging methods she wou'd use to reclaim him Piety is often offensive when it is accompanied with indiscretion but she who is as Wise as Good possesles such Charms as can hardly fail of prevailing Doubtless her Husband is a much happier Man and more likely to abandon all his ill Courses than he who has none to come home to but an ignorant froward and fantastick Creature An ingenious Conversation will make his life comfortable and he who can be so well entertain'd at home needs not run into Temptations in search of Diversions abroad The only danger is that the Wife be more knowing than the Husband but if she be 't is his own fault since he wants no opportunities of improvement unless he be a natural Blockhead and then such an one will need a wise Woman to govern him whose prudence will conceal it from publick Observation and at once both cover and supply his defects Give me leave therefore to hope that no Gentleman who has honourable designs will henceforward decry Knowledge and Ingenuity in her he wou'd pretend to Honour Or if he does it may serve for a Test to distinguish the feigned and unworthy from the real Lover Now who that has a Spark of of Piety will go about to oppose so Religious a design What generous Spirit that has a due regard to the good of Mankind will not be forward to advance and perfect it Who will think 500 pounds too much to lay out for the purchase of so much Wisdom and Happiness Certainly we shou'd not think them too dearly paid for by a much greater Sum did not our pitiful and sordid Spirits set a much higher value on Money than it deserves But granting so much of that dear Idol is given away a person thus bred will easily make it up by her Frugality and other Vertues if she bring less she will not waste so much as others do in superfluous and vain Expences Nor can I think of any expedient so useful as this to Persons of Quality who are over-stock'd with Children for thus they may honourably dispose of them without impairing their Estates Five or six hundred pounds may be easily spar'd with a Daughter when so many thousand would go deep and yet as the world goes be a very inconsiderable Fortune for Ladies of their Birth neither maintain them in that Port which Custom makes almost necessary nor procure them an equal Match those of their own Rank contrary to the generous custom of the Germans chusing rather to fill their Coffers than to preserve the purity of their Blood and therefore think a weighty Bag the best Gentility preferring a wealthy Upstart before the best Descended and best Qualifyed Lady Their own extravagancies perhaps having made it necessary that they may keep up an empty shadow of Greatness which is all that remains to shew what their Ancestors have been Does any think their money lost to their Families when 't is put in here I will only ask what course they can take to save it and at once to preserve their Money their Honour and their Daughters too Were they sure the Ladies wou'd die unmarried I shou'd commend their Thrift but Experience has too often shewn us the vanity of this expectation For the poor Lady having past the prime of her years in Gaity and Company in running the Circle of all the Vanities of the Town having spread all her Nets and us'd all her Arts for Conquest and finding that the Bait fails where she wou'd have it take and having all this while been so over-careful of her Body that she had no time to improve her mind which therefore affords her no safe retreat now she meets with Disappointments abroad and growing every day more and more sensible that the respect which us'd to be paid her decays as fast as her Beauty quite terrified with the dreadful name of Old Maid which yet none but Fools will reproach her with nor any wise Woman be afraid of to avoid this terrible Mâ—rmo and the scoffs that are thrown on superannuated Virgins she fâ—â—es to some dishonourable Match as her last tho much mistaken Refuge to the disgrace of her Family and her own irreparable Ruin And now let any person of Honour tell me if it were not
celebrated thing as they What tho' she be sometimes told of another World she has however a more lively perception of this and may well think that if her Instructors were in earnest when they tell her of hereafter they would not be so busied and concerned about what happens here She is it may be taught the Principles and Duties of Religion but not acquainted with the Reasons and Grounds of them being told 't is enough for her to believe to examin why and wherefore belongs not to her And therefore though her Piety may be tall and spreading yet because it wants foundation and Root the first rude Temptation overthrows and blasts it or perhaps the short liv'd Gourd decays and withers of its own accord But why should she be blamed for setting no great value on her Soul whose noblest Faculty her Understanding is render'd useless to her Or censur'd for relinquishing a course of Life whose Prerogatives she was never acquainted with and tho highly reasonable in it self was put upon the embracing it with as little reason as she now forsakes it For if her Religion it self be taken up as the Mode of the Country 't is no strange thing that she lays it down again in conformity to the Fashion Whereas she whose Reason is suffer'd to display it self to inquire into the grounds and Motives of Religion to make a disquisition of its Graces and search out its hidden Beauties who is a Christian out of Choice not in conformity to those about her and cleaves to Piety because 't is her Wisdom her Interest her Joy not because she has been accustom'd to it she who is not only eminently and unmoveably good but able to give a Reason why she is so is too firm and stable to be mov'd by the pitiful Allurements of sin too wise and too well bottom'd to be undermin'd and supplanted by the strongest Efforts of Temptation Doubtless a truly Christian Life requires a clear Understanding as well as regular Affections that both together may move the Will to a direct choice of Good and a stedfast adherence to it For tho the heart may be honest it is but by chance that the Will is right if the Understanding be ignorant and Cloudy And what 's the reason that we sometimes unhappily see persons falling off from their Piety but because 't was their Affections not their Judgment that inclin'd them to be Religious Reason and Truth are firm and immutable she who bottoms on them is on sure ground Humour and Inclination are sandy Foundations and she who is sway'd by her Affections more than by her Judgment owes the happiness of her Soul in a great measure to the temper of her Body her Piety may perhaps blaze higher but will not last so long For the Affections are various and changeable mov'd by every Object and the last comer easily undoes whatever its Predecessor had done before it Such Persons are always in extreams they are either violently good or quite cold and indifferent a perpetual trouble to themselves others by indecent Raptures or unnecessary Scruples there is no Beauty and order in their lives all is rapid and unaccountable they are now very furious in such a course but they cannot well tell why anon as violent in the other extream Having more Heat than Light their Zeal out runs their knowledge and instead of representing Piety as it is in it self the most lovely and inviting thing imaginable they expose it to the contempt and ridicule of the censorious World Their Devotion being ricketed starv'd and contracted in some of it's vital parts and disproportioned and over grown in less material instances whilst one Duty is over done to commute for the neglect of another and the mistaken Person thinks the being often on her knees attones for all the miscarriages of her Conversation Not considering that 't is in vain to Petition for those Graces which we take no care to Practice and a mockery to adore those Perfections we run counter to and that the true end of all our Prayers and external Observances is to work our minds into a truly Christian temper to obtain for us the Empire of our Passions and to reduce all irregular Inclinations that so we may be as like GOD in Purity Charity and all his imitable excellencies as is consistent with the imperfection of a Creature And now having discovered the Disease and its cause 't is proper to apply a Remedy single Medicines are too weak to cure such complicated Distempers they require a full Dispensatory and what wou'd a good woman refuse to do could she hope by that to advantage the greatest part of the world and improve her Sex in Knowledge and true Religion I doubt not Ladies but that the Age as bad as it is affords very many of you who will readily embrace whatever has a true tendency to the Glory of GOD and your mutual Edification to revive the antient Spirit of Piety in the World and to transmit it to succeeding Generations I know there are many of you who so ardently love GOD as to think no time too much to spend in his service nor any thing too difficult to do for his sake and bear such a hearty good-will to your Neighbours as to grudge no Prayers or Pains to reclaim and improve them I have therefore no more to do but to make the Proposal to prove that it will answer these great and good Ends and then 't will be easy to obviate the Objections that Persons of more Wit than Vertue may happen to raise against it Now as to the Proposal it is to erect a Monastry or if you will to avoid giving offence to the scrupulous and injudicious by names which tho innocent in themselves have been abus'd by superstitious Practices we will call it a Religious Retirement and such as shall have a double aspect being not only a Retreat from the World for those who desire that advantage but likewise an institution and previous discipline to fit us to do the greatest good in it such an institution as this if I do not mightily deceive my self would be the most probable method to amend the present and improve the future Age. For here those who are convinc'd of the emptiness of earthly Enjoyments who are sick of the vanity of the world and its impertinencies may find more substantial and satisfyingentertainments and need not be confin'd to what they justly loath Those who are desirous to know and fortify their weak side first do good to themselves that hereafter they may be capable of doing more good to others or for their greater security are willing to avoid temptation may get out of that danger which a continual stay in view of the Enemy and the familiarity and unwearied application of the Temptation may expose them to and gain an opportunity to look into themselves to be acquainted at home and no longer the greatest strangers to their own hearts Such as
are willing in a more peculiar and undisturb'd manner to attend the great business they came into the world about the service of GOD and improvement of their own Minds may find a convenient and blissful recess from the noise and hurry of the world A world so cumbersom so infectious that altho' thro' the grace of GOD and their own strict watchfulness they are kept from sinking down into its corruptions 't will however damp their flight to heav'n hinder them from attaining any eminent pitch of Vertue You are therefore Ladies invited into a place where you shall suffer no other confinement but to be kept out of the road of sin You shall not be depriv'd of your grandeur but only exchange the vain Pomps and Pageantry of the world empty Titles and Forms of State for the true and solid Greatness of being able to dispise them You will only quit the Chat of insignificant people for an ingenious Conversation the froth of flashy wit for real wisdom idle tales for instructive discourses The deceitful Flatteries of those who under pretence of loving and admiring you really served their own base ends for the seasonable Reproofs and wholsom Counsels of your hearty well-wishers and affectionate Friends which will procure you those perfections your feigned lovers pretended you had and kept you from obtaining No uneasy task will be enjoyn'd you all your labour being only to prepare for the highest degrees of that Glory the very lowest of which is more than at present you are able to conceive and the prospect of it sufficient to out-weigh all the Pains of Religion were there any in it as really there is none All that is requir'd of you is only to be as happy as possibly you can and to make sure of a Felicity that will fill all the capacities of your Souls A happiness which when once you have tasted you 'l be fully convinc'd you cou'd never do too much to obtain it nor be too solicitous to adorn your Souls with such tempers and dispositions as will at present make you in some measure such holy and Heavenly Creatures as you one day hope to be in a more perfect manner without which Qualifications you can neither reasonably expect nor are capable of enjoying the Happiness of the Life to come Happy Retreat which will be the introducing you into such a Paradise as your Mother Eve forfeited where you shall feast on Pleasures that do not like those of the World disappoint your expectations pall your Appetites and by the disgust they give you put you on the fruitless search after new Delights which when obtain'd are as empty as the former but such as will make you truly happy now and prepare you to be perfectly so hereafter Here are no Serpents to deceive you whilst you entertain your selves in these delicious Gardens No Provocations are given in this Amicable Society but to Love and to good Works which will afford such an entertaining employment that you 'l have as little inclination as leisure to pursue those Follies which in the time of your ignorance pass'd with you under the name of love altho ' there is not in nature two more different things than true Love and that brutish Passion which pretends to ape it Here will be no Rivalling but for the love of GOD no ambition but to procure his Favour to which nothing will more effectually recommend you than a great and dear affection to each other Envy that Canker will not here disturb your Breasts for how can she repine at anothers wel-fare who reckons it the greatest part of her own No Covetousness will gain admittance in this blest abode but to amass huge Treasures of good Works and to procure one of the brightest Crowns of Glory You will not be solicitous to encrease your Fortunes but enlarge your Minds esteeming no Grandeur like being conformable to the meek and humble JESUS So that you only withdraw from the noise and trouble the folly and temptation of the world that you may more peaceably enjoy your selves and all the innocent Pleasures it is able to afford you and particularly that which is worth all the rest a noble Vertuous and Disinteress'd Friendship And to compleat all that acme of delight which the devout Seraphic Soul enjoys when dead to the World she devotes her self entirely to the contemplation and fruition of her Beloved when having disengag'd her felf from all those Lets which hindred her from without she moves in a direct and vigorous motion towards her true and only Good whom now she embraces and acquiesces in with such an unspeakable pleasure as is only intelligible to them who have tried and felt it which we can no more describe to the dark and sensual part of Mankind than we can the beauty of Colours and harmony of Sounds to the Blind and Deaf In fine the place to which you are invited will be a Type and Antipast of Heav'n where your Employment will be as there to magnify GOD and to love one another and to communicate that useful knowledge which by the due improvement of your time in Study and Contemplation you will obtain and which when obtain'd will afford you a much sweeter and durable delight than all those pitiful diversions those revellings and amusements which now thro your ignorance of better appear the only grateful and relishing Entertainments But because we were not made for our selves nor can by any means so effectually glorify GOD and do good to our own Souls as by doing Offices of Charity and Beneficence to others and to the intent that every Vertue and the highest degrees of every Vertue may be exercis'd promoted the most that may be your Retreat shall be so manag'd as not to exclude the good Works of an Active from the pleasure and serenity of a contemplative Life but by a due mixture of both retain all the advantages and avoid the inconveniencies that attend either It shall not so cut you off from the world as to hinder you from bettering and improving it but rather qualify you to do it the greatest Good and be a Seminary to stock the Kingdom with pious and prudent Ladies whose good Example it is to be hop'd will so influence the rest of their Sex that Women may no longer pass for those little useless and impertinent Animals which the ill conduct of too many has caus'd them to be mistaken for We have hitherto consider'd our Retirement only in relation to Religion which is indeed its main I may say its only design nor can this be thought too contracting a word since Religion is the adequate business of our lives and largely consider'd takes in all we have to do nothing being a fit employment for a rational Creature which has not either a direct or remote tendency to this great and only end But because as we have all along observ'd Religion never appears in it's true Beauty but when it is accompanied with Wisdom and
Discretion and that without a good Understanding we can scarce be truly but never eminently Good being liable to a thousand seductions and mistakes for even the men themselves if they have not a competent degree of Knowledge they are carried about with every wind of Doctrine Therefore one great end of this institution shall be to expel that cloud of Ignorance which custom has involv'd us in to furnish our minds with a stock of solid and useful Knowledge that the Souls of women may no longer be the only unadorn'd and neglected things It is not intended that our Religious shou'd waste their time and trouble their heads about such unconcerning matters as the vogue of the world has turn'd up for Learning the impertinency of which has been excellently expos'd by an ingenious Pen but busy themselves in a serious enquiry after necessary and perfective truths something which it concerns them to know and which tends to their real interest and perfection and what that is the excellent Author just now mention'd will sufficiently inform them such a course of Study will neither be too troublesome nor out of the reach of a Female Virtuoso for it is not intended she shou'd spend her hours in learning words but things and therefore no more Languages than are necessary to acquaint her with useful Authors Nor need she trouble her self in turning over a huge number of Books but take care to understand and digest a few well-chosen and good ones Let her but obtain right Ideas and be truly acquainted with the nature of those Objects that present themselves to her mind and then no matter whether or no she be able to tell what fanciful people have said about them And throughly to understand Christianity as profess'd by the Church of England will be sufficient to confirm her in the truth tho she have not a Catalogue of those particular errors which oppose it Indeed a Learned Education of the Women will appear so unfashionable that I began to startle at the singularity of the proposition but was extreamly pleas'd when I found a late ingenious Author whose Book I met with since the writing of this agree with me in my Opinion For speaking of the Repute that Learning was in about 150 years ago It was so very modish says he that the fair Sex seem'd to believe that Greek and Latin added to their Charms and Plato and Aristotle untranslated were frequent Ornaments of their Closets One wou'd think by the effects that it was a proper way of Educating them since there are no accounts in History of so many great Women in any one Age as are to be found between the years 15 and 1600. For since GOD has given Women as well as Men intelligent Souls why should they be forbidden to improve them Since he has not denied us the faculty of Thinking why shou'd we not at least in gratitude to him employ our Thoughts on himself their noblest Object and not unworthily bestow them on Trifles and Gaities and secular Affairs Being the Soul was created for the contemplation of Truth as well as for the fruition of Good is it not as cruel and unjust to preclude Women from the knowledge of the one as well as from the enjoyment of the other Especially since the Will is blind and cannot chuse but by the direction of the Understanding or to speak more properly since the Soul always Wills according as she Vnderstands so that if she Vnderstands amiss she Wills amiss And as Exercise enlarges and exalts any Faculty so thro' want of using it becomes crampt and lessened if we make little or no use of our Understandings we shall shortly have none to use and the more contracted and unemploy'd the deliberating and directive Power is the more liable is the elective to unworthy and mischievous options What is it but the want of an ingenious Education that renders the generality of Feminine Conversations so insipid and foolish and their solitude so insupportable Learning is therefore necessary to render them more agreeable and useful in company and to furnish them with becoming entertainments when alone that so they may not be driven to those miserable shifts which too many make use of to put off their time that precious Talent that never lies on the hands of a judicious Person And since our Happiness in the next world depends so far on those dispositions which we carry along with us out of this that without a right habitude and temper of mind we are not capable of Felicity and seeing our Beatitude consists in the contemplation of the divine Truth and Beauty as well as in the fruition of his Goodness can Ignorance be a fit preparative for Heaven Is 't likely that she whose Understanding has been busied about nothing but froth and trifles shou'd be capable of delighting her self in noble and sublime Truths Let such therefore as deny us the improvement of our Intellectuals either take up his Paradox who said That Women have no Souls which at this time a day when they are allow'd to Brutes wou'd be as unphilosophical as it is unmannerly or else let them permit us to cultivate and improve them There is a sort of Learning indeed which is worse than the greatest Ignorance A woman may study Plays and Romances all her days be a great deal more knowing but never a jot the wiser Such a Knowledge as this serves only to instruct and put her forward in the practice of the greatest Follies yet how can they justly blame her who forbid or at least won't afford opportunity of better A rational mind will be employ'd it will never be satisfy'd in doing nothing and if you neglect to furnish it with good materials 't is like to take up with such as come to hand We pretend not that Women shou'd teach in the Church or usurp Authority where it is not allow'd them permit us only to understand our own duty and not be forc'd to take it upon trust from others to be at least so far learned as to be able to form in our minds a true Idea of Christianity it being so very necessary to fence us against the danger of these last and perilous days in which Deceivers a part of whose Character is to lead captive silly Women need not creep into Houses since they have Authority to proclaim their Errors on the House top And let us also acquire a true Practical Knowledge such as will convince us of the absolute necessity of Holy Living as well as of Right Believing and that no Heresy is more dangerous than that of an ungodly and wicked Life And since the French Tongue is understood by most Ladies methinks they may much better improve it by the study of Philosophy as I hear the French Ladies do Des Cartes Malebranch and others than by reading idle Novels and Romances 'T is strange we shou'd be so forward to imitate their Fashions and Fopperies and have no regard
rectify the least Spot that may prejudice the beauty of her lovely Soul In a word this happy Society will be but one Body whose Soul is love animating and informing it and perpetually breathing forth it self in flames of holy desires after GOD and acts of Benevolence to each other Envy and Uncharitableness are the Vices only of little and narrow hearts and therefore 't is suppos'd they will not enter here amongst persons whose Dispositions as well as their Births are to be Generous Censure will refine into Friendly Admonition all Scoffing and offensive Railleries will be abominated and banish'd hence where not only the Words and Actions but even the very Thoughts and Desires of the Religious tend to promote the most endearing Love and universal Good will for tho' there may be particular Friendships they must by no means prejudice the general Amity Thus these innocent and holy Souls shou'd run their Race measuring their hours by their Devotions and their days by the charitable Works they do Thus wou'd they live the life of Heaven whilst on Earth and receive an Earnest of its Joys in their hearts And now what remains for them to do at Night but to review the Actions of the Day to examine what Passions have been stirring How their Devotions were perform'd in what temper their Hearts are what good they have done and what progress made towards Heaven and with the plaudit of a satisfied Conscience sweetly to sleep in peace and safety Angels pitching their Tents round about them and he that neither slumbers nor sleeps rejoycing over them to do them good And to the end that these great designs may be the better pursu'd and effectually obtain'd care shall be taken that our Religious be under the tuition of persons of irreproachable Lives of a consummate Prudence sincere Piety and unaffected Gravity No Novices in Religion but such as have spent the greatest part of their lives in the study and practice of Christianity who have lived much whatever the time of their abode in the world has been Whose understandings are clear and comprehensive as well as their Passions at command and Affections regular and their knowledge able to govern their Zeal Whose scrutiny into their own hearts has been so exact that they fully understand the weaknesses of human Nature are able to bear with its defects and by the most prudent methods procure its Amendment Plentifully furnish'd with instructions for the ignorant and comfort for the disconsolate Who know how to quicken the slothful to awaken the secure and to dispel the doubts of the Scrupulous Who are not ignorant when to use the Spur and when the Rein but duly qualified to minister to all the spiritual wants of their Charge Watching over their Souls with tenderness and prudence applying fitting Medicines with sweetness affability Sagacious in discovering the very approaches of a fault wise in preventing and charitable in bearing with all pityable Infirmities The sweetness of whose Nature is commensurate to all the rest of their good Qualities and all conspire together to make them lov'd and reverenc'd Who have the perfect government of themselves and therefore rule according to Reason not Humour consulting the good of the Society not their own arbitrary sway Yet know how to assert their Authority when there is just occasion for it and will not prejudice their Charge by an indiscreet remissness and loosning the Reins of discipline Yet what occasion will there be for rigour when the design is to represent Vertue in all her Charms and native Loveliness which must needs attract the eyes and enamour the hearts of all who behold her To joyn the sweetness of Humanity to the strictness of Philosophy that both together being improv'd and heighten'd by grace may make up an accomplish'd Christian who if truly so is certainly the best-bred and best-natur'd person in the world adorn'd with a thousand Charms most happy in her self and most agreeable and beneficial to all about her And that every one who comes under this holy Roof may be such an amiable such a charming Creature what faults they bring with them shall be corrected by sweetness not severity by friendly Admonitions not magisterial Reproofs Piety shall not be roughly impos'd but wisely insinuated by a perpetual Display of the Beauties of Religion in an exemplary Conversation the continual and most powerful Sermon of an holy Life And since Inclination can't be forc'd and nothing makes people more uneasy than the fettering themselves with unnecessary Bonds there shall be no Vows or irrevocable Obligations not so much as the fear of Reproach to keep our Ladies here any longer than they desire No Ev'ry act of our Religious Votary shall be voluntary and free and no other tye but the Pleasure the Glory and Advantage of this blessed Retirement to confine her to it And now I suppose you will save me the labour of proving that this institution will very much serve the ends of Piety and Charity it is methinks self-evident and the very Proposal sufficient proof But if it will not promote these great ends I shall think my self mightily oblig'd to him that will shew me what will for provided the good of my Neighbour be advanc'd 't is very indifferent to me whether it be by my method or by anothers Here will be no impertinent Visits no foolish Amours no idle Amusements to distract our Thoughts and waste our precious time a very little of which is spent in Dressing that grand devourer and its concomitants and no more than necessity requires in sleep and eating so that here 's an huge Treasure gain'd which for ought I know may purchase an happy Eternity But we need not rest in generals a cursory view of some particulars will sufficiently demonstrate the great usefulness of such a Retirement which will appear by observing first a few of those inconveniences to which Ladies are expos'd by living in the world and in the next place the positive advantages of a Retreat And first as to the inconveniences of living in the World no very small one is that strong Idea and warm perception it gives us of its Vanities since these are ever at hand constantly thronging about us they must necessarily push aside all other Objects and the Mind being prepossess'd and gratefully entertain'd with those pleasing Perceptions which external Objects occasion takes up with them as its only Good is not at leisure to taste those delights which arise from a Reflection on it self nor to receive the Ideas which such a Reflection conveys and consequently forms all its Notions by such Ideas only as sensation has furnish'd it with being unacquainted with those more excellent ones which arisefrom its own operations and a serious reflection on them and which are necessary to correct the mistakes and supply the defects of the other From whence arises a very partial knowledge of things nay almost a perfect ignorance in things of the greatest moment For tho
lose and endanger the Victory her eyes had gain'd For when the Passion of a Lover is evaporated into the cool temper of a Husband and a frequent review has lessen'd the wonder which her Charms at first had rais'd she 'll retain no more than such a formal respect as decency and good breeding will require and perhaps hardly that but unless he be a very good Man and indeed the world is not over full of 'em her worthlesness has made a forfeit of his Affections which are seldom fixt by any other thing than Veneration and Esteem Whereas a wise and good Woman is useful and valuable in all Ages and Conditions she who chiefly attends the one thing needful the good part which shall not be taken from her lives a cheerful and pleasant Life innocent and sedate calm and tranquile and makes a glorious Exit being translated from the most happy life on Earth to unspeakable happiness in heaven a fresh and fragrant Name embalming her Dust and extending its Perfume to succeeding Ages Whilst the Fools and the worst sort of them the wicked live as well as die in Misery go out in a snuff leaving nothing but stench and putrefaction behind them To close all if this Proposal which is but a rough draught and rude Essay and which might be made much more beautiful by a better Pen give occasion to wiser heads to improve and perfect it I have my end For imperfect as it is it seems so desirable that she who drew the Scheme is full of hopes it will not want kind hands to perform and compleat it But if it miss of that it is but a few hours thrown away and a little labour in vain which yet will not be lost if what is here offer'd may serve to express her hearty Good-will and how much she desires your Improvement who is LADIES Your very humble Servant ERRATA P. 2. l. 6. dele p. 19. l. 4. f. Patterns r. Examples p. 37. l 8 del l. 17. f. but r. than p. 44. l. 15 after before add it p. 48. l. 10. f. it r. them p. 49. l. 7. d. p. 56. l. 11. r. unaccountable p. 69. l. 16. aft but add to p. 80. l 8. d. as well p. 103. l 13. f. pet r. But. p. 107. l. 12. d. p. 111. l. 10. ast smil'd add betwixt scorn and Pity p. 118. l. 3. r. swallow p. 125. l. 4. aft which add is to be found in l. 5. del affords us p. 130 l. 19. f. froth r. air p. 139. Antep f. this r. that Books Printed and Sold by Richard Wilkin at the King's Head in St. Paul's Church Yard AVindication of the Truth of Christian Religion against the Objections of all Modern Opposers By James Abbadie D. D. oct A second part of the Enquiry into several Remarkable Texts of the Old and New Testament which contain some difficulty in them with a probable resolution of them The second Edit 8 vo A discourse concerning the Authority Stile and Perfection of the Books of the Old and New Testament with a continued Illustration of several difficult Texts of Scripture throughout the whole work Both by John Edwards B. D. sometime Fellow of St John's Colledge in Cambridge octavo The Glorious Epiphany with the Devout Christians Love to it The Second Edition Octavo Search the Scriptures A Treatise shewing that all Christians ought to read the Holy Books with Directions to them therein A Discourse concerning Prayer especially of frequenting the daily Publick Prayers All three by the Reverend Sym. Patrick D. D. The Old Religion demonstrated in the Principles and described in the Life and Practice thereof By J. Goodman D. D. The Second Edition Twelves FINIS Mr Nor. Conduct of Hum. Life Mr. Woltons Reflect on Ant. and Mod. Learn p. 349 350.