DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3689#0082
80 *A Serious Call to
' please the Lord : And that there is this difference also between
'a wife and a virgin; the unmarried woman careth for the
' things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and
' Spirit:' What wonder is it, if the purity and perfection of the
virgin state, hath been the praise and glory of the Church in its
first and purest ages ? That there hath always been some so
desirous of pleasing God, so zealous after every degree of purity
and perfection, so glad of every means of improving their virtue,
that they have renounced the comforts and enjoyments of wed-
lock, to trim their lamps, to purify their souls, and wait upon
God in a state of perpetual virginity ?
And if in these our days, we want examples of these several
degrees of perfection, if neither Clergy, nor laity, are enough of
this spirit ; if we are so far departed from it, that a man seems,
like St. Paul at Athens, a setter forth of strange doctrines, when he
recommends self-denial, renunciation of the world, regular devo-
tion, retirement, virginity, and voluntary poverty, it is because we
are fallen into an age, where the love not only of many, but of
most, is waxed cold.
I have made this little appeal to Antiquity, and quoted these
few passages of Scripture, to support some uncommon practices
in the life of Miranda ; and to show that her highest rules of
holy living, her devotion, self-denial, renunciation of the world,
her charity, virginity, and voluntary poverty, are founded in the
sublimest counsels of Christ and his Apostles, suitable to the high
expectations of another life, proper instances of a heavenly love,
and all followed by the greatest saints of the best and purest
ages of the Church.
' He that hath ears to ear, let him hear.'
Chapter X.
Showing how all orders and ranks of men
and women of all ages, are obliged to devote
themselves unto God.
I HAVE in the foregoing Chapters, gone through the several
great instances of Christian devotion, and shown that all
the parts of our common life, our employments, our talents,
and gifts of fortune, are all to be made holy and accept-
able unto God, by a wise and religious use of everything,
and by directing our actions and designs to such ends, as are
suitable to the honour and glory of God.
' please the Lord : And that there is this difference also between
'a wife and a virgin; the unmarried woman careth for the
' things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and
' Spirit:' What wonder is it, if the purity and perfection of the
virgin state, hath been the praise and glory of the Church in its
first and purest ages ? That there hath always been some so
desirous of pleasing God, so zealous after every degree of purity
and perfection, so glad of every means of improving their virtue,
that they have renounced the comforts and enjoyments of wed-
lock, to trim their lamps, to purify their souls, and wait upon
God in a state of perpetual virginity ?
And if in these our days, we want examples of these several
degrees of perfection, if neither Clergy, nor laity, are enough of
this spirit ; if we are so far departed from it, that a man seems,
like St. Paul at Athens, a setter forth of strange doctrines, when he
recommends self-denial, renunciation of the world, regular devo-
tion, retirement, virginity, and voluntary poverty, it is because we
are fallen into an age, where the love not only of many, but of
most, is waxed cold.
I have made this little appeal to Antiquity, and quoted these
few passages of Scripture, to support some uncommon practices
in the life of Miranda ; and to show that her highest rules of
holy living, her devotion, self-denial, renunciation of the world,
her charity, virginity, and voluntary poverty, are founded in the
sublimest counsels of Christ and his Apostles, suitable to the high
expectations of another life, proper instances of a heavenly love,
and all followed by the greatest saints of the best and purest
ages of the Church.
' He that hath ears to ear, let him hear.'
Chapter X.
Showing how all orders and ranks of men
and women of all ages, are obliged to devote
themselves unto God.
I HAVE in the foregoing Chapters, gone through the several
great instances of Christian devotion, and shown that all
the parts of our common life, our employments, our talents,
and gifts of fortune, are all to be made holy and accept-
able unto God, by a wise and religious use of everything,
and by directing our actions and designs to such ends, as are
suitable to the honour and glory of God.