upon that weak account; they are punish'd in fome Proportion to the vain Efteem they held themselves in.

But the Mind, when that is cultivated and improv'd, anfwers fufficiently for all the care, and time, and pains, that are bestow'd upon it. The Ornaments of that are fuch, as always obtain the End propos'd by them: They always represent it beautiful and lovely to all People: It does not depend upon the Humour or Fancy, whether Religion, Virtue, and Discretion, fhall find Favour and Acceptance, for they will always find their Force irrefiftible; while Men have Reason and Understanding, they cannot help approving and defiring these Accomplishments of the Soul: We may in this cafe trust them with their Paffions; for tho' their own Practice be against them, guided by their inordinate Defires, yet is their fecret Judgment always on the fide of Religion, Virtue, and Difcretion; and they always like them in others, how much foever they neglect them in themselves. The looseeft People in the World, wou'd have their Mothers, their Wives, their Daughters, their Sisters, and all their Relations, Religious, Virtuous and Difcreet, rather than Beautiful; and therefore 'tis the fettled Judgment of · Mankind, that these are the best, the truest, and most lafting Ornaments of Women. Indeed when Beauty also meets and joins with these excellent Qualities, they give a natural Luftre to each other, and fet each other off to great Advantage: Beauty adds Grace to them, and they prefent the greatest Beauty yet more beautiful. But these are Ornaments when that is gone, and where it never was; these are incorruptible, and last as long as the Mind itself, which they adorn and beautify; these are of great Ufe and Service; these deserve the greatest Praise and Honour, and these will ftand them in ftead when all things elfe fail them. All Beauty and external Ornaments are of very little Use and Service, either to such as have them, or to such as behold them; whereas Religion, Virtue, and Difcretion, are of general Ufe and Benefit; they are serviceable to every one: They do not

only

only make those who poffefs them good, but they make them do good to all that are concern'd, or have to deal with them. Beauty, Wit, Birth, Quality, and fine Attire attract the Eyes and Admiration; but 'tis another sort of Admiration; which is rais'd by Virtue and Religion; 'tis always attended with Esteem and fecret Veneration, the other with Envy, or perhaps Contempt: For if Men fee we are too vain, and puft up with Conceit for either Beauty, Wit, Birth, Quality, or fine Attire, they will refufe us the Superiority we would ufurp, and look with Difdain on what we expect they should admire. The Admiration rais'd by thofe outward Qualities as excellent as they are in themselves, is only a tranfient Wonder; fomething that glisters and dazzles the Eyes; a fine Sight, which works on the Fancy a little, and then gives way to other Novelties, that ftill occafions the fame Wonder: But the Admiration rais'd by the true Ornaments of the Mind, Religion, Virtue and Discretion, is from the Contemplation of fome great and noble Work of Nature, which by its Beauty and its Ufefulness begets Efteem and Liking in the Mind immediately; a Liking. and Efteem that continues there, and are excited as often as the Object or Idea of it rifes or appears. There is therefore no Comparison between the Usefulness of Beauty and the Ornaments of the Body, and those good Qualities and Graces that are the Ornaments and Beauties of the Soul. Nor is there any Comparison between the Praifes, Honour and Efteem, that all good, wife, and fober People give, and have, for virtuous and religious Women; and that short Gaze and Compliment which vain and idle Spirits pay to Beauty and gay Clothes. Favour, fays one that knew, is deceitful, and Beauty is vain, but a Woman that feareth the Lord she fhall be praised. Favour and Beauty have their Praife, vain and deceitful as they are, beftow'd with the mifchievous Purpose of enfnaring and corrupting: But they who fear the Lord in Wisdom and Virtue, are prais'd in garneft, and honour'd and efteem'd with all Sincerity.

There

There can be no Difficulty, therefore, in the Choice of these different Ornaments and Beauties; the one are vain and useless, the other folid and ferviceable; the one belov❜d and had in Veneration by all good People, the other valued for a time by the Young and Giddy; the one will stand thofe that have them in ftead, when the other fail them and are gone. The Favour and Affection, which are only built upon good Features, Colour, Shape, Drefs, and Ornament, muft neceffarily decay and die. This Affection depends upon Diseases, Accidents and Humour for its Being. Can this be fufficient to fecure the Peace and Happiness of marry'd Women, who have it not in their Power to fecure themfelves against Diseases, Accidents, and Change of Humour? If their Happiness confifted in fuch Affection, how precarious, dependent, and uncertain wou'd it be? Certain it is, they cannot be happy without Affection and Good-will, which are neceffary to make them easy and contented as long as they live, much longer than they can hold their Beauty and their Comeliness. They are oblig'd then in common Prudence, to fecure the Affections of their Husbands, by adorning themselves with those good Qualities, that will render them for ever acceptable to wife and fober Men, even when the Ruins of their Beauty are defaced. Thefe Qualities are Godliness, Virtue, and Discretion; where-ever they appear there will be no want of any thing else, or if there be, these will excuse it or supply it. Where Men discern a good Sense of Religion, prevailing in their Minds, and influencing them to the Exercise of all the Virtues that are proper to them, according to their Opportunities and Abilities; where they fee them manage their Affairs with Care, Wisdom, and Discretion, and discharge the Duties of every Relation, whether Mother, Wife, or Miftrefs of a Family, with Diligence and Prudence, they will despise the Entertainments of a light and idle Imagination; they will fee no want of Beauty in the Body, where the Soul fhines out with fo much Luftre; the Accomplishments

plishments of the Mind will fo charm them, that they will be blind to all other Imperfections; they will find the Use and Pleasure of the excellent Qualities of the Soul in every Action of their Lives; it will be a Comfort to them in their Affliction, and a Joy in Profperity, 'twill give Grace and Comeliness throughout, hide every native Blemish, and what is infinitely more than rendering them amiable in the Eyes of Men, it will give them Grace and Favour in the Sight of God, which is to be their principal Aim. For what wou'd it avail them to be amiable to all the World, if under God's Displeasure? To be in favour with God is the fureft way to be in favour with Man: Good-will is one of the Bleffings he showers down on his Favourites, and there is no Means of obtaining that Felicity but by Religion and Virtue.

One wou'd think by the Conduct of the modifh Ladies, that they flatter'd themselves with a Belief of being what the Folly of fond Men call them, Goddesses, and their Being and Beauty immortal, that Sickness and Death durft not approach them; but the time will come, and perhaps fhortly too, when they who have mif-fpent their Life in these or other idle and unprofitable Exercifes, tho' not directly finful, when they have neglected to improve their better Part, to drefs up and adorn their Souls, to clothe themselves with Virtues and good Works, fhall fee their Crime, and how naked and defenceless they shall stand before the Throne of God, where they are to give an Account how they have pass'd their Lives in this World: They who have been virtuous and holy, conftant and fervent in their Prayers and Praises, frequent in reading of the Scriptures, and other good Books, in meditating on the Promises and Threats they find in them, and who have all along been careful to be rich in good Works, bufied in the Exercise of Virtue, and conftantly doing the feveral Duties of their Life, fhall find the Advantage of having thus improv'd their Time, their Talents, and Abilities; they shall fee that this was trimming of their Lamps, and

living.

living in a Readinefs and Expectation of the Bridegroom's calling them; that this was the adorning of the bidden Man of the Heart, which was not corruptible, and is in the Sight of God of great Price.

If a Chriftian Woman wou'd demand of her own Confcience, when fhe is confuming Hours at her Glafs, and contriving how to prepare herself for the unchafte Glances of wanton Spectators: Is this the Trimming which the wife Virgins adorn'd themselves with? Shou❜d I meet the heavenly Bridegroom in thefe Garments, fo difpos'd to tempt and to be tempted, fhou'd I not be condemn'd with the foolish Virgins? And what is that Condemnation, but eternal Torment? fhe wou'd furely fhorten the Time fhe fet apart for Vanity, and give more to the adorning her Soul with Ornaments of Religion and Virtue, and especially with that of a meek and quiet Spirit, which the Apoftle tells is moft becoming and precious in the Sight of God. By this meek and quiet Spirit is to be understood a soft and gentle Temper, a peaceful calm, and patient Mind, oppos'd to Anger, Pride, and Fiercenefs, Noifinefs, Impatience, and a reftless Discontent. This kind of Temper is the greateft Happiness that can befal any one, making them eafy to themselves, and to all about them. Moft of the Troubles and Misfortunes of Life are more or less uneafy and afflicting, as their Minds are more or less prepar'd to entertain them. Thus we fee the fame Evil that oppreffes and overwhelms one Man, makes very little Impreffions upon another; one Man grows loud and paffionate on the leaft Occafion, a look of Slight, a doubtful or an angry Word fets him immediately in a Flame, while another bears the most apparent Infults, and heaviest Injuries, with great Evenness and Patience; one Man is calm and easy under great Loffes, while another storms and rages at little Disappointments. A meek and quiet Spirit therefore, does moft evidently give the Advantage to fuch as have it, and deliver them from many Sufferings, to which the Fierce and Angry,

Hafty