er own Husband_.
And though I cannot but esteem a single life and holy Caelibate (which was
consecrated by the holy _Jesus_ in his proper person) to be an excellent
Virtue; yet since every one hath not that gift of continence which our
Saviour had, and God hath instituted Matrimony as an Ordinance, and the
holy _Jesus_ hallowed it and made it honourable with the expence of the
first Miracle (we read) he ever performed on Earth, and made it more
sublimate by making it a Representation of the Union betwixt Him and his
Spouse the Church; it is a thing highly commendable in it self, and to be
made use of as a great Preservative against inordinacies in our Affections
and unruly Passions: And a Learned Author puts it in the Catalogue of such
_Arts_ [41]_without which a man cannot live well and {32} happily_; and
says, "That although to live a single life is not totally repugnant to
Humane Nature, yet it is repugnant to the Nature of most Men; Because a
single life and caelibate are onely fitted for the most excellent Minds,
and such as are refined from the dross of impure concupiscence." And
another Author brings in _Romulus_ speaking to his neighbouring Nations,
[42]_That they would not grudge to mix themselves together in a joynt
Allyance and Consanguinity_. And though the _Roman_ State seemed to
countenance a single life, because they afforded Dignities to certain
Vestal Virgins, yet the number of those Vestals was but small; and then the
Dignities and Priviledges which they had were no other but that they were
made equal in State to married Wives; they were preferred before all that
lived unmarried, but not before married persons.

But whilest I am speaking of this Order of Vestal Nuns, I cannot but
endeavour to excite in you an abhorrency of those destructive Nunneries
into which the Papists cast their Virgins in their {33} infancy, and before
they come to maturity of years, or are (which they can never be) able to
judge of the strength of their own continency. Into what Stews have these
Nunneries been frequently converted, by reason of restraining those from
the sacred Ligament of Marriage who have not so absolute a command over
themselves as to abstain from unlawful carnality? How is that sacred Fire,
which among the _Romans_ of old was preserved by their Vestal Virgins, by
these changed into _Flames of Lust_, which all their _Holy-water_ will
never allay or extinguish? Oh! that these sottish abusers of the Holy
Ordinan