cred Vow_,
made to God only; and, by which, we oblige our selves eternally to serve
him with all Chastity and Devotion: This Vow is only taken, and made, by
those that enter into Holy Orders, and, of all broken Vows, these are
those, that receive the most severe and notorious Revenges of God; and I
am almost certain, there is not one Example to be produc'd in the World,
where Perjuries of this nature have past unpunish'd, nay, that have not
been persu'd with the greatest and most rigorous of Punishments. I could
my self, of my own knowledge, give an hundred Examples of the fatal
Consequences of the Violation of Sacred Vows; and who ever make it their
business, and are curious in the search of such Misfortunes, shall find,
as I say, that they never go unregarded.

The young Beauty therefore, who dedicates her self to Heaven, and weds
her self for ever to the service of God, ought, first, very well to
consider the Self-denial she is going to put upon her youth, her fickle
faithless deceiving Youth, of one Opinion to day, and of another to
morrow; like Flowers, which never remain in one state or fashion, but
bud to day, and blow by insensible degrees, and decay as imperceptibly.
The Resolution, we promise, and believe we shall maintain, is not in our
power, and nothing is so deceitful as human Hearts.

I once was design'd an humble Votary in the House of Devotion, but
fancying my self not endu'd with an obstinacy of Mind, great enough to
secure me from the Efforts and Vanities of the World, I rather chose to
deny my self that Content I could not certainly promise my self, than to
languish (as I have seen some do) in a certain Affliction; tho'
possibly, since, I have sufficiently bewailed that mistaken and
inconsiderate Approbation and Preference of the false ungrateful World,
(full of nothing but Nonsense, Noise, false Notions, and Contradiction)
before the Innocence and Quiet of a Cloyster; nevertheless, I could
wish, for the prevention of abundance of Mischiefs and Miseries, that
Nunneries and Marriages were not to be enter'd into, 'till the Maid, so
destin'd, were of a mature Age to make her own Choice; and that Parents
would not make use of their justly assum'd Authority to compel their
Children, neither to the one or the other; but since I cannot alter
Custom, nor shall ever be allow'd to make new Laws, or rectify the old
ones, I must leave the Young Nuns inclos'd to their best Endeavours, of
making a Virtue of Neces