THE WHOLE

DUTY of a WOMAN:

OR, A N

Infallible GUIDE

TO THE

FAIRSE X.

CHAP. I.

Of RELIGION.

S a very pious and ingenious Author has obferved, That altho' the Female may be thought by fome, tho' fure very unjustly, to be inferior in their Intellectuals to the other Sex, yet, in the fublimeft Part of Humanity, no one can dispute their Equality;

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quality; they have Souls of as divine an Original, as endlefs a Duration, and as capable of infinite Happiness. It ought then to be the firft Care of the Fair Sex, as it is to all Mankind, the Matter of greatest Concern, to regard the Promifes of another Life, nor is there any Thing that can make them eafier or more amiable in this.

THE diftinct and moft principal Scenes in which a Woman can be fuppofed to be an Actor, are these three, VIRGINITY, MARRIAGE, and WIDOW HOOD; which as they differ widely from each other, fo for the difcharging their refpective Duties, there are particular Cautions worthy to be observed.

VIRGINITY, or the Virgin State, is firft in Order of Time; the grand Element eflential to this State is Modefty, which, tho' neceffary to all, is in a more eminent Degree required here. It is the very Characteristick of this Sex, as Courage is of the other; for as the great Mr. Addijon obferves, As a Man without Courage is faid to be no Man, fo a Woman without Modefty is as much out of Nature and Kind. Modefty in Virgins fhould appear in its higheft Elevation: But as all Virtues are to be acquired by the Helps of Religion, and as none can be truly virtuous or happy without it, we fhall, in the firft Place, endeavour to give our Fair Readers an Idea of the true Spirit of the Chriftian Religion, which in every View and Defign directly tends to make us cafy with ourselves, kind and comfortable to one another here, and happy with God hereafter.

It is evident that our holy Religion is a wife Inftitution to every one, who confiders that God is its Author, whofe Wifdom appears in all his Works: Thus the Frame of

vifible

vifible Nature being agreeably fet together, and having each Part of it fuited to ufeful and proper Ends, demonstrates itself to be the Work of divine Wifdom; in like manner the whole Plan of pure Religion, having alfo its Parts fuitable to each other, and every one of them agreeably fet to the fame good and great Defign of the whole, does thereby prove itself to be the Contrivance of an All-wife God.

And hereby the Wisdom of the Christian Religion will particularly appear, because every Part of it tends to promote the unvierfal Good of Mankind; for which Reafon. the divine Founder thereof was named JESUS, that is, SAVIOUR, because his only Defign was to fave us from the prevailing Power of Sin, and from those Miseries in which that evil Power would involve us.

Thus Temperance promotes our Health, Juftice in our Dealings prevents us from fuftaining the Revenges of the Injured, and gains us Truft among Men, with all the Benefits which arife from thence. Charity, by promoting the common Good of others, draws back their Love and Affection to ourselves, while Patience preferves Quiet within our own Breafts, and Self-Denial, by reftraining our extravagant Appetites, establishes the juft Power of Reafon over us; thereby fitting us for all Conditions of Life; and thus the Law of Chrift anfwers to the Character of Wif dom, by its Agreeablenefs to the beft Defign of God in the chief Good of Man: And upon this Account Solomon charactered the Idea of Religion under the Name of Wifdom.

itb.

Befide thefe moral Duties there are feveral Threats of God's Judgments and Promifes of his Favour contained

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