That voluntarily to diveft ourselves of what we poffefs in this world for the fake of Jefus Chrift, in order thereby to be enabled to ferve him with the greater purity of heart, and with the greater fecurity, is by no means against the spirit of Christianity, is even recommended in the strongeft terms by Chrift himself, as a most neceffary means to arrive at Christian-perfection, and to procure an ample reward from him: and whofoever refuses to fubfcribe to this with me, is bound to fhow, from texts of fcripture as plain as those I have here cited, that what I contend for is not the plain and obvious meaning of thefe texts, or that St Paul and our Saviour were only in jeft in what they said.

Having thus feen what the facred scripture teaches concerning voluntary poverty, let us now confider what idea it gives us of the state of celibacy. That the care of a wife and family, and the obligation of providing for them is a great weight upon the mind, that it is very apt to foment our natural attachment to riches, that itfills the mind with a thousand worldly thoughts and folicitudes, and is of course a very great hinderance to our applying with the whole bent of the foul to the one thing necessary, by distracting the heart and dividing the affections, is a truth which daily experience convincingly tcaches us, and which the holy apoftle St Paul declares in exprefs terms, both with regard to men and women: On the contrary, that a person who is free from these distractions, and has nothing to think of but what concerns his advancement in purity of heart and christian perfection, can apply himself with greater freedom to these holy duties, make greater advances in them, and adhere with greater ardour and a more

fervent love to Jefus Chrift, having nothing to divide his affections from him, is no lefs conformable, to reason, to experience, and to the word of God than the former. Let us fee how St Paul expresses himself upon this fubject, "I would have you, (says he), without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things of the Lord, how he may pleafe the Lord: but he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may pleafe his wife. There is 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 in Spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. And this I speak for your own profit, not that I may caft a fnare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that you may attend upon the Lord without distraction, 1 Cor. vii. 32, &c. You fee here how beautifully this great apoftle defcribes the pre-eminency of the unmarried above the married ftate, from these very confiderations I mentioned above, and almost in the fame words; he does not condemn the married state; far from it: on the contrary, he well knew how honourable that is, and how neceffary for the bulk of mankind, and had a little above in this fame chapter exhorted those who have not the gift of continency to enter into it; and, therefore, in the paffage I have cited, he does not command us to embrace the single state, lest he should lay a fnare upon us, by laying a command on all, which all have not the ability to perform; but, he exhorts us to it, by fetting forth the excellency of it, the ease and freedom of mind that accompany it, the liberty it gives the foul to attend to God without anxiety, and with K

the whole bent of her affections; and he wishes that we fhould embrace it, I would have you (fays he) be without carefulness, and that you may attend upon the Lord without distraction; and, conformable to this doctrine, he concludes a little after: So then, he that giveth his virgin in marriage doth well: but he that giveth her not in marriage doth better: thereby clearly pointing out both the excellency of the married state, and the super-excellency of the unmarried state above it. But there is nothing which more clearly fhows us the great pre-eminency of the unmarried ftate, than the glorious and efpecial rewards prepared for those who embrace it in heaven, by which they are diftinguished from all the other faints in that happy kingdom. These are described to us by the beloved difciple, from what he faw himself, in the following words: And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads-And they fung as it were a new fong before the throne and no man could learn that fong, but the hundred and forty-four thoufand that are redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins thefe are they which follow the Lamb whither foever he goeth: thefe were redeemed from among men, being the firft-fruits unto God, and to And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God. Rev. xiv. 1. &c. Nothing fure can give us a more exalted idea of the holy ftate of virginity, than these peculiar marks of honour and favour which, we are here affured, are prepared in heaven for those who embrace it. They have the facred and adorable name of the Father written on their fore

the Lamb.

heads, to diftinguish them from all the other faints, and to fhow how dearly they belong to him; their happy and delightful employment is to be continually finging a new fong in praise of their heavenly spouse, which no other faint can fing; nay, nor fo much as learn, but themselves: they are the immediate attendants upon Jefus Christ, following the Lamb, as his chafte and holy spouses, where-ever he goes; they are in a special manner chofen and redeemed from among men, having received the facred gift of chastity, which was not bestowed upon all: in a word, they are the firft-fruits unto God, the moft chofen flowers of his church, and without guile or fault before his throne. How glorious are thefe facred prerogatives! how excellent that holy state which procures them! I omit feveral other teftimonies of holy scripture to the fame purpose; these being fully fufficient for all I pretend to prove, which is, That voluntarily to deprive one's felf of the carnal pleasures of the married state, and to embrace a life of perpetual chastity, in order thereby to be more at liberty to ferve God, and attend to the advancement of the foul in purity and Divine love, is by no means contrary to the fpirit of Christianity, but most conformable thereto; nay, a most powerful means to purify the foul, and to make great progrefs in perfection; and for which there are most diftinguishing rewards prepared by God in the life to come.

If then these things be fo; if, as our author ackowledges, the exercifes of felf-denial be, at leaft in fome degree, abfolutely neceffary; if they be authorized in the most general terms by the holy fcripture; if voluntary poverty, and a life

of perpetual chastity, be fo conformable to the doctrine of Christianity, and so efficacious means to advance the foul in purity of affections and in Divine love, what idea fhall we form of the principles of our author, who has ufed the utmost effort of his genius and art to perfuade his readers, that all these things are no better than heathen fuperftition? Is not this giving a ftab to the very vitals of the Chriftian religion? But let us fee the difingenuous methods he uses for this end. Firft, to pre-occupy the reader's judgement against them, he begins, p. 53- as we have feen above, by condemning the practices of thofe virtues as extravagancies the most marvellous, the moft frantic, as difhonouring the name of religion, as rendering men worfe than ufelefs. Then he goes on, by a base mifreprefentation, to tell his reader, that the Papifts (who, to the fhame of the Reformation, are the only people that make profeffion of practifing these virtues so highly recommended by the word of God, he reprefents them, I fay,) as placing perfection in the external practices of those virtues alone, and, therefore, carrying them to an extravagant excess, in order thereby, as they imagine, to be the more perfect. Laftly, by the help of the logical fleight above detected, he condemns them for fo doing of the demon Superstition, and brings them in upon an equal footing in this respect with the votaries of Baal, the Mahometan dervises, the Indian fakiers, and the Chinefe bonzas. Good God! is it poffible the man can be a Chriftian who talks at this rate? What? are the facred virtues of following Christ, in selfdenial, voluntary poverty, and perpetual chaftity, infignificant or pernicious; as all the vain cruelties exercised upon themselves by these Turks and