rendered miferable through Anxiety, Uncertainty, and doubtful Reafonings; but WHERE the gracious SCHEME of our Redemption will tranfcendently appear to be (to us the Exertion) both of the Power and of the Wisdom of God.

I have now but one Thing more to offer in confequence of our Converfation, which is, in regard to your going to the Spaw; a Place you feem to be fearful of for yourfelf: But this Fear itself will be your Security; for there are none fo likely to fall as those who fear no Danger. Befides, as you do not go for the Love of the Place, its Gaieties, &c. fo you have, on the other hand, a very warrantable Reason to go, the Care of your fick Friends, whofe ill Health wants the Affftance of your good Health; And in these Things we are warranted by the Example of our Saviour, who went into the worst Places and worft Compay, in order to do Good: And here the Intention fanctifies the Act, as the Altar fanctifies the Gold.

You need not, you know, follow the Diverfions of the Place, fo as to become fond of them; nor need you cloister yourself up, and wholly abstain from thofe Recreations, which can only be rendered hurtful by Abuse.

And now, my much-loved Amintor, I will take my Leave of you, committing you to the Protection of Almighty God; defiring you will take in good Part every Thing contained in this long Letter, which, in every Article, I could have enlarged upon, wouldTime have permitted me: More I did not chufe to fay, for fear of tiring you; N

and

and lefs I could not fay, confiftent with my Efteem for you, and the Obligation of Duty I am under to comfort you, all that is in the Power of,

Your affectionate Friend,

CHRISTIANUS.

P. S. I hope I fhall have the Pleasure to hear from you from the Spaw, where I wish you a Continuance of Health and Happiness, and that Ease which your own Mind is capable of giving you; heartily wishing, in Confequence of your pious Life here, you may help to compose the Numbers of them who fhall be God's own, when he maketh up his Jewels. If you find any Expreffion which may appear unbecoming, I hope you will impute it to nothing but my want of knowing how to clothe my Thoughts in better Language.

A Mo

A

MONITORY LETTER

FROM

THEOPHILUS

TO THE

Unfortunate MAGDALENA.

Be not wicked over-much, neither be thou foolish: Why fhouldst thou deftroy thyself before the Time?

I

MADAM,

T is fometimes one of the most necessary, tho' perhaps one of the most difagreeable Talks in the World, to write to an unknown Perfon by an unknown Name, as I must now do to you, having never seen you, or heard your Name: But the Neceffity of fuch Epiftles appears from the Nature of their Subjects, and the Difagreeableness of writing them from there being fuch Occafion.

1

Now this Letter is one of that Sort, and comes to you as to a Perfon, who (according to the Information I have had from one of your real Friends, who defired me to write it, as thinking me a proper Inftrument for your Converfion) are one of the moft miferable of all human Creatures, a Woman (á Gentlewoman) abandoned to every Vice, even fo as to glory in her Shame.

I chufe not to enter into a particular Detail of the many Circumstances I have been informed, to complete your unhappy Character, and shall only mention fome few.

I have been informed that you are married, and that you are a Prostitute; and alfo that you, being pregnant, have endeavoured at unlawful Means to ftifle the little innocent Embrio in your Womb: That prophane Swearing is what you pitch upon as an Ornament to your Converfation, and blafpheming the Name of the Great Supreme one of the Embellishments which you feem to think sets off the Females Discourse.

Now, Madam, as to the firft, That you are married, only confider with yourself the Solemnity of your Vow at that Contract; think of your once giving your Hand and Heart to a Perfon, chofe out of the whole Species for the Companion of your future Life; and thence conclude, how indifpenfibly you are obliged to render all your Endeavours ferviceable to the Comfort of your joint Lives! How natural it was to expect an Offspring from the lawful Use of the Marriage-Bed; and the Duties confequent thereupon, in regard to your Children;

and

and then reflect, how agreeable is your Conduct to that Part of Duty, while you hate the Children of Wedlock, and think yourself then only happy when you are in Company with your Brute Creatures.

Can this be pleasing to your Husband? Must it not highly grieve him, to think he has placed his Affections fo unworthily? And the more he loves, and the lefs he is able to wean himself from you, fo much the more must it grate hin to fee you render that Perfon, in which he placed his Felicity, a common Sacrifice to every leud Embrace, and, I had almost faid, a common Channel for the vileft Practices.

If this Confideration will not move you, if the Respect due to your Husband has no Force, yet, let even Self-Intereft fome Way biass you, and confider the Mifery of that Distemper which is the juft Judgment of God upon the Crimes of Inconftancy, and which, fooner or later, muft end in Death; for the Joy of Fools is but for a Moment. Confider alfo (from the fame Principle of Self-Love) that whilft you are endeavour. ing to deftroy your Child (whether lawfully or unlawfully begotten matters not); I say, whilft you are endeavouring to destroy that, you do not do lefs towards your own Destruction; and you may plunge yourself into Hell fooner than you are aware: But believe me, it is a dangerous Thing to play with Firebrands, Arrows, and Death, and to fay, Am not I in Sport?

Confider, how neglected must thofe Children be, whom you are already entrusted with: And Children are the Gift of God, and Talents in