Two Words to Virgins.
O virgins! I will say only these two words to you, for as for the rest, you will find it elsewhere; if you aspire to temporal marriage, carefully preserve your first love for your first husband. I think it is a great deception to offer, instead of a pure and upright heart, a heart quite worn out, adulterated, and spoiled. But if your happiness calls you to the chaste and virginal nuptials of the Lamb, and you wish to remain virgins forever, O God! preserve your heart as delicately as you can for this divine Bridegroom, Who, being purity itself, loves nothing so much as purity, and to Whom the first fruits of all things are due, but above all the first fruits of the heart. The epistles of Saint Jerome will furnish you with all the counsel you need; and since your condition obliges you to obedience, choose a guide under whose direction you may more holily preserve your heart and body for the divine Majesty.
FOURTH PART
CONTAINING THE NECESSARY COUNSELS AGAINST THE MOST ORDINARY TEMPTATIONS.
O virgins! I will say only these two words to you, for as for the rest, you will find it elsewhere; if you aspire to temporal marriage, carefully preserve your first love for your first husband. I think it is a great deception to offer, instead of a pure and upright heart, a heart quite worn out, adulterated, and spoiled. But if your happiness calls you to the chaste and virginal nuptials of the Lamb, and you wish to remain virgins forever, O God! preserve your heart as delicately as you can for this divine Bridegroom, Who, being purity itself, loves nothing so much as purity, and to Whom the first fruits of all things are due, but above all the first fruits of the heart. The epistles of Saint Jerome will furnish you with all the counsel you need; and since your condition obliges you to obedience, choose a guide under whose direction you may more holily preserve your heart and body for the divine Majesty.
FOURTH PART
CONTAINING THE NECESSARY COUNSELS AGAINST THE MOST ORDINARY TEMPTATIONS.