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Well ———! And what do you gather from all this? says the Lady.
Gather, Madam; why, I gather this, that as you are a married Woman, and would fain be Barren, and have no Children, never give your self any trouble about Physick, and taking Drugs to prevent Conception; but kneel down, and very humbly and sincerely pray to God to curse you with Barrenness: Tell him, that you are one of his Creatures who He, at His first Blessing Mankind, had allowed to encrease and multiply, but that you desire no share in that Blessing; and so beg, that he would be graciously pleased to blast the Child you go with, if you are with Child, and shut up your Womb, if you are not; for that you desire none of his Blessings of that Kind.
If the Lady I have been speaking to above, is, as she says, a Christian, and prays to God at any time: if she knows and believes that God knows her Thoughts, can hear her Prayers, and will grant her Request, if it be accordhig to his Will; let her, I say, if she can do thus without trembling at the Thoughts of it, go to her Knees, and pray devoutly that she may have no more Children, or no Children.
If God is so merciful to her, as to deny the vile, wicked Request, she ought to be very thankful that her Prayers are not heard; but if it should be granted, she must and ought, with the same humility, to acknowledge 'tis righteous and just, and that the Judgment, for such it must be, is of her own procuring.
This would be putting the Matter to a short Issue; and we should see whether the Ladies are serious enough to carry their Folly to such a highth, or no.
But
