"As a piece of ground which is negligently cultivated, produces abundance of noxious weeds, so in the soul of an indolent man over-run with numberless vicious passions."
— Fenn [née Frere], Ellenor (1744-1813)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
John Marshall
Date
1784
Metaphor
"As a piece of ground which is negligently cultivated, produces abundance of noxious weeds, so in the soul of an indolent man over-run with numberless vicious passions."
Metaphor in Context
"As a piece of ground which is negligently cultivated, produces abundance of noxious weeds, so in the soul of an indolent man over-run with numberless vicious passions."—Tares, which are in danger of choaking the good seed, sown in the heart by God. "Vice is the natural product of the soil; virtue is the slow laborious result of repeated hardships and self-denials. The more uncultivated, the mind is, the more it is over-run with vice."
Duty of Man.
Be it our care to watch incessantly over our own hearts; lest we suffer pride, envy, anger, malice, to attain a luxuriant growth, before we perceive that they are sprouted: let us not neglect to root them out as soon as they appear, before they are too firmly fixed.
"The soul of man, like a fertile field, is able to produce either herbs or weeds."
Like a fertile field too, if it be not sown with good seed; if the tender plant springing from that seed be not cherished; if the weeds be not eradicated, it will be fruitful to an evil purpose. The soul will be like the field of the slothful, "a hedge of thorns."
Since the fall of man, the posterity of Adam, and their possession the earth, may be compared to our northern climates respecting the plants of warmer regions, or a barren soil planted with the natives of a richer earth.
We do not trust our tender exotics to the piercing air; we do not attempt to rear the flower, which delights in the rich valley, one the bare stony rock; no! we are diligent to foster the lovely stranger, in hope that it may bloom in security, and adorn or garden with the beauty and fragrance of distant climes.
Such should be our assiduity to nurse in our minds the tender sprouts of virtue; they are the natives of a "far country," even heaven. A country not foreign (though we are banished from it for a time); a country into which we all hope to remove hereafter; there to enjoy to all eternity the immortal bloom of virtue. (pages 52-4)
Duty of Man.
Be it our care to watch incessantly over our own hearts; lest we suffer pride, envy, anger, malice, to attain a luxuriant growth, before we perceive that they are sprouted: let us not neglect to root them out as soon as they appear, before they are too firmly fixed.
"The soul of man, like a fertile field, is able to produce either herbs or weeds."
Like a fertile field too, if it be not sown with good seed; if the tender plant springing from that seed be not cherished; if the weeds be not eradicated, it will be fruitful to an evil purpose. The soul will be like the field of the slothful, "a hedge of thorns."
Since the fall of man, the posterity of Adam, and their possession the earth, may be compared to our northern climates respecting the plants of warmer regions, or a barren soil planted with the natives of a richer earth.
We do not trust our tender exotics to the piercing air; we do not attempt to rear the flower, which delights in the rich valley, one the bare stony rock; no! we are diligent to foster the lovely stranger, in hope that it may bloom in security, and adorn or garden with the beauty and fragrance of distant climes.
Such should be our assiduity to nurse in our minds the tender sprouts of virtue; they are the natives of a "far country," even heaven. A country not foreign (though we are banished from it for a time); a country into which we all hope to remove hereafter; there to enjoy to all eternity the immortal bloom of virtue. (pages 52-4)
Categories
Provenance
Contributed by PC Fleming, searching "mind"
Citation
The Female Guardian. Designed to Correct Some of the Foibles Incident to Girls, and Supply Them With Innocent Amusement for Their Hours of Leisure. by a Lady. (London: Printed and sold by John Marshall and Co. No. 4, Aldermary Church-Yard, in Bow-Lane, 1784). Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Gale. <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
07/14/2010
