Never forget that the liberty of the mind and heart is an
indispensable condition to judge rightly, to love with security, and
to act with prudence; and that whatever tends to diminish this
liberty should arouse your suspicions, no matter what may be its
apparent advantages; for these can never equal the advantages
accruing from an unshackled heart and mind.
CHAPTER XI.
PIETY.
Most appropriately indeed was the name _piety_ given by our
fathers in the faith to the sentiment which elevates the mind and
heart to God. It establishes an intimate union between God and the
Christian soul, for it is an affection composed of the most generous
qualities of the human heart. In woman, it is a mixture of respect,
devotedness and tenderness, which are enhanced still more by a
certain blending of fear, confidence, and candor. Man is pious
towards God and his parents; but the woman whose heart is not
vitiated by anything fictitious is pious towards those whom she
loves, for in each one of her affections may be found, combined in
different degrees, all the shades of sentiment that we have mentioned
above; but it is in her piety towards God that they are especially
striking.
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