A slave can only live unto God in one particular way; that is, by religious patience and submission in his state of slavery.
But all ways of holy living, all instances, and all kinds of virtue, lie open to those who are masters of themselves, their time, and their fortune.
It is as much the duty, therefore, of such persons, to make a wise use of their liberty, to devote themselves to all kinds of virtue, to aspire after every thing that is holy and pious, and to please God in the highest and most perfect manner, as it is the duty of a slave to be resigned unto God in his state of slavery.
2. You are no labourer, or tradesman; you are neither merchant nor soldier; consider yourself therefore as placed in a state, in some degree like that of good angels, who are sent into the world as ministring spirits, for the general good of mankind, to assist, protect, and minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation.
For the more you are free from the common necessities of men, the more you are to imitate the higher perfections of angels.
Had you, Serena, been obliged to wash cloaths for your maintenance, or to wait upon some mistress, that demanded all your labour, it would be your duty to glorify God, by such humility, obedience, and faithfulness, as might adorn that state of life.
It would then be recommended to your care, to improve that one talent to its greatest height; that when the time came for mankind to be rewarded for their labours by the great Judge of the quick and dead, you might be received with a well done good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.
But as God has given you five talents, as he has placed you above the necessities of life, as he has left you in the happy liberty of chusing the most exalted ways of virtue; as he has left you nothing to do, but to make the best use of variety of blessings, to make the best of a short life, to study your own perfection, the honour of God, and the good of your neighbour; so it is now your duty to enquire how the most eminent saints have lived, to study all the arts and methods of perfection, and to set no bounds to your love and gratitude to the bountiful author of so many blessings.
3. It is now your duty to turn your five talents into five more, and to consider how your time, and leisure, and health, and fortune may be made so many happy means of purifying your own soul, improving your fellow-creatures, and of carrying you at last to the greatest heights of eternal glory.
As you have no mistress to serve, so let your own soul be the object of your daily care and attendance.