John Donne on Virginity

Peter J. Leithart December 8, 2003

John Donne on Virginity (from Paradoxes and Problemes ): “I call not that Virginity a vertue, which resideth only in the Bodies integrity . . . But I call that Virginity a vertue which is willing and desirous to yeeld it selfe upon honest and lawfull terms, which just reason requireth; and until then, is kept with a modest chastity of Body and Mind.”

Peter J. Leithart

Peter J. Leithart is president of the Theopolis Institute, Birmingham, Alabama. He posts regularly at his Substack, Notes from Beth-Elim.

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